In A Nutshell

[vovat]

I was recently thinking about the song "Pan American Highway," and how, if I had to pick a song that summed up what Frank Black was all about, that would be a good choice. It's harder for me to come up with songs like that for other artists. I mean, I have my personal favorites, but those aren't always totally representative of the their respective bands. Actually, I guess my personal favorite They Might Be Giants song, "It's Not My Birthday," is a good representation of early TMBG. It has accordion, guitar, and peppy, upbeat music accompanying seemingly nonsensical lyrics that have kind of a bleak tone to them. A mix CD I made had both that and "Sleeping In The Flowers," which works as kind of a complement to "Birthday," in that it's a full-band-era Flansburgh song, as opposed to an early-days Linnell number. And it's really hard to come up with anything that I think sums up XTC, the other member of my personal musical triumverate. I get the impression that the band might say "Chalkhills And Children" would work, but I don't know that I'd agree. So, anyway, can anyone else think of songs that sum up these particular bands, or any other bands, for that matter?

I also did the meme where I list my first sentence of every month, and I don't think it needs its own entry, so I might as well include it here.


January: Yesterday (which was, for those of you who might not have been keeping track, New Year's Eve), bethje and I went up to New York City to see They Might Be Giants.
February: Yesterday, I watched most of the BBC production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
March: Last night, bethje and I watched the HBO documentary Latin Kings: A Street Gang Story.
April: Okay, I might as well post this now. bethje and I watched two movies this week. On Tuesday, we saw Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed, the sequel to a Canadian werewolf movie that we saw a few months ago.
May: Well, I brought the first of my stuff over to my new room.
June: I watched bethje play a little of The Windwaker last night.
July: Today was pretty annoying. I wanted to make an appointment to get my car serviced, so I tried making an appointment on the Internet with a nearby dealer.
August: Just a few brief items before I go to bed: 1. The description for the CHICKEN pot pie I ate a few hours ago says (and I quote): "This great tasting, top and bottom crust pot pie is packed with large chunks of tender turkey, our classic mix of vegetables and a delicious homestyle gravy."
September: The main character in Beenie in Oz is a thinly disguised version of March Laumer's niece.
October: I was thinking the other day about how long it's been since I've really taken a trip.
November: It's been a little while, and I have a few things to talk about. Tuesday, as you all know, was Halloween. After work, I went to bethje's aunt's house, and we walked around the neighborhood with Dewey, who was dressed as Freddy Krueger.
December: Well, November is now over, and my NaNoWriMo story has only 13,574 words.

As you can probably tell, I occasionally added in another sentence or two to provide context. And I skipped the very beginning of the September entry, since it doesn't make sense without the title.

Comments

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I don't think I CAN wrap up a band in one SONG. Not counting One Hit Wonders obviously. Or like Bad Company, who can be wrapped up in their song "Bad Company" from their album Bad Company. Or more appropriately Big Country who can be wrapped up in their song "Big Country" from their album Big Country, since they are also a one-hit wonder (although I read an article once by a guy who had that album and thought it was the greatest thing ever and was mourning that no one else knew it... that would be one to track down I think). I can wrap up the Beatles in one ALBUM (Revolver) but could in no possible way pick just one song (which is part of the reason I picked Revolver for the album-- it covers such a variety). So, um... good luck!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I guess a song with the same name as the band is a good place to start. TMBG has a song called "They Might Be Giants," and while I don't know that it's the most representative number of theirs, I think it would work pretty well. But yeah, I don't think summing up a complex band in one or two songs is something you could ever really do. It's just something interesting to think about, you know?

[skylark-king.livejournal.com]

While Big Country can be summed up by Big Country, I always thought Fields of Fire was a much cooler song.

[skylark-king.livejournal.com]

I think you can't sum up XTC as they've gone through many phases: We'll go through them, the phases seem to end where regular band members leave.

Phase one (Barry-era): XTC summed up in Are You Recieving Me?
Phase two (Terry-era): XTC summed up in All of a Sudden (It's Too Late)
Phase three (David-Era): Mayor of Simpleton
Phase four (Colin-era *sniff*): Wheel and the Maypole

'Course there's lots of debate here as I've second guessed all of those answers. Musically, though not lyrically, I think it's a pretty good mtach.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'd say those are pretty good choices. Of course, Phase Two included both Black Sea and English Settlement, which were really different albums.