Day 13
TODAY'S SONG:
"Protagonist" by They Might Be Giants
The
first time I heard about They Might Be Giants was on a camping trip
with my friends Ian and Ian (same name and next
door neighbors). I remember them reminiscing about TMBG,
specifically the albums Flood
and John Henry. They
were kind of laughing about some of the lyrics and I was wondering
who this band was because they sounded pretty funny and weird. Later
I found out that I had heard their music without knowing it in a
couple of Tiny Toons episodes.
Maybe
a month or two later I saw them performing the song “S-E-X-X-Y”
on the Lary Sanders Show. And from then on I was consistently
collecting They Might Be Giants albums, falling in love with every
song.
I've
got too many memories with They Might Be Giants to recount here.
Oddly enough, the song my iTunes picked for me today, “Protagonist,”
is one that I've apparently only listened to once before today. I
haven't paid as close attention to their newer releases since around
2002. But I still love them.
A
few memories that come to mind: Listening to Flood
for the first time on my headphones while taking a family trip to
Arkansas to see my grandparents. Walking around Arkansas memorizing
lyrics, singing TMBG songs to myself by the swimming pool. Stopping
at restaurants and feeling annoyed that I had to turn off the music
to eat something. Sitting in my basement room during the earliest
days of high school, listening to TMBG and reading liner notes about
how the band got started. Driving to Buffalo to see them play
Thursday at the Square, to make up for a rained out performance the
year before.
I
guess it would be fair to call me a “They Might Be Giants fan.”
In college, my friend Brian and I were talking about how much we both
liked them on a Thanksgiving trip to Boston, and our friend Steve
interrupted our conversation to say, “You're both nerds.” Ah
well. I'm also planning my day around watching Star Trek and Dr.
Who, so I guess he had a point.
Finally,
They Might Be Giants is the band that
inspired me to want to write songs. So here's my song:
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