Everything new is wrong again

[vovat]

The new They Might Be Giants song "Upside Down Frown" (which can be heard on this radio show) includes the lines, "When I'm with you, the landscape goes all weird, black is white, and the rainbow has a beard." I've been told that "the rainbow has a beard" is a reference to a Cream song. But as for the "black is white" line, Weird Al's song "Everything You Know Is Wrong," itself intended as a TMBG style parody, begins its chorus with, "Everything you know is wrong. Black is white, up is down, and short is long." While I'm sure this wasn't intentional on the Johns' part, is this a case of things coming full circle? {g}

And speaking of TMBG, I know I'm not the only one who finds the insistence of some online fans with not having new albums "spoiled" is pretty ridiculous. On the tmbg community, people have been putting lists of TITLES under LJ-cuts. Yes, because an album won't be enjoyable for me if I know the titles of the songs before I listen to them! In one thread, someone was insisting that "Bird Of The Bee Of The Moth" doesn't count as a "new" song because it was performed on the radio. And this isn't a new thing, either. I remember someone saying several years ago that a certain song (I think it might have been "Cyclops Rock") shouldn't be on an album because it was already on a radio promo CD. (This WAS a while ago, so it's possible I'm not remembering the context correctly, but I'm pretty sure it was something like that.) Apparently, to some fans, if one of the Johns is heard whistling a song while walking down the street, it's old hat and should not appear on a future album. Sure, I like to have SOME surprises when hearing an album for the first time, and the fact that pretty much everyone with Internet access had heard the majority of the Mink Car songs before the release of the album was kind of annoying, but come on! Isn't this the band that pretty much always put their songs on Dial-A-Song (back when it worked) before releasing them anywhere? Didn't some of their early songs not see album release until years after their earliest appearances? ("Which Describes How You're Feeling," for instance, was on the 1985 demo tape, but wasn't put on an album until 1992.) Personally, I wouldn't mind hearing a few more tracks from The Else.

Comments

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I've been told that "the rainbow has a beard" is a reference to a Cream song.

"Swablr"! Song rocks! I'd play it for you if I knew how to link to music files!

[annarama.livejournal.com]

as soon as i read that lyric, my first thought was that cream song ("Swlabr")! when i was in high school, my boyfriend's band used to cover it. it is a good song, worth downloading if you can find it. (it's on itunes, but if you want it free i am sure you can find it pretty easily.) :)

that's awesome they also included the 'black is white' as a nod to weird al parodying them. :) i love it!!!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think "black is white" is generic enough that it probably WASN'T an intentional reference on the Johns' part, but who knows? I remember seeing an interview where someone asked them about EYKIW, and I think Flans said something like, "It's probably not supposed to sound like us" (even though Al had already admitted several times that it was).

[bec-87rb.livejournal.com]

Notice Linnell also used this idea in Hotel Detective from the Future - she walks with the beard of a rainbow

[k1cup.livejournal.com]

Amen to everything you said about spoilers. Who cares about the leak of the song titles? And as for hearing any of the songs before their official release, that doesn't spoil the enjoyment for me. In fact, I like hearing the progression the skeleton of tunes getting fleshed out.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think knowing the song titles out of context kind of heightens the mystery. And yeah, I like hearing the progression of songs. I can see not wanting to hear too many finished versions before the album release, but as far as I know, only "Take Out The Trash" fits into this category as far as Else songs go.

[colbyucb.livejournal.com]

I totally find the outcry over being spoiled ridiculous. First of all, really how can you be spoiled for an album? If you don't want to hear the album itself, then don't play any tracks that are leaked... I fail to see how the titles themselves are spoilerish either. I mean, even Rowling releases chapter titles and bits of paragraphs for most of the Harry Potter books before they're released, and if you want to talk about being spoiled, look no further than the HP community.

Anyway, aside from that, the biggest point is, as you mentioned, TMBG tends to release their songs long before they get put on albums through all kinds of different channels and why would anybody be like "OHHHH wtf they had an early demo version of [insert song here] as a free download on their site, I AM SO SPOILED FOR THE ELSE NOW." Since I've never seen that to be the case (everyone generally appreciates TMBG releasing material for free), I reallllly don't get the whole thing.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I fail to see how the titles themselves are spoilerish either.

Maybe people are afraid it'll be like how one of the tracks on the Star Wars Episode 1 soundtrack is called "The Death of Qui-Gon Jinn." Or how one of the chapters in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is "Neville and Snape Take Each Other Out." (Just kidding. I hope. {g})

I know there was some concern over how much of Mink Car people had heard prior to its release, and I can see that. Ultimately, though, I think the problem with Mink in that respect is just that it has a greater number of songs that get old rather quickly than other TMBG albums. I mean, I'd heard "Birdhouse In Your Soul" quite a few times over a period of several years before buying Flood, yet I wasn't tired of it when I got the album. Yeah, that's an extreme example, but still. I guess my point is, if the songs are truly awesome, it doesn't matter how many times you've heard them before the album comes out; you're still excited to hear them again.