#17 - Lyrical Masterminds

Boy, do these guys know how to craft a line. From sad to funny to profound and back again within the space of a single song. Even when the lyrics are complete nonsense the words flow together in such a way that it makes you forget you are listening to a song about, for example a floating hat. And then when you do realize this the lyrics are even more brilliant BECAUSE they are about a floating hat.

I have said before that I am not huge into interpreting lyrics, mostly because I tend to take them at face value. I would rather assume Hovering Sombrero is, in fact, just an encouraging song sung to a floating hat than read more into it. However, some of the brilliance of lyrics like these is that they can be equally enjoyed by those wish to find a deeper meaning in the floating hat.

I'm kind of fascinated by the way Linnell has said he writes songs, which is, typically, melody first. I always picture him piecing in lyrics after the fact based on words the rhyme nicely and have the right number of syllables. My theory is that songs about floating hats, night lights, mammals and pencils all exist out of a need for a theme to tie a bunch of lines together with a melody and Linnell wandering about the world until something struck his fancy. The fact that wonderful, profound lyrics come out of this process is mind boggling. I choose to think of Don't Let's Start as my favorite "piece the words in" method song and I love it, love it, love it. (And yes, I do realize that this is in itself a form of interpretation so I am, in a way, contradicting myself.)

I find Flansburgh's songs to be a bit less literal which may be part of the reason I tend not to favor Linnell's. I find that I have to actually think about Flans' songs and sometimes I just don't get it. Then others I adore, so who knows. But he has a beautiful way of writing a line. One of my favorites of his is from I Blame You, a song to which I am otherwise largely indifferent. This is just a beautiful and heartbreaking idea expressed in a beautiful way.

He drops his car keys/ And crawls on the ground/ Finds her old hair comb/ She'd wear into town/ Can't bear to keep it/ Or throw it away/ Gets back down on his knees/ Puts it back where it lay/ Back where it lay

I've already said I love the songs told by the Unreliable Narrator. I also love the songs that are one giant tongue twister. Especially because it is not so much that the words are particularly hard on the tongue, it's the speed with which they are sung. And that the rhythms of those particular words sound good at those speeds. Songs like Letterbox, Dinner Bell and Rhythm Section Want Ad come to mind. I love trying to sing along to these in the car and getting my tongue all tied in knots.

A few of my other favorite lines:

You could be a float for the Fourth of July/ Based on your theme of "Wallflowers Grown Wild"

Is it that time again? Wasn't it already then? So does it have to be The time it was again?

And the truth is we don't know anything

I'll save others for a Audience Participation post on favorite lyrics that I've been attempting to do for ages.

#18 - Foam Fingers

How cool is it that a rock band gives out giant foam fingers to their fans? Not only fun and silly, but generous too. Sure, they've been mostly reserved for the kiddos lately but I went to my fair share of shows where it was "foam fingers for all." I admit I have been greedy with the giant hands. I believe, between the boyfriend and I, we have 10, mostly orange, with a few yellow. There have been green ones at recent shows and I covet one. Seems like a silly thing to covet but there it is. I have fond memories of waving my foam hand enthusiastically at my first stage-side show at The Egg while I danced and bounced around like a looney.

Here is a picture of my portion of our hand collection in my room. If you stuck you hand in them, you would find that many of them are stuffed with confetti. And yes, they are displayed with my Lord of the Rings action figures, thank you very much. For I am a geek, and proud of it!

There's A Picture Opposite Me - 8/25/10

Another offering from Jamie.





"Bangs are that on which the world hangs." Bangs - They Might Be Giants


Please send submissions to theroommustlistentome@gmail.com

#19 - Accordion

There are less than 20 days left in the countdown!  I am finally feeling like I might actually make it.

Accordion! You can not really love They Might Be Giants and not love the accordion. It just doesn't work.  I guess I am a fan of unusual instruments in rock music, in general. This certainly qualifies. The accordion has such a unique sound to it, that oddly blends in with the electric guitars and drums and horns quite well. Especially on the really bombastic rocking songs. Sometimes I look back and am a little sad that I missed out on the earlier years when the accordion was more heavily used in live shows. (But I think I just unintentionally named why it isn't now; the thing is heavy!) A couple of my favorite moments from recent shows were when, for one reason or another, Linnell started to play Ana Ng on the accordion before switching to keyboard (my very favorite being in Chicago when he did it without notifying the rest of the band that they were going to play it and left everyone scrambling for appropriate instruments). I love how the crowd cheers every time he picks up the accordion now.

Remember my story from my last show in Baltimore? Where Stacy and I got all accordioned on in the front row in Particle Man and the woman behind us leaned over to say "That doesn't happen everyday!" and Stacy whispered to me "well, actually it kind of does." Well, I wouldn't have it any other way :-)

Stop Rock Video

Inspired by this weekend's Direct from Brooklyn viewing with my band pals, today's Audience Participation topic is Favorite Videos. Anything released or condoned by the band is eligible.

I am giving you my list but I can never quite make up my mind about which videos are my favorite so I can't promise they will be in the same order next week or next month.

10. Hovering Sombrero - The little Quickcam vid in the airport. It so obviously looks like Linnell just got bored and decided to make a video and yet it is wonderful in ways I can't fully explain.
9. Older - The Brave New World video. Oddly, a still from this video was my very first introduction to The Band of Dans and yet even though I watched it once, I completely forgot about it's existence until last week. Which is a shame since I discovered I find it endlessly amusing.
8. D is for Drums - The bit where Flans sings "I can't think, there's too much noise" and Marty stops playing to twirl the drum stick around. And I heart those puppets.
7. Electric Car - This video is a work of art. I can not even imagine how long it took the animators to put it all together. And it's adorable too.
6. Ana Ng - Everything about this one is wonderful.
5. Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head - My two favorite moments of this are the brief shot where Linnell sticks his tongue out at the camera and the last shot of Flans touching his cheek with that dopey expression on his face.
4. They'll Need a Crane - Linnell's dancing. That is all.
3. Nine Bowls of Soup - "Please can I some Mr. Ichthyosaur?" No, you can't. I've saving them for friends." See my blog icon photo for the explanation on this one.
2. Robot Parade - The bonus video on the ABCs disc. I only rediscovered this recently but OH MY GOD, I love this video. I love it so much it almost edged out my number one (psst... it's the presence of the band that does it, you know I have a fondness for those guys).
1. Don't Let's Start - I had to think about this really hard to come to this decision. I might change my mind yet, but there it is.

Bonus points also go to the Birdhouse video which I find I do not love in the way I love some of the others but yet, I continually half-joke about re-enacting this video at my wedding as a flash mob thing with members of the wedding party during the first dance. So if you ever get invited to my wedding, beware, you may be recruited.

#20 - John Linnell's Hair

Ok, let's all just get this out in the open and admit it. Everyone has favorite Linnell hair. Yes, even you tough looking guy in the back. You know you do. Even the most devout Flansburgh fans among us have an opinion on the matter. Let's face it. The man just has wonderful hair. Obviously, the world recognizes this, as Linnell is one of only a very few people to have an entire Facebook group dedicated to his hair (believe me, I checked).

I try to steer clear of getting too overly fangirlish on this blog (which may be a bit relative), but it slips out sometimes and this entry simply can't be helped. I apologize for my deplorable lack of self control when it comes to discussing Linnell's hair.

Here I go, damning myself.

My favorite Linnell hair style has everything to do with the appropriate length. Typically, I think it hits it just before he gets it cut. It can't be too short (yikes) and definitely not too long (double yikes). It has to achieve the optimum level of floppiness when he jumps up and down during The Guitar or Birdhouse in order for me to rule a particular show or photo to have perfect Linnell hair. It comes and goes. Excepting the extremes, (either too long or short) his hair looks wonderful no matter what but occasionally when the stars align it looks simply phenomenal.

To give you an idea of how much I pay attention to this, last year I had to work during one of the band's TV appearances and asked my boyfriend later how it was. He told me the performance had been excellent but that he had to warn me that Linnell had gotten a haircut. "Bad," I asked? "Not as bad as in February," he replied, "but it's pretty short." "Well, at least it has a few weeks to grow out before our next show," I said.

While part of me recognizes how sad this conversation truly was, there is another part that appreciates how well my boyfriend knows me, that the state of Linnell's hair would be a matter of concern. The fact that he, as a decidedly straight male, can recognize good Linnell hair when he sees it, would seem to prove my point that everyone has favorite Linnell hair.

To give you a visual reference, the They'll Need a Crane video has perfect hair. The Puppet Head video too. I actually think Birdhouse is a little short and The Guitar is far too long. I can live with Statue Got Me High but it's not my favorite.

I believe my least favorite cut I've seen is this one (the aforementioned cut from last February) :



While my most favorite I've seen in person is this:



I could come up with a dozen other pictures that are lovely but I don't like cribbing other people's shots. I'm sure you get the idea without me waxing lyrical for hours on end. Suffice it to say, you know that Facebook group I mentioned? I am so a member.

#21 - Broom

Proving it takes very little to amuse me, I adore Broom. He's a broom. With a face made of tape. That changes color depending on what type of tape they picked up when they went to put his face on. And occasionally still has dust and dirt on his head from being an actual broom that comes off in poofs when Flans swishes his head. I find this endlessly entertaining. I love the silly voice Flans uses for Broom and how he is completely visible while operating Broom but pretends that he isn't. I love how often Broom can completely crack up Linnell. Some of my favorite Broom moments include his MC duties at the recent Baltimore show, the Celebrate Brooklyn show last summer where they stopped mid-song to explain that the meaning of servitude was "a server with attitude" and the Tarrytown show where we actually saw a tech run out and purchase "Broom" at a local hardware store before the show. And my very, very favorite was his rare appearance for adults at LPR last May when he felt like Bob Saget and said "fuck" a whole heck of a lot. Oh, Broom. The poor put-upon piece of stage equipment who wants to be a star and never, ever gets around to cleaning up the confetti. I'll see you at your next gig at Pianos.