John Henry
Artist: They Might Be Giants
Produced by Paul Fox & They Might Be Giants
John Flansburgh (guitars, vocals)
John Linnell (keyboards, horns, vocals)
with
Brian Doherty (drums)
Tony Maimone (bass)
Kurt Hoffman (horns)
Steven Bernstein (trumpet)
Frank London (trumpet)
Kevin Osborne (trombone)
Jay Sherman Godfrey (lead guitar)
Robert Quine (guitar solos)
Graham Maby (bass)
Hudson Shad: Wilbur Pauley, Peter Becker, Hugo Munday,
Mark Bleeke, William Douglas Vannice
Subliminal
Snail Shell
Sleeping in the Flowers
Unrelated Thing
AKA Driver
I Should Be Allowed To Think
Extra Savoir-Faire
Why Must I Be Sad?
Spy
O, Do Not Forsake Me
No One Knows My Plans
Dirt Bike
Destination Moon
A Self Called Nowhere
Meet James Ensor
Thermostat
Window
Out Of Jail
Stomp Box
The End of the Tour
CD US Elektra ? (promo, pre-release 26 Jul 94)
CD US Elektra 61654-2
Lyrics transcribed by [email protected]
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Subliminal
As I got hit by a car there was a message for me / As I went through the
windshield, I noticed something / Subliminal / In an unnoticeable way /
Important / and hard to see / Subliminal / Subliminal / While lying there in
my bed there was a message for me / As I went through the pillow, I noticed
something / Subliminal / in an unnoticeable way / Important / and hard to see
/ Subliminal / Subliminal / Stare into the subliminal for as long as you can
Snail Shell
Sir hand / or is it ma'am / I fell out of my right place again / and you /
considered me / and now I'm where a snail has to be / I want to thank you for
putting me back into my snail shell / I want to thank you for putting me back
in my snail shell / Was it something you would do for anybody? / Was it what
you'd only do for me? / I need to know because you see / I want to thank you
for putting me back in my snail shell / Friend / look what you gave / and how
can you ever be repaid? / How may I give you a hand / from the position at
your feet where I stand? / So let me thank you for putting me back in my snail
shell / Snail Shell / Thank you / Snail Shell / Thank you / Ah / Ah / Ah / Was
it something you would do for anybody? / Was it what you'd only do for me? /
Or was it something where you acted when you saw the need / and knew that
there would be a way the act could be repaid / And so it may, but for today /
I want to thank you for putting me back in my snail shell
Sleeping in the Flowers
I got a crush / Copy shop clerk / But she won't look up at me / Don't want to
be known as the freak who comes around to catch her eye / We could be sleeping
in the flowers / We could sleep all afternoon / You'd proclaim that you're an
island / I'll proclaim that I'm one too / Then we float into the harbor with
just piers and boats around / I declare that I am England / You declare that I
have drowned / I got a ride home with a drunk guy / How ungrateful I must have
seemed / He showed me how to spin my head round and round / We'll be sleeping
in the flowers / Tell my boss that I've been fired
Unrelated Thing
Do you smile 'cause I'm funny? / said the man / I wasn't joking and I meant
the thing I said / not at all, not at all / said the woman to the man / I was
thinking of an unrelated thing / unconnected and free / no relationship to
anything / how come you never look me in the eye? / aren't you listening to me
said the man / not at all, not at all / said the woman to the man / I'm still
thinking of an unrelated thing / somewhere other than here / something else
besides the man / please explain the expression on your face / then I'll know
what's beneath it said the man / no you won't / said the woman to the man /
I'll be thinking of an unrelated thing
AKA Driver
I Should Be Allowed to Think
I saw the best minds of my generation / destroyed by madness, starving,
hysterical / I should be allowed to glue my poster / I should be allowed to
think / I should be allowed to glue my poster / I should be allowed to think /
I should be allowed to think / I should be allowed to think / and I should be
allowed to blurt the merest idea / if by random whim, one occurs to me / If
necessary, leave paper stains on the grey utility pole / I saw the worst bands
of my generation / applied by magic marker to dry wall / I should be allowed
to shoot my mouth off / I should have a call in show / I am not allowed / to
ever come up with a single original thought / I am not allowed to meet the
criminal government agent who oppresses me / I was the best hope of my
generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical / I should be allowed to
share my feelings / I should be allowed to feel / I should be allowed to glue
my poster / I should be allowed to think / I should be allowed to think / I
should be allowed to think / and I should be allowed to blurt the merest idea
/ if by random whim one occurs to me but sadly, this can never be / I am not
allowed to think
Extra Savoir-Faire
When I walk down the street, most guys look like elves / I don't mean to put
them down but they do / It's hard to understand me from the language that I
use / There's no word in English for my style / What's a man like me supposed
to do with all this extra savoir-faire? What is left for me to prove, dear? /
I know just what to do when the ladies come 'round / You can try to copy me
but you'll fail / Now, you might think you're different but time will prove me
right / When you wake up from your dream I'll be gone / What's a man like me
supposed to do with all this extra savoir-faire? / What is left for me to
prove, dear?
Why Must I Be Sad?
No More Mister Nice Guy / I Love the Dead / I've been thinking about it / Now
I understand he said / Ask me now / I understand the words that Alice said / I
kick the rocks beneath me / I squint at the sun / sad / sad / sad / sad / Why
must I be sad? / The rows of dandelions growing all around me / Why must I be
sad? / No one knows these things but me and him / so I'm writing everything
down in a spiral notebook / in the hopes that one day / other people will feel
as low as this / Why must I be sad?
Spy
I see you from my spy plane, baby / I see you walking on the ground / I see
you through my spy glasses, baby / I can see right through the ground / If you
want to be a spy then you must really see / And you must really see if you
want to be a spy like me / I might gaze on a submarine / I see your face
smiling at me / Even when I close my eyes your silhouette is smiling at me /
But you will never understand me because I have a special job / I wish I could
break the spy glass / Set it free / So we could be...
O, Do Not Forsake Me
O, do not forsake me, my indolent friends / O, do not forsake me for you know
I must spend all my darkest hours talking like this for I am one thousand
years old / One thousand years old / Sure, you think that's old / One thousand
years old, but what do you know? / In my darkest hour I'm talking like this
for I am one thousand years old / Oh, some have forgotten the flower of speech
and walks through the garden where I go to defend misbegotten notions while
talking like this / For I am one thousand years old / One thousand years old /
Sure, I'd say that's old / One thousand years old, but what do I know? / In
your darkest hour, my indolent friends, we'll be one thousand years old
No One Knows My Plan
In my prison cell I think these words / I was careless / I can see that now /
I must be silent / must contain my secret smile / I want to tell you / you my
mirror / you my iron bars / When I made a shadow on my window shade / they
called the police and testified / But they're like the people chained up in
the cave / in the allegory of the people in the cave / by the Greek guy / No
one understands / No one knows my plan / Why the dancing, shouting / why the
shrieks of pain / the lovely music / why the smell of burning autumn leaves /
In my prison cell I bide my time / Always thinking / always busy cooking up an
angle / working on the tiny blueprint of the angle / sketching out the burning
autumn leaves / No one understands / No one knows my plan / I must be silent,
must contain my secret smile / I want to tell you / you my mirror / you my
iron bars / No one understands / No one knows my plan
Dirt Bike
Here comes the dirt bike / Beware of the dirt bike / Because I hear they're
coming to our town / They've got plans for everyone / And now I hear they're
over their sophomore jinx, so you had better check it out / All hail the dirt
bike / Philosopher dirt bike / Silence as we gathered round / We saw the word
and were on our way / Now it's brain washing dirt bike / Ground shaking dirt
bike / Mind bending dirt bike in control / Soul crushing dirt bike / Self
propelled dirt bike / You see I never thought I'd understand 'til that bike
took me by the hand / Now I ride...
Destination Moon
Don't bother to call this room / There's nobody here who can pick up / or has
stuff they need to talk about / and who won't be now / checking out and flying
/ by rocket to the moon / by airplane to the rocket / by taxi to the airport /
by front door to the taxi / by throwing back the blanket, hanging down the
legs / Thank you for the card with the cartoon nurse / but you see there's
nothing wrong with me / You think "that's what you think." / "that's what they
all say," / before I blow you away / by rocket to the moon / by airplane to
the rocket / by taxi to the airport / by front door to the taxi / by throwing
back the blanket, hanging down the legs / Soon the man who sweeps the room /
brings the secret telegram: / "COMMENCE OFFICIAL INTERPLANETARY EXPLORATION" /
By rocket to the moon / crawl to the rocket / by coughing at the airport / by
limping to the taxi / by throwing back the blanket / hanging down the withered
leg
A Self Called Nowhere
I'm sitting on the curb / by the empty parking lot / of the store where they
let me play the organ / I'm waiting for my ride / but I want to wait inside /
of the store where they let me play the organ / but I'm thinking of a wooden
chair / in a room at the top of a stair / and I'm looking down the stairwell /
at the vanishing dot / on the map of the spot / let me take you there / the
dotted line / surrounding the mind / of a self called nowhere / it's a thing
named "it" / in a bottomless pit / you can't see it there / the sunken head /
that lies in the bed / of a self called nowhere / Standing in my yard / where
they tore down the garage / to make room for the torn down garage / I'm
looking for my car / but I must have sold my car when I needed to buy an
electric organ
Meet James Ensor
Meet James Ensor, Belgium's famous painter / Dig him up and shake his hand /
Appreciate the man / Before there were junk stores, before there was junk, he
lived with his mother and the torments of Christ / The world was transformed /
A crowd gathered round / Pressed against his window so they could be the first
to meet James Ensor, Belgium's famous painter / Raise a glass and sit and
stare / Understand the man / He lost all his friends / He didn't need his
friends / He lived with his mother and repeated himself / The world has
forgotten / The world moved along / The crowd at his window went back to their
homes
Thermostat
When the hands that operate the motor lose control of the lever / When the
mind of it's own in the wheel puts two and two together / When the indicator
says you're out of oil should you continue driving anyway? / There's a
thermostat that regulates the temperature / that might not be reliable / that
should be disconnected / Turn it up, turn it down / Turn it up when the cold
brings you down / when the heat bothers you turn it down / Turn it up, turn it
down / as I was just saying / as I was just saying / as I was just telling you
a minute ago / I was just talking and someone interrupted / Or was it a loud
explosion? / Or is the thermostat engulfed in flames / or is it just me?
Window
Look at all the people in the window / I'm checking out the people in the
window / I was uncomfortable now I'm uncomfortable / the trouble I encountered
when I thought it was, it was a window / It was a catalog / of many women, men
/ the window / window / window
Out Of Jail
Long before the screen door slammed, she was out of Xenia / A stranger could
have loved that town but she had to leave / I wish I'd gotten to know her
before I fell in love / I could say who's to blame, say who's the man in this
cautionary tale / But I swore I'd be true and I'll swear and I'll swear til
Kitten's out of jail / it was like a TV show, the way she stole that car /
Easy now to criticize. Easy now to talk / I thought my luck was changing / I
guess I was wrong / Didn't want to be a slave / Just turned out that way / I
could say she's to blame, say she's the man in this cautionary tale / But I
swore I'd be true and I'll swear and I'll swear until Kitten's out of jail
Stomp Box
Stomp Box speak my thought / Vent these voices from the dark / Shout Shout
Shout Shout / Scream it out / Blast your missive / Tell the wordless message /
Little Stomp Box / tear it from my heart / 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
The End of the Tour
There's a girl with a crown and a scepter / who's on WLSD / and she says that
the scene isn't what it's been / and she's thinking of going home / That it's
old and it's totally over now / and it's old and it's over it's over now / and
it's over it's over it's over now / I can see myself / at the end of the tour
/ when the road disappears / if there's any more people around when the tour
runs aground / and if you're still around / then we'll meet at the end of the
tour / The engagements are booked through the end of the world so we'll meet
at the end of the tour / Never to part since the day we met out on Interstate
91 / I was bent metal you were a flaming wreck when we kissed at the overpass
/ I was sailing along with the people driving themselves to distraction inside
me / then came a knock on the door / which was odd / and the picture abruptly
changed / This was the vehicle these were the people / you opened the door and
expelled all the people / This was the vehicle these were the people / you let
them go / at the end of the tour when the road disappears / if there's any
more people around when the tour runs aground / and if you're still around
then we'll meet at the end of the tour / the engagements are booked through
the end of the world so we'll meet at the end of the tour and we're never
gonna tour again / No, we're never gonna tour again