Here’s
another group I cannot remember where or how I heard of them. It may have been
that WXRT (Chicago’s Finest Rock) played this song and I was intrigued. I
bought the CD “Flood” in 1991 right around the time I took a job with Chicago
Etching Corporation and was about to embark on my longest commute to that time.
For the first two months I tried mass transit from Elgin to North and Sheffield
on Chicago’s North side.
I would
leave the house around 6:15 to drive down to the Elgin Metra station to get the
6:25 to Chicago. I rode the train all the way to the Western Avenue stop where
I would get off and walk the block or so to the Western Ave. bus stop to await
a northbound bus. After several minutes a bus would come, I would get on and
ride north until it got to North Ave. At North Ave. I would get off and cross
two streets to get to the stop for the eastbound bus. I would then ride the
eastbound bus to Sheffield, where I got off and walked the half block to Chicago
Etching. If I was lucky, and hit the busses just right, I would get to work by
8AM. If the busses were overloaded (and then wouldn’t stop at all) or were
running slowly, I would get in around 8:15-8:20 AM.
After
doing this commute for a couple months, I talked the President, Dick Golden,
one of the nicest bosses I’ve ever had, into letting me come in around 7:00 AM,
so I could drive in before the morning rush, leaving my house about 6 AM. Then I
would leave around 4 PM or so, and get caught in the afternoon rush.
The
soundtrack to my commute on the train/buses was “Flood”, along with the album
on the “B” side of my cassette, Mike Oldfield’s “Islands” I had a cassette player/FM
radio combo that I listened to.
One day
the doors of a bus closed on the player, hanging from my hip pocket, and “Poof”,
it was gone. I stood on the steps of the bus as it pulled away from the curb,
headphones still on my head, strangely quiet all of a sudden, cord dangling
over my shoulder, dopey look on my face. “Wha….?”
When I
listen to TMBG, I always ruminate on how much money they should have made. I
think, “I wonder which show theme music makes them the most residuals?” TMBG wrote
the themes for: The Daily Show on Comedy Central, which was usually shown 4-5
times a day; the theme for “Malcolm in the Middle” (You’re Not the Boss of Me);
and two songs played on every episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, (“Mickey Mouse
Clubhouse” and “Hot Dog”)
Did you
know that Mickey’s first words in his first talking cartoon were “Hot dog, Hot
dog”, voiced by Walt Disney himself? Me neither, I’ve been reading a great
biography of Walt Disney by Neal Gabler.
Also, when this song ("Birdhouse...") was used in "Pushing Daisies", sung by Kristin Chennoweth and Ellen Greene, it cemented my love for that quirky show.
And the line where they sing: "There's a picture opposite me/ Of my primitive ancestry/ which stood on rocky shores and kept the beaches shipwreck free/Though I respect that a lot/I'd be fired if that were my job/After killing Jason off and countless screaming argonauts" always makes me laugh for some strange reason.
Also, when this song ("Birdhouse...") was used in "Pushing Daisies", sung by Kristin Chennoweth and Ellen Greene, it cemented my love for that quirky show.
And the line where they sing: "There's a picture opposite me/ Of my primitive ancestry/ which stood on rocky shores and kept the beaches shipwreck free/Though I respect that a lot/I'd be fired if that were my job/After killing Jason off and countless screaming argonauts" always makes me laugh for some strange reason.
