Artist	Song
They Might Be Giants (Then: The Earlier Years = early Dial-A-Song demo)	Now That I Have Everything (2:20)
They Might Be Giants (Then: The Earlier Years = early Dial-A-Song demo)	Mainstream U.S.A. (1:15)
They Might Be Giants (Then: The Earlier Years = They Might Be Giants, 1986)	Number Three (1:25)
They Might Be Giants (Then: The Earlier Years = They Might Be Giants, 1986)	Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head (2:09)
They Might Be Giants (Then: The Earlier Years = They Might Be Giants, 1986)	Alienation's For The Rich (2:23)
They Might Be Giants (Then: The Earlier Years = They Might Be Giants, 1986)	Hide Away Folk Family (3:20)
They Might Be Giants (Then: The Earlier Years = They Might Be Giants, 1986)	Absolutely Bill's Mood (2:36)
They Might Be Giants (Then: The Earlier Years = Lincoln, 1988)	Piece Of Dirt (1:57)
They Might Be Giants (Then: The Earlier Years = Lincoln, 1988)	You'll Miss Me (1:52)
They Might Be Giants (Then: The Earlier Years = Lincoln, 1988)	Snowball In Hell (2:28)
They Might Be Giants (Then: The Earlier Years = Purple Toupee EP, 1989)	Birds Fly (1:24)
They Might Be Giants (Flood, 1990)	Road Movie To Berlin (2:23)
They Might Be Giants (Flood, 1990)	Lucky Ball And Chain (2:46)
They Might Be Giants (Flood, 1990)	Twisting (1:53)
They Might Be Giants (Apollo 18, 1992)	My Evil Twin (2:37)
They Might Be Giants (Apollo 18, 1992)	Dig My Grave (1:08)
They Might Be Giants (John Henry, 1994)	AKA Driver (3:14)
They Might Be Giants (John Henry, 1994)	Dirt Bike (3:06)
They Might Be Giants (outtake from John Henry, from first full release on TMBG Podcast 27A (2007); edited version released on Long Tall Weekend mp3 album, 1999)	Lullabye To Nightmares (2:56)
They Might Be Giants (Factory Showroom, 1996)	XTC Vs. Adam Ant (3:36)
They Might Be Giants (Factory Showroom, 1996)	How Can I Sing Like A Girl? (4:31)
They Might Be Giants (Severe Tire Damage, 1998)	She's Actual Size [live] (2:16)
They Might Be Giants (from They Got Lost compilation, originally on This American Life radio show, 2000)	I'm Sick (Of This American Life) (1:25)
They Might Be Giants (Mink Car, 2001)	Cyclops Rock (2:39)
They Might Be Giants (Mink Car, 2001)	Drink! (1:49)
They Might Be Giants (Mink Car, 2001)	Working Undercover For The Man (2:19)
They Might Be Giants (No!, 2002)	Wake Up Call (1:09)
They Might Be Giants (The Spine, 2004)	It's Kickin' In (2:01)
They Might Be Giants (The Spine, 2004)	I Can't Hide From My Mind (2:42)
John Flansburgh (TMBG Podcast 5A, 2006)	It Never Fails (2:51)

Comment:

Tracks 31-34 (all TMBG): 31 - "Homunculus" (2:16) from Cast Your Pod To The Wind (originally on TMBG's Myspace page and Podcast 10A, 2006); 32 - "We Live In A Dump" (1:40) from Cast Your Pod To The Wind (2007); 33 - "Feign Amnesia" (2:30) from The Else (2007); 34 - "Careful What You Pack" (2:40) from The Else (2007). Nothing to do to save his life; call his wife in."Sexual imagery in a number of [William] Blake's drawings was also erased by John Linnell." - WikipediaWell, trolling through the AOTM archives this morning, I found that John Linnell, despite being a nineteenth-century prudish painter as well as a rock musician, has his own single-artist mix, from way back before I ever knew about this site. In all honesty, John Linnell is still undoubtedly my favorite John of They Might Be Giants. To the extent, even, that the other TMBG mixes I've posted on this site seem sometimes uncomfortably close to being John Linnell mixes. Actually, threside did claim to be *planning* to make a Flansburgh mix, but as far as I can tell, never did (and also hasn't posted a mix since 2005). Let this, then, be a kind of redress.JOHN FLANSBURGH has formed, along with John Linnell, the absolute and unquestioned core of THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS for a quarter century now; here's his star turn. Flansy sings sole lead vocals on every song here, and I've also tried to eliminate songs that I know were actually written by Linnell ("When It Rains It Snows", "The World's Address", "Reprehensible") or co-written by both ("Mink Car"). Electronic experimentalist Joshua Fried wrote the lyrics to "Lullabye To Nightmares"; "AKA Driver" was co-written by bassist Tony Maimone and drummer Brian Doherty along with the TMBG moniker; "It Never Fails" was authored by Robin Goldwasser, Flansburgh's wife, along with Julia Greenberg. The rest of the songs I have no reason to believe were not written by Flansburgh alone.Bill Krauss, TMBG's original producer, has this to say about Flansburgh: "Yeah, he's an inspired hack. But he has the drive that made them what they are. With Linnell, he would still be making demos in his bedroom if he had worked by himself, because Linnell hates schmoozing, and Flansburgh is a master of it." After I saw Gigantic, the TMBG documentary, I actually started to have the funny feeling that John Flansburgh *is* They Might Be Giants. As This Might Be A Wiki reports it, Flans has always been TMBG's outreach man: he's been the one to do the business deals, art direction, even a couple music videos; he's also the one who set up the Dial-A-Song answering machine that gave TMBG their notoriety before they ever released a record, and you'd think, from the way he shouts out 75% of the band's stage banter with endless energy and enthusiasm, that he's the certain leader of the group. Then, of course, I go back to the records, and Linnell's singing and songwriting seduces me again..Actually, in terms of the Johns' musical personalities, I think it's easy to tell them apart: Linnell is the Lennon of They Might Be Giants, Flansburgh is the McCartney. I say that even though Paul's writing earned him the title of "melodic Beatle", while Linnell is regarded as TMBG's true master of melody; the difference is that, while John Lennon and John Linnell both serve no songwriting master but their own genius tangents, it's McCartney and Flansburgh's lot to tangle with that raging beast of pop music. Flansburgh's songs operate in the liminal space between the inevitability of pop and the jungles of the unutterably weird; if you want you can read my essay on "It's Kickin' In" for more. That's Flansy's genius; that's this mix's dedication.

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