kung fu grippe

  1. They Might Be Giants - “They’ll Need a Crane” (Lincoln, 1988)

    Inarguably, a fantastic song. But, wow. Talk about some candy-coated misery.

    Linnell has such a genius for writing these incredibly sad songs that, at least on the surface, don’t sound incredibly sad.

    But, once you actually listen, of course, you can see they’re ironic little short stories about a life falling apart.

    Seems to me that, with Linnell’s adenoidal crooning as the perfect presentation medium, the distant tone and absence of mawkishness make everything feel twice as brutal.

    The truth is, no one finds sad people all that interesting. But, sad robots and sad puppets and sad night lites — all of whom have no idea how sad they really are?

    Man, that is Literature.1

    Viz.:

    Don’t call me at work again
    No, no, the boss still hates me
    I’m just tired and I don’t love you anymore
    And there’s a restaurant we should check out
    Where the other nightmare people like to go
    I mean nice people—Baby, wait!—
    I didn’t mean to say, “nightmare”

    Lad looks at other gals
    Gal thinks Jim Beam is handsomer than lad
    He isn’t bad.

    Call off the wedding band
    Nobody wants to hear that one again
    Play that again

    They’ll need a crane
    They’ll need a crane
    To take the house he built for her apart
    To make it break
    It’s gonna take
    A metal ball hung from a chain

    They’ll need a crane
    They’ll need a crane

    I mean, come on. Fucking ouch.

    Addendum @ 2010-08-22_12-02-03

    valerie2776:

    “As far as I’m concerned, for what we do, it’s not interesting just to publicly cry, you know? It’s not—it doesn’t even have the effect of making me sad if somebody else is doing that. I think the thing that’s really sad is when somebody represents some kind of inner sadness in some other way.” - Linnell

    And, there you have it. Thanks, Valerie!

    1. Cf. ogres and Coulton villains ↩

    2. Tagged:  They Might Be Giants 

    Posted 2 years ago 99 notes

    1. selfcallednowhere reblogged this from fuckyeahtheymightbegiants and added:
      I really really love the writeup here. Oh, and this video. I REALLY REALLY LOVE THIS VIDEO. ESPECIALLY THE SPAZZINESS....
    2. mortifiedandawesome reblogged this from fuckyeahtheymightbegiants
    3. fuckyeahtheymightbegiants reblogged this from merlin
    4. tryeverythingtwice reblogged this from merlin and added:
      Great song.
    5. afixforthefits reblogged this from valerie2776
    6. beefranck reblogged this from merlin and added:
      So true. “Gal’s gladness hangs upon the love of Lad” is what struck me the first time I heard this.
    7. fogland reblogged this from taegonmclaughlinsmells
    8. fullquieting reblogged this from merlin and added:
      Right up there with “Band of Gold” in terms of sideways abject bleakness. I’m tired. I don’t love you. There’s a...
    9. taegonmclaughlinsmells reblogged this from sam
    10. extralettuce reblogged this from merlin and added:
      Exactly.
    11. steampoweredmedia reblogged this from ohheygreat and added:
      While we’re on the subject of They Might Be Giants (and sadness, I suppose, since my former friend told me about it),...