Dark Darkness and the Dark Men that Write It

This post is all about lyrics from those masters of the macabre, those demons of darkness, those bizarre Brooklynites, They Might Be Giants. Since none of you care about this, you can go ahead and stop reading. Or, if you want to see how much of a dork I can be, please, by all means, read the whole thing.

"What," you might think. "Since when have TMBG written dark-themed lyrics? Aren't they the ones that sing that Particle Man Song?" Well, I'll tell you; apparently since the beginning. It seems weird to me, too, but it's apparently true. I was just listening to some this morning. And it's extra weird in that their darkest and most unsettling songs are always set to really upbeat music. It's really easy to sound angsty, suicide-chic and evil when you're playing, like, heavy metal or punk or something, but do sing words like that when you have an accordian and a glockenspiel in the arrangement? I'm not sure I've ever really thought about this before, but today I did some research that I will present to you. Below are lyrics from each of TMBG's albums (sans the kids ones) that are archetypes of the style I have described.

From They Might Be Giants

I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die
It's a long, long rope they use to hang you soon I hope
And I wonder why this hasn't happened
Why why why
And I think about the dirt that I'll be wearing for a shirt
And I hope that I get old before I die


From Lincoln

Where Your Eyes Don't Go
Where your eyes don't go a filthy scarecrow waves its broomstick arms
And does a parody of each unconscious thing you do
When you turn around to look it's gone behind you
On its face it's wearing your confused expression
Where your eyes don't go


From Miscellaneous T

I'll Sink Manhattan
I'll sink Manhattan
I'll sacrifice friends
I think they'd understand my plan
I'll never be sure

I've got a message
So before I get through
I'll find your answering machine
And I'll sink it first

Burn your forget-me-nots
Admit that true love can die
No, I won't apologize, my love, just kiss me goodbye


From Flood

Road Movie To Berlin
We were once so close to heaven
Peter came out and gave us medals
Declaring us the nicest of the damned

Time won't find the lost
It'll sweep up our skeleton bones
So take the wheel and I will take the pedals


From Apollo 18
This album is so dark, I had to print several songs.

Dig My Grave
Dig my grave
Dig my grave

Every time I look in your eyes
I see St. Peter wave

Dig my grave
Dig my grave

Every time you call my name
I hear the angels say

"Dig my grave"


Constellation
I lay my head on the railroad track
Stare at the sky all painted up
Your train is gone, won't be coming back

Turn Around
We were waving our arms out the window
Of a fast moving passenger train
Acting in an irresponsible fashion
Until the engineer whose back had been turned
And who we thought would find us highly amusing
Quickly swiveled his head around
And his face which was a paper-white mask of evil
Sang us this song

Turn around, turn around
There's a thing there that can be found
Turn around, turn around
It's a human skull on the ground
Human skull on the ground
Turn around


From John Henry

Stomp Box
Stomp Box, voice of fear
Pour the poison in my ear
Kill Kill Kill Kill
Kill me now
Free the demon
Hear the ceaseless screaming
Little Stomp Box
Tear it from my heart


From Factory Showroom

Exquisite Dead Guy
Exquisite dead guy
Rotating in his display case
Exquisite dead guy
Swear I saw his mouth move

Exquisite dead guy
Outside my high rise apartment
Exquisite dead guy
Hanging from a skyhook


From Mink Car

Cyclops Rock
I'm sick, like Chuckie was sick, my defeated heart keeps beating on,
I won't die, like Chuckie won't die, but I'm not here to socialize,
Gotta find a new place to hang out, cuz I'm tired of living in hell.
I'm a mess since you cut me out, but Chuckies arm keeps me company,
I'm a fright, with my tombstone smile, all the children run away from me.
Gotta find new friends to hang with, cuz you're all afraid of me.


From The Spine

Thunderbird
Before you fall, you have to learn to crawl
You can't see heaven when you're standing tall
To get the whole sky
On the ground you have to lie

I remember now
I remember now
Why they called it Thunderbird
Why they called it Thunderbird

We like fun, me and my girl
We'll have fun fun fun until
T-bird takes her dad away



Holy crap! You stuck around til the bitter end! Well, I hope I've proved my point. Yay death! Yay drunkeness! Yay disturbing imagery!