A song
from They Might Be Giants’ 1996 album, “Factory Showroom.” It’s another example
of history being used in a pop song (see #23 –Year of the Cat).
Described
by TMBG on This Might Be a Wiki:
“…The lyrics are
as factual as we could make them with the reference books handy. James Knox
Polk, the 11th President of the US, was a dark horse candidate who
unexpectedly won the Democratic nomination and the election based on his
popularity in the South with his stated goal of annexing Texas, the Southwest,
and the Oregon territories. Once in office he fanned the flames of dispute
between the US and Mexico to achieve part of his aim…The spooky sound halfway
into this recording is a “singing saw,” an actual metal saw stroked with a bow
by Mr. Julian Koster.”
Quirky
doesn’t begin to describe TMBG, I can recognize a TMBG song from the first
words normally, and the vocals of John Flansburgh and John Linell are that
distinctive. I can’t tell you how tickled I was when I first sat down a couple
years ago with my daughter Alicia to watch the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and heard
the opening theme song and said, “Hey, it’s They Might Be giants!!” Alicia
thought I was nuts (nothing new), but at the end of each episode is “Hot Dog!” another
TMBG original which Alicia is learning to dance to.
It lets
me tolerate Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the Disney knock-off of Dora the Explorer
(much like their Chuggington is a knock/rip- off of Thomas the Tank Engine). I
can barely tolerate Dora because I can’t stand to have the characters looking
at me all the time. They’re always asking me questions and I always say, “If
you’d look ahead, instead of looking at me, you’d see the damn Gooey Mountain!!”
Alicia
then says, “Daddy, don’t say that!” but I can’t help myself.
And don’t get me started on the
fussiness of all the engines on Thomas.
Seriously... don’t.
Seriously... don’t.
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