I think the rock 'n' roll girls in the world want apologies.
So, They Might Be Giants came out with a new album this week. I hope it's not just new-album excitement, but I really like it. Certainly more than The Else, probably more than The Spine. The best songs on there ("Can't Keep Johnny Down," which I recommend downloading, "Old Pine Box," "Canajoharie," "When Will You Die," "Judy Is Your Viet Nam"), are all up there with the best TMBG songs. And the not-so-great ones ("Never Knew Love," "The Lady and the Tiger," "Dog Walker") aren't really bad, they're just mostly forgettable. Some of them fall down on the lyrics ("Let your hair hang down/It is now the time/To untie your hair/Let your hair hang down"), which is unusual for TMBG, but it makes the less-inspired songs still easy to listen to. Also, it's a long album of short songs. This means that I usually listen to "Can't Let Johnny Down" twice in a row because it ends before I'm ready for it to (and I've also been conditioned to hear it multiple times in a row because Jesse watched all those videos in a chunk, but that's a different story), and the bad ones are gone before they can really annoy me.
Since concerts follow albums, next week I'm going to see them at a free show at the Williamsburg Waterfront with a bunch of comedians.
This got me thinking about all of the TMBG shows I've seen. My sister's favorite band is the Dave Matthews Band, and she goes to see him a bunch. One summer, after a spate of shows, she created a massive on-paper chart of every DMB song cross-referenced by every show she went to. She could look at it and instantly see if she's seen a song live, and how many times.
I've always been jealous of this massive undertaking. I decided it was finally time to do it for TMBG, so I made a chart like my sister. Mine is probably harder, because TMBG has more albums and songs than DMB, but also easier because I did it in Excel so it could do all of the adding and sorting for me. (Oh wait-did I just reveal that I'm a massive nerd?) Armed with the wiki, I looked up all of the old setlists of all the shows I've been to. There are probably mistakes, both in my hand-entering the data and in my source material (at least one of the setlists was incomplete, and let's not even get into the wrong-show-in-1997 debacle). Some totals/stats, just in time for them to be outdated!
No. of Shows Total: 26
Songs I've Seen Played Most Live:
1. "Birdhouse In Your Soul" (25)
2. "Older" (23)
3. "Doctor Worm" (21)
4. "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" & "James K. Polk" & "New York City" & "Particle Man" (20)
5. "The Guitar" (19)
6. "Twisting" (17)
7. "Fingertips & "Why Does the Sun Shine?" (16)
8. "Ana Ng" & "Cyclops Rock" & "Robot Parade" (13)
9. "She's An Angel" & "Boss of Me" & "Drink!" (12)
10. "Spy" (11)
I'm not surprised that "Birdhouse" is first; it deserves to be rocking the No. 1 spot. In fact, I'm a little sad that they didn't play it once at Le Poisson Rouge, because it ruined my perfect record. On the other hand, I wish I went to more shows that skipped "Older." I can see why "Istanbul" and "Particle Man" are played so much-they're beloved by casual fans-but I don't know why "Older" gets such preferential treatment. I'm surprised that "Fingertips" made it into the top ten, since I remember being at the show where they played it for the first time-it was a big deal-and it was not that long ago, in the scheme of things. It's especially odd to see it at the same level as "Why Does the Sun Shine?", which they played at the first show I ever went to. "Fingertips" made up for a lot of ground, man (and was being played a lot right in that sweet spot where I went to shows all the damn time because they were touring with OK Go). I forget how much they played "Boss of Me" around then, too. I almost forgot that song exists.
Favorite Shows, Offhand, in Chronological Order:
2000-11-02 First OK Go opening!
2001-01-27 They open for themselves as a TMBG cover band.
2001-04-17 Cool second-encore of "Sleepwalkers" with the lights off.
2003-04-04 "Backwards" show, encore first.
2005-12-31 New Year's! At Northsix (tear).
Also, this can't count, because I don't remember it, but apparently I saw Demetri Martin open for them once. I didn't know who he was, even though I apparently enjoyed it. Get on the ball, Past Me!
No. of Times I've Seen Them Do "Museum of Idiots" (aka Our Wedding Song):
Eight. Not a rarity, but still a treat. It sounds better when they have horns, but the last time we saw them with horns they didn't play it in favor of "Bee of the Bird of the Moth" and "Withered Hope," which are not even a tenth as amazing as "Museum of Idiots," so I hope they put it back into the rotation right quick.
Album Representation:
(Percentage of each album I've seen live, regardless of frequency)
Flood (100%)
Mink Car (89%)
The Else (77%)
Factory Showroom & Apollo 18 (71%)
They Might Be Giants (68%)
The Spine & No! (65%)
Lincoln (56%)
John Henry (50%)
Clearly, they need to do a John Henry show. We went to a '90s-themed show recently, but that obviously wasn't enough. It probably was a de-facto Flood show. (Remember how TMBG did Flood shows before the play-albums-all-the-way-through fad started?) In any case, TMBG, round up a big band, get some horns, do a John Henry show, and encore with "Museum of Idiots."
10 Songs I Wish I'd Seen Live (No Particular Order):
"The Shadow Government"
"Prevenge"
"Your Own Worst Enemy"
"The Bells Are Ringing"
"They'll Need a Crane"
"The World's Address"
"Kiss Me, Son of God" (though I did see OK Go do this, and it was wonderful)
"I"ve Got a Match"
"Certain People I Could Name"
"Mr. Klaw"
I can understand why I haven't seen the older ones live. The fact that "The Shadow Government" and "Prevenge" are on there means that the songs the band likes to play from the most recent albums aren't really the same songs I want to hear. Really, some of the recent songs that seem like tour staples aren't my favorite. (Mostly "Bee of the Bird of the Moth." Did I complain about that one already? Well, that song is totally boring!) I hope it changes this time around, since the Williamsburg Waterfront show is going to be short and I'm not going to have a lot of room for duff songs. Then again, I really like most of the new album, so I bet most of it will be great. Stay tuned.
Note: I know Jesse did his own chart. I have to admit upfront that he finished his before mine, even though I'm beating him to posting the results. He's also been to more shows than me, so it was way harder for him, too. The world is unjust!