Music

This is a page about some of the music I like. It's not about all the music I like -- I figure most people already know about the Pretenders, Tori Amos and Suzanne Vega, so I don't really need to say anything about them, but most people don't know about Shonen Knife, Cub or Piñataland, and if they've heard of They Might Be Giants, they think they've done maybe one song. I need to do some enlightening. I mention a lot of the music I like in Radio betrayed me, but I'll go into more depth about a few bands here.

They Might Be Giants

I've been listening to They Might Be Giants, or TMBG for short, for a very long time, and I had always enjoyed their music. I had several of their CD's and listened to them on occasion and thought they were a lot of fun. I guess I never really listened to the words until a few years ago though. When I started really listening, I realized these guys were geniuses!

Their music alone qualifies as genius, but their lyrics are absolute poetry. They rarely write about things other bands write about. They eschew the typical love ballads and teenage angst for recurring themes of mind control and death. Yet these themes are juxtaposed with such insanely happy melodies that they're just not sad. It's not that they mock death. They just write about absurd and impossible situations, e.g., "I was working all night in my office / when a man I had recently killed / called me up from a phone near my building / so I looked out the window at him / he had the same obsequious manner / that was the reason I had him killed / so to calm my nerves I sang this song / to him, over the phone..." ("Turn Around" from Apollo 18).

John Linnell and John Flansburgh (affectionately known as Flans or Flansy) met each other in high school in Lincoln, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston), and then ended up living in the same apartment building in Brooklyn. They started performing together as a duo in 1983 and have released 9 studio CD's, several EP's and full length compilations and an anthology, plus they've done a lot of work for television and movies and a CD to accompany an issue of a literary journal. These guys are prolific. They're also intelligent. They're not afraid to write about things like science and historical figures, so they've earned sort of a reputation as "geek rock." Well, if they appeal to intelligent people, there's no shame in that. I wish more people would. I'd rather hear songs about mammals and Belgian painters than about somebody's booty.

Linnell plays keyboards, accordion, saxophone and the occasional bass clarinet. Flans plays guitar. They both sing. Halfway through their career they added a backup band whose lineup has changed over the years, but for quite a while now it's been "The Band of Dans," Dan Hickey on drums, Danny Weinkauf on bass, and Dan Miller on guitar (whose opening guitar solo on "Istanbul (not Constantinople)" in concert was so beautiful I almost cried).

Some of their most innovative lyrics are told from the point of view of an inanimate object. "Birdhouse in your Soul" from Flood is told from the point of view of a nightlight that looks like a blue canary. "I'm your only friend / I'm not your only friend / but I'm a little glowing friend / but really I'm not actually your friend / but I am / Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch / who watches over you / make a little birdhouse in your soul..." The inanimate object seems slightly confused, an "unreliable narrator." They have fun writing lyrics from the point of view of the unreliable narrator, even human ones. "Hey, Mr. DJ, I thought you said we had a deal" from Miscellaneous T opens with "I could never sleep my way to the top / 'cause my alarm clock always wakes me right up..."

This playfulness with words is something I love about them. Their music makes me happy! It's fun to sing along to. The music itself is very playful, very happy. The words are fun to sing. It's fun to sing "...I've been leaving on my things / so in the morning when the morning bird sings / there's still dinner on my dinner jacket / 'til the dinner bell rings / I don't want a pizza, I don't want a piece of / peanut brittle, I don't want a pear. / I don't want a bagel I don't want a bean I wouldn't like / a bag of beef or a beer or a / cup of chowder, corn, cake, or creamed cauliflower cause I'm / waiting for the dinner bell to do the bell thing / dinner bell dinner bell ring..." ("Dinner Bell" from Apollo 18) I like the way it feels when the words roll around in my mouth.

With this playfulness, perhaps it's not too surprising that they eventually did a children's album. No! not only has music, it's interactive. It has charming games and flash animation, though I confess I'd rather just listen to the music. It's a generational thing, I guess. I could listen to the CD over and over and over though; it's just good music, not "children's music" which often is intolerable to adults. The lyrics are perhaps slightly more playful than usual on this CD, e.g., "...Here on Fibber Island we swim on the ground / Wheels are square not round / We eat chocolate by the pound / Here on Fibber Island no one sings along / We just ride giraffes and wear bicycles for hats..." Hmmm...they seem to mention bicycles in a lot of their songs actually. Maybe that's why I like them!

There are some websites where TMBG will let you hear their music for free. They give away free MP3's on their website, http://www.tmbg.com/. Their http://www.dialasong.com/ site lets you listen to one song at a time. It's random, so you don't know what you'll hear. This site often has demos and unreleased material. It's a lot of fun. You can hear selections from No! at http://www.giantkid.net/. All three websites use Flash animation, so your computer will need that. Alternately, you can call Dial-A-Song, 718-387-6962. There's no charge other than the cost of a long distance call to Brooklyn (no fancy technology there, just an answering machine in Flansy's apartment).

There is no doubt that TMBG are my favorite band and that they are geniuses. I love their lyrics, I love their music, and I love how they combine them. They make me happy.

Shonen Knife

As I mentioned in Radio betrayed me, when I realized that a band as wonderful as TMBG got so little airplay, I wondered what other bands radio had been keeping from me. I remembered that one of the questions at http://www.tmbg.org/band-info/faq/ was "I like TMBG, what other bands might I like?" I took a look at the list and the descriptions. Shonen Knife, described as a Japanese punk-pop group with a sense of the ridiculous, sounded like a band I might like.

I did a search for Shonen Knife on Audiogalaxy and found quite a few songs listed. I decided to download just a few songs to see if I liked them. I picked the ones that had titles that sounded like they might be fun. There was "Cookie Day." "Sugar sugar candy in my mouth / Stay home watch TV / A cute boy singer is singing like a man / I have nothing to do / It's very very hot outside / I'm lazy in my room / I have to water the cactus on the porch / 'Cos it needs a drink / Thinking about these kind of things / I suddenly wanted to eat some cookies and dip them in milk / I wanna go to the cookie shop / Cookie day, cookie day / It's a beautiful cookie day..."

"Concrete Animals" sounded like a fun title, and it ended up being a fun song. "Generally speaking every park has them / Commonly they are at the sand box / Occasionally they are vandalized by someone / They are painted many colors / Elephant, Raccoon, Tiger / Concrete Animals, Concrete Animals / Can I ride on your back / Concrete Animals, Concrete Animals / Let's take a picture together..."

"Twist Barbie" was an intriguing title... "Blue eyes, blond hair / Tight body, long legs. / She's very smart / She can dance well / Ooh...ahh...ahh / Bang, bang, bang, Twist Barbie / Bang, bang, bang, Twist Barbie / Bang, bang, bang, Twist Barbie / Bang, bang, bang, Twist Barbie / Bang, bang, bang, Twist Barbie / Bang, bang, bang, Twist Barbie / Bang, bang, bang, Twist Barbie / Oh sexy girl!" After listening to this kind of strange song (Barbie creeps me out...), it hit me! They sounded like...like...the Ramones meet Hello Kitty! Cool! They had an early punk sound to them, but they were women singing about cookies and Barbie dolls and playground equipment! They had a raw edge, but a sweetness that was utterly endearing.

I downloaded a few more MP3's, and then started buying their CD's. I don't have all of them because a lot of them are only available as imports or they're out of print, but I've bought a lot of them. The cover art and liner notes reconfirmed my impression about Hello Kitty.

Shonen Knife are three women from Osaka, Japan: Naoko Yamano, Michie Nakatani and Atsuko Yamano (Michie recently retired from the group, but they were together as a trio for about 20 years. The Yamanos are sisters). Naoko plays guitar and writes most of the songs; Michie plays bass and also writes some songs. Atsuko plays drums and also designs the clothing they wear. All three of them sing.

They sing in both English and Japanese. Most of the CD's I have are all in English, but there are some exceptions. Brand New Knife lists 13 tracks, but there are actually 20. The 7 bonus tracks are Japanese versions of some of the earlier tracks on the CD. It's fun to compare two different versions of the same song. Some of the Japanese versions still have English words in the chorus, while others are completely in Japanese.

Several songs on Happy Hour mix English and Japanese in the same song, e.g., "Shonen Knife Planet" with the lyrics "...Mo, daremo tomerarenai Rocket ni notte tuppashire Sah, hayaku norikomoh Jelly Beans takusan motteikoh Shonen Knife Planet / Let's go to the Knife Planet / Uchu karano message wa Love, Peace and Shonen Knife!"

Let's Knife has an English version of "Cycling is Fun" (you knew I'd love a band who did a song called "Cycling is Fun"!), but the version I downloaded before I bought the CD is in Japanese. I'm guessing that version would be available on an import and that they just release Japanese versions of their songs in Japan where they're more likely to sell. Obviously it's easier for me to sing along with the English versions, but I actually like the Japanese version of that song better because I heard it first. It's just difficult for me to memorize Japanese lyrics. I know a few words here and there and a little bit about the grammar, but not enough to really help.

Looking at the CD's I have, it seems like about half of their songs are about animals, food or toys. Many of the food songs are about candy and cookies, though "Fruits & Vegetables" from Brand New Knife advises "When you feel down I recommend to you / Have lots of fruits and vegetables / When you feel sad I recommend to you / Have lots of fruits and vegetables..."

Their music is very cheerful, and they sing about such happy things. Singing along with their songs, I can't help but feel good.

Cub

TMBG occasionally do covers of other people's songs, so I thought it might be interesting to hear what the original versions sounded like. Well, I didn't care for the Four Lads' version of "Istanbul (not Constantinople)" very much. The original version of "Why does the sun shine? (The sun is a mass of incandescent gas)" from Space Songs was fun, but not something I really needed to listen to more than a couple of times. But Cub's version of "New York City" rocked! I downloaded a few more of their songs that had intriguing titles.

How could I resist a title like "My Chinchilla?" The lyrics ended up being even better than the title. "Satan sucks / but you're the best / Holy smokes / you pass the test / When I'm with you / I feel blessed / my chinchilla..." Oh, wow...what a great song!

I tried "Magic 8 ball"... "My magic 8 ball tells me just what I should do / I want to ask it whether I should be in love with you / will it tell me yes or no? / will it tell me stop or go? / I close my eyes and hold my breath and it said yes, decidedly so, decidedly so, decidedly so / decidedly so, decidedly so, decidedly so..." A romantic little ditty...

"Surfer Girl" ended up being a cover of the Beach Boys song. They do a better version than the Beach Boys, I think, but I can't stand the Beach Boys, so that's no surprise.

"Green Eyes" was another love song. "Hey there, Green Eyes / Sunshine and apple pie / How come you're so shy? / Green Eyes, Green Eyes / How can I show you that I love you if you won't look at me? / So I'll just have to hold your hand and hope some day you'll see..."

I downloaded a few more songs, and then bought all the CD's I could find by them. Like Shonen Knife, Cub are three women and I can hear a Ramones influence (though whether it was direct or indirect is hard to know. They were the fathers of punk, after all), but I think the similarity ends there. They are definitely more a punk band; their music has a harder edge. They're from Vancouver, BC. Robynn Iwata plays guitar, Lisa Marr plays bass, and Lisa G. plays drums. All three sing. Unfortunately, the band is now defunct, so all I can do is enjoy the 3 studio CD's (Betti-Cola, Come Out Come Out, and Box of Hair) and one compilation (Mauler! A Collection of Oddities) I've got. There won't be any more.

"Go Fish" from Betti-Cola and Mauler (Mauler contains some material from the other 3 CD's but also some other songs that aren't on any of them) reminds me of a fairy tale or a girl's playground chant: "Underneath the water where everything is pretty / I met the girls and we went swimming / I held my breath until finally I died / and I left my friends for the other side / Everything was gold and everything was green / I saw a sea monkey king and a sea monkey queen / They fed me cottage cheese and chicken of the sea / then they sent me on my way with a kiss on the cheek / Ooh la la ooh ee cha cha / ooh la la cha cha cha / ooh la la ooh ee cha cha / ooh la cha cha cha / 1 2 3 4 5 / Once I caught a fish alive / 6 7 8 9 10 / But I let him go again / Why did you let him go? / Because he bit my finger so / Which one did he bite? / This little finger on the right..."

"Freaky" from Box of Hair and Mauler is just fun to turn up really loud and sing along with. "...Unadorned, I wear my crown of thorns / I'm a martyr to my cause / but I've forgotten what it was / I make the wrong choice / I wanna go twice / I know what you think / but you can keep your advice..."

The only recurring theme in their work seems to be love songs. Aside from the two I mentioned earlier, another is "Tell me now" from Betti-Cola. "You'll never know dear / the tears that I cry / Don't wanna wait girl / till the day that I die / Tell me now oh / Do you really love me? / Don't understand the things that you do / Promise to make me the king of the zoo / Tell me now oh / Do you really love me?..."

Cub were together as a band for five years. They broke up in 1997. It's a shame. They made good music together.

Piñataland

Back when I had more free time, I used to look at newsgroups. I often read alt.music.tmbg, and one day somebody recommended a band called Piñataland. He said the band was letting people download MP3's from their website, http://www.pinataland.com/. The songs were from their upcoming CD, and they were trying to raise money to finish recording the CD. Well, what the heck. I went to the website and downloaded the songs. There were five of them, "l939," "Sleepwalker," "Ota Benga's Name," "Velocity" and "Flying Down to Moscow." It was unlike any music I'd ever heard. The songs opened with historical recordings, mostly spoken word, that melded into the songs. The music had an Eastern European sound to it, with a tuba, accordion and violin, but it had a guitar, piano and drums too. The songs sounded like something out of the past, and yet they didn't. The website noted they were from the upcoming album Songs from the Forgotten Future. They even had a cover you could print out so you could burn the MP3's to a CD and have a nice little EP.

I found that "Ota Benga's Name" latched onto my brain and refused to let go. "Deep in the heart, the darkness of Marlow and Kurtz / They were looking for freaks / They were looking for firsts / From the Congo to US / The tribes of St. Louis / The white man forgets Ota Benga's name / But there were debts unpaid. / You were shuffled around / And before too long you were monkey house bound / A little man's got a strange fate / With an orangutan roommate / He never even knew Ota Benga's name..." The story was haunting. There was a photo of Ota Benga on Piñataland's website. A human being really had been put on exhibit in a zoo. The song was so catchy though, I found it playing through my head over and over.

"Flying Down to Moscow" got stuck in my head too. A tribute to Matthias Rust, it's another catchy one. "...Hey flyboy, give it that old college try, boy / Flying down to Moscow and we've got to make time / Hey fella, twirl that old propeller / Touchdown on Red Square / And we've got to make time..."

I found both of these songs playing in my head incessantly for days. And then two nights in a row I woke up at two o'clock in the morning with "Ota Benga's Name" playing in my head. Over and over and over. Well, that was a pretty clear sign. The next day I looked at their website again to find out how I could send these guys money. I wanted them to finish recording their CD so I could buy it! I wanted more of their music! They also had an EP available.

They had a link to a donation site, but I figured since they would take a cut and I wanted to buy the EP too, I should skip the middleman and give the donation directly to the band, so I emailed Dave Wechsler since he was listed as the contact person. He gave me an address to mail a check, and I ordered their EP Songs from Konijn Kok and gave him a $10 donation for the MP3's I had downloaded and told him to let me know when the CD was ready so I could buy it.

Songs from Konijn Kok is really good! "Everyone says that I love you" poses an odd question. "Hand on my heart / heart in my chest / I'll let you sleep 'cause we all need to rest / What can you say when it all goes your way / In the springtime / In the springtime / Tell me I'm wrong / And say it's alright / You and I kiss under harsh city lights / And Central Park sings like a swan as we mosey along / And everyone says that I love you / Good romance is so hard to find / Yes, everyone says that I love you / but no one will tell me why..."

"Tunnel of Tears" is a manic-paced tune reminiscent of Danny Elfman. "We were lost inside of a carnival ride / when that swan we were on just disappeared / And I tried to hold tight / but you were swept by the tide / And that Tunnel of Love became a Tunnel of Tears / That old Tunnel of Tears took you from my side / And if it weren't for that ride you would still be alive..."

"Hell Helps Me Laugh" is a catchy reminder about the value of humor. "...Well, heaven helps the wilted flower to last / and heaven helps the damsel on the railroad tracks / but since heaven hasn't helped me enough I have / Hell helps me laugh..."

I was surprised to come home one day about six months later and find a package waiting for me. I hadn't ordered anything. The return address was Piñataland. Huh? I opened it. It was the new CD, Songs for the Forgotten Future Vol. 1. It was finished. There was a note from David Wechsler enclosed: "Thank you so much for contributing money to our recording fund. As it turns out, there were only 4 of you who did so, so we thanked all of you on the album and are sending out complimentary copies to y'all. Enjoy! And thanks again for helping us out."

Oh my. As I said in my thank you note to him, if I had known I was going to be one of only four, I would've given him more than 10 bucks!

The songs I already knew sounded a little different, but not a lot. The historical recordings at the beginnings of some of the songs had been replaced with longer versions. There were some other slight differences. There were five additional songs as well. I think my favorite of the new songs is "Devil's Airship." "I'm leaving tonight / And you're coming with me / Electric arc lamp / Lighter than air / I'm feeling fine / On this devil's airship / We'll buzz this town / See what makes them tick and we'll get to / San Francisco by tomorrow noon / We're gonna get there soon..."

"Good Days" is about what happens to the people who are displaced by "progress." "...So we build, build, build. 2nd floor ripped away / By talking heads soldered to metal frames. / Build, build, build 'til all the birds have flown. / Find cats homes while we still have our own. / And everyone knows what Delilah's been thinking. / In times like this we've second sight. / The pet store is closing. Soon I will be moving. / I'm sure it'll turn out alright. / It'll turn out alright."

You can hear samples of Piñataland's music at their website, http://www.pinataland.com/, which also includes information about the band and about the inspirations behind the songs (click on the images in the timeline). The band's lineup has changed a bit, but it's mostly constant. Besides David Wechsler on accordion, piano and voice, Piñataland consists of Bill Gerstel on drums, Doug Stone on guitar and voice, and Dave Dorbin on tuba. Meredith Yayanos and Rebecca Pellegrini are both listed as violinists on the CD; only Pellegrini is listed on the website, while only Yayanos was listed for the MP3's. Anna Goodman was the violinist for Songs from Konijn Kok, which also had a guest drummer, Lionel Sanders, rather than Bill Gerstel.

I wish Piñataland a long successful career. To the future.