Did you know that They Might Be Giants started doing "edutainment" albums, such as No! (Jun 2002), Here Come the ABCs (Feb 2005) and Here Come the 123s (Feb 2008)? They're basically music for children/teaching them valuable lessons, but set to a poptastic and catchy songs.
As a longtime TMBG fan, I have always known they sort of heading in this direction.
I've decided to present to you some evidence of their geek-rock with some educational songs pre-No!.
"Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" appeared on their massively popular album, Flood (1990). This album also contain their hit "Birdhouse in Your Soul", as well as "Particle Man" and my favorite "Someone Keeps Moving My Chair". I can listen to this album hours on end and not get bored of it.
Anyway, the song is fundamentally about Turkey's city Istanbul, whose name was originally Constantinople (and before that Byzantium). The best line in the song is "so if you have a date in Constantinople, she'll be living in Istanbul".
After Flood, TMBG came out with Apollo 18 (1992) with their educational song "Mammal". What makes Apollo 18 interesting is that it was originally conceived as a "shuffle album". There are 21 short tracks called "Fingertips" which served as transitional pieces between the major songs.
I never did listen to Apollo 18 on shuffle, so I know "Fingertips" pretty much as one long song (which is a very interesting concept as each Fingertip is insanely different from one another).
As for "Mammals", what have always bothered me about this song is that Koala bears are Marsupial, not Mammal. But the key lines goes: "A dog, a bat, koala bears and hogs." It would be better if they had said polar bears, as that is a true mammal.
"Why Does the Sun Shine?" is perhaps the best educational song in this whole selection. It was released by itself in 1993, and I was very excited when I saw this EP in the stores.
The song pretty much touch on everything you need to know about our Sun. I've always suspected that the song is a cover song, and it is. It's from Space Songs, read about it www.acme.com. You can download the original Tom Glazer's "Why Does the Sun Shine?".
Whenever this song is done live (you can find live versions on Live!! New York City 10/14/94 Promo or Severe Tire Damage (1998)), they really "rock out" and it's completely a different song.
Trivia: Rocketboom uses Space Songs's "Zoom A Little Zoom" on many of their episodes.
John Henry (1994) introduces us to James Ensor in "Meet James Ensor". According to the song, he's a famous Belgium painter who lived with his mother. If I were really into art, I would tell you some of his paintings, but to be honest, I've never heard of this apparently very influencial artist.
Speaking of famous people, "James K. Polk" was originally the B-Side to Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (1990), but later resurfaced as a new version on Factory Showroom (1996). I love this song about our 11th President.
Some facts from the song (sorry I haven't verified this, but I trust John & John to write factial lyrics): 1. He seized the whole southwest from Mexico, 2. made the English sell the Oregon territory, 3. He built an independent treasury and 4. He didn't seek a second term in office.
Finally, the fun and creepy "The Edison Museum" first appeared on emusic's Long Tall Weekend (1999) which is TMBG's internet-only album.
According to the song, the Museum is not open to the public and is the tallest, widest and most famous haunted mansion in New Jersey.
Trivia: TMBG's other related Thomas Edison song is called "I Can Hear You" which was recorded at the said-museum.
That's all I have. Have I missed any songs? Please let me know.
01/05/2008 03:53:58 vu my♥posts 
www.tmbg.com
| Derek wrote:
Jan 5, 2008 5:51 AM
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[this is good] Actually, Istanbul is a very old song with lots of covers. I myself like the one from "Mona Lisa Smile" by Trevor Horn Orchestra.
| Soup wrote:
Jan 5, 2008 11:51 AM
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The example of "Istanbul" is an interesting one just because they didn't write it. The original version was recorded in 1953. But that's definitely one of those songs no one really thinks of as a cover.
Which is understandable, since TMBG do some of the best covers out there. I like their version of "New York City" almost as much as I like Cub's.
I saw them live last year, and they actually just performed "Fingertips" as one long song. I was rather surprised they included it at all.
I also think you did miss "The Mesopotamians" from The Else, but that's understandable because that album is terrible. The jokes feel too much like jokes on it. Like they're trying to be funny. Which, of course, for any old-school TMBG fan, just kinda makes you wish they'd go back to the days when that's just "how they are," when they were funny and made it look effortless.
