“Ringrazio Pretazzo per avermi riportato alla mente questo Meraviglioso Gruppo e dedico a lui la Recensione.” (CaptainHowdy)
“They might be Giants” è il nome, tratto da un Film, scelto da due simpatici New Yorkesi (Brooklyn esattamente) ad inizio anni '80 per proporre la loro miscela di Pop Rock Cabarettistico intinto in abbondanti dosi di umorismo nero: influenzato da riferimenti teatrali (in bilico tra il Musical Americano ed il Non Sense Inglese alla Monty Python) il loro omonimo esordio (conosciuto anche come “Pink Album”) è un vero capolavoro di raffinate collusioni tra la Musica Colta (critici di spicco han tirato fuori pure il nome di Zappa anche se, ad occhio e croce, probabilmente a lui stesso il termine faceva orrore) ed il Pop più semplice, preso però nel vero significato del termine e cioè “Popolare, derivante da esperienze della gente comune e della vita vera.
Il Disco consta di 19 canzoncine, veloci nel loro svolgimento (il disco non supera i 39 minuti) che hanno tutte come comune denominatore barzellette e storielle dedicate, nella quasi totalità, ad argomenti ed eventi tra il macabro e l'inconsueto: nelle loro liriche si trovano sbeffeggiati (ma sempre con intelligenza, senso dell'ironia e istinto satirico nei confronti della propria nazione) avvenimenti come Funerali, Morti Improvvise ed altri meno tragici ma pur sempre tristi come licenziamenti e delusioni d' amore.
Il senso umoristico viene aumentato dall'ambientazione musicale proposta dai due: in pochi secondi si passa repentinamente da atmosfere Folk o Country fino a fioriture Jazzistiche, passando per ampie concessioni alla Musica per l'Infanzia se non a quella proposta dai Jingle Pubblicitari, il tutto in tono farsesco ed inserendo nella classica struttura orchestrale Rock Pop pure strumenti abbastanza inconsueti come il Clavicembalo od altri di tipo bandistico.
Un Astrattismo Sonoro che affascina pur nella sua (apparente) semplicità ed un'esperienza da gustare previa consultazione dei testi per non perdersi l'”Elegante Sarcasmo” dei due.
Se non vi fidate almeno provate con la paradossale “Hope That I Get Hold Before I Die” e poi mi direte...
Mo.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Everything Right Is Wrong Again (02:22)
Everything right is wrong again
Just like in the long long trailer
All the dishes got broken and the car kept driving
And nobody would stop to save her
Wake me when it's over, touch my face
Tell me every word has been erased
Don't you want to know the reason
Why the cupboard's not appealing
Don't you get the feeling that
Everything that's right is wrong again
You're a weasel overcome with dinge
Weasel overcome but not before the damage done
The healing doesn't stop the feeling
Everything right is wrong again
Just like in the long long trailer
All the dishes got broken and the car kept driving
And nobody would stop to save her
And now the song is over now
And now the song is over now
And now the song is over now
The song is over now
Everything right is wrong again
Every movement false, every four is waltz again
Every five and dime's been gained and spent
Tell me that you like my float upstream
Draw the line dividing laugh and scream
You know everything that I know so I know
You've heard the voice that makes the silent noise
That says that
Everything that's right is wrong again
You're a weasel overcome with dinge
Weasel overcome but not before the damage done
The healing doesn't stop the feeling
Everything right is wrong again
Just like in the long long trailer
All the dishes got broken and the car kept driving
And nobody would stop to save her
And now the song is over now
And now the song is over now
And now the song is over now
03 Number Three (01:29)
There's only two songs in me
And I just wrote the third
Don't know where I got the inspiration
Or how I wrote the words
Spent my whole life digging up my music's shallow grave
For the two songs in me and the third one I just made
A rich man once told me,
"Hey life's a funny thing"
A poor man once told me that
He can't afford to speak
Now i'm in the middle like a bird without a beak
Cuz there's just two songs in me
And I just wrote the third
Don't know where I got the inspiration
Or how I wrote the words
Spent my whole life digging up my music's shallow grave
For the two songs in me and the third one I just made
Well I went to the President
And I asked old whats-his-name
Has he ever gotten writers block
Or something like the same
He just started talking like he was on tv
"If there's just two songs in ya boy, whaddaya want from me?"
So i bought myself some denim pants and a silver guitar
And i politely told the ladies you still have to call me sir
I have to keep my self respect or i'll never be a star
cuz there's just two songs in me and this is....
NUMBER THREEEEEEEEEEEEEE
04 Don't Let's Start (02:38)
Chorus:
Don't Don't Don't let's start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you're my precious little girl
But don't don't don't let's start
I've got a weak heart
And I don't get around how you get around
When you are alone you are the cat, you are the phone
You are an animal
The words I'm singing now
Mean nothing more than meow to an animal
Wake up and smell the cat food in your bank account
But don't try to stop the tail that wags the hound
D, world destruction
Over an overture
N, do I need
Apostrophe T, need this torture?
Chorus
No one in the world ever gets what they want and that is beautiful
Everybody dies frustrated and sad and that is beautiful
They want what they're not and I wish they would stop saying,
Deputy dog dog a ding dang depadepa
Deputy dog dog a ding dang depadepa
D, world destruction
Over an overture
N, do I need
Apostrophe T, need this torture?
Chorus
I don't want to live in this world anymore
I don't want to live in this world
Chorus
05 Hide Away Folk Family (03:23)
Hide away, folk family
Or else someone's gonna get ya (someone's gonna get ya)
Someone's gonna get ya
Hide away, folk family
Better hide away
Better hide away
Tippy toe to the front door, Mother
'Cause there's a guy with a long, long fuse
And the one thing you can't hide
Is all the fear you feel inside
As the fuse is spelling out these words
Hide away, folk family
Or else someone's gonna get ya (someone's gonna get ya)
Someone's gonna get ya
Hide away, folk family
Better hide away
Better hide away
Tippy toe to the flatbed, Father
Because they're pouring out our gasoline
And sadly the cross-eyed bear's been put to sleep behind the stairs (sadly)
And his shoes are laced with irony
Hide away, folk family
Or else someone's gonna get ya (someone's gonna get ya)
Someone's gonna get ya
Hide away, folk family
Better hide away
Better hide away
"Hello, this is Lesley Down with the Daily Home Astrology Report:
Taurus, contemplate domestic turmoil
Aquarius, abandon hope for future plans..."
Hide away, folk family
Or else someone's gonna get ya (someone's gonna get ya)
Someone's gonna get ya
Hide away, folk family
Better hide away
Better hide away
(Hide away) Hide away
(Folk family) Folk family
(Or else someone's gonna get ya) Someone's gonna get ya
Hide away
Hide away
(fake backwards singing)
06 32 Footsteps (01:37)
32 footsteps leading to the room where the paint doesn't want to dry
32 footsteps running down the road where the dirt reaches the sky
32 feathers in my brand new Indian headdress
32 new moons shining in 32 skies
What's the reason, why'd she go?
Where's my baby, I don't know
32 footsteps, counted them myself, 32 footsteps
Bing bang bingalong cing cang cingalong
Ding dang dingalong day
Fing fang fingalong ging gang gingalong
Hing hang hingalong hay
Jing jang jingalong king kang kingalong
Ling lang lingalong lay
Ming mang mingalong ning nang ningalong
Ping pang pingalong pay
What's the reason, why'd she go?
Where's my baby, I don't know
32 footsteps, counted them myself, 32 footsteps
32 lies my ears never saw when the floorboards gave way
32 walls come tumbling down and the night turns to day
32 infantrymen running in place
32 boxcars, all of them have your face
What's the reason, why'd she leave?
Don't you know we're on the eve of
32 footsteps? Counted them myself, 32 footsteps
(28)
(no)
(29)
(no)
(30)
(no)
(31)
07 Toddler Hiway (00:27)
In the mornin' sun 'round seven o'clock
The parking lot fills around Toys-Я-Us
And my little girl, she will get away
Ride her bike down Toddler Hiway
Take your Close'n'Play
Toddler Hiway
08 Rabid Child (01:33)
(Lord, please don't take me away.)
Rabid child stays at home, talks on a CB
Truckers pass calling out their handles to the kid
Chess Piece Face and The Big Duluth call her every day
"Hammer down" and "rabbit ears" are the only words they know
(Hammer down)
(Hammer down, rabbit ears)
(Hammer down, rabbit ears)
(Hammer down, rabbit ears, hammer down)
If you pass the rabid child say "hammer down" for me
The rabid child
The rabid child
The rabid child
09 Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes (02:00)
All the people are so happy now, their heads are cavin' in
I'm glad they are a snowman with protective rubber skin
But every little thing's a domino that falls on different dots (yo)
And crashes into everything that tries to make it stop (oooo)
And the mirror, it reflects a tiny dancin' skeleton
Surrounded by a fleshy overcoat and swaddled in
A furry hat, elastic mask, a pair of shiny marble dice (yo)
Some people call them snake eyes but to me they look like mice
And nothing's smellin' like a rose
But I don't care if no one's coming up for air
'Cause I know nothing's gonna change my clothes ever anymore
All the people are so happy now, their heads are cavin' in
I'm glad they are a snowman with protective rubber skin
But every little thing's a domino that falls on different dots (yo)
And crashes into everything that tries to make it stop (oooo)
And nothing's smelling like a rose
But I don't care if no one's coming up for air
I know nothing's gonna change my clothes ever anymore
No no no no nothing's smelling like a rose
But I don't care if no one's coming up for air
I know that nothing's gonna change my clothes ever anymore
Oh!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
11 She's an Angel (02:39)
I met someone at the dog show
She was holding my left arm
But everyone was acting normal so I tried to look nonchalant.
We both said, "I really love you,"
The Shriners loaned us cars
We raced up and down the sidewalk twenty thousand million times
Why did they send her over anyone else?
How should I react? These things happen to other people
They don't happen at all, in fact
When you're following an angel
Does it mean you have to throw your body off a building?
Somewhere they're meeting on a pinhead
Calling you an angel, calling you the nicest things
I heard they had a space program
When they sing you can't hear, there's no air
Sometimes I think I kind of like that and
Other times I think I'm already there
Gonna ask for my admission
Gonna speak to the man in charge
The secretary says he's on another line,
Can I hold for a long, long time?
I found out she's an angel
I don't think she knows I know
I'm worried that something might happen to me
If anyone ever finds out
Why, why did they send her over anyone else?
How should I react? These things happen to other people
They don't happen at all
When you're following an angel
Does it mean you have to throw your body off a building?
Somewhere they're meeting on a pinhead
Calling you an angel, calling you the nicest things
I heard they had a space program
When they sing you can't hear, there's no air
Sometimes I think I kind of like that and
Other times I think I'm already there
When you're following an angel
Does it mean you have to throw your body off a building?
Somewhere they're meeting on a pinhead
Calling you an angel, calling you the nicest things
13 Boat of Car (01:17)
Johnny Cash:
"Daddy'll sing bass"
"Daddy'll sing bass"
"Daddy'll sing bass"
"Daddy'll sing bass"
Margaret Seiler:
I took my boat for a car
I took that car for a ride
I was trying to get somewhere
But now I'm following the traces of your fingernails
That run along the windshield*
On the boat of car
Johnny Cash:
"Daddy'll sing bass"
Margaret Seiler:
Traces of your fingernails
That run along the windshield
On the boat of car
On the boat of car
On the boat of car
On the boat of car
14 Absolutely Bill's Mood (02:40)
I was born in a light house
My mother was the sea
I crawled to school each morning
When it occured to me that
Lifes just a mood ring we're not allowed to see
And this is what it said to me:
My room's comfortably small with rubber lining the walls
And the sun always calling my name
He calls when I'm alone
And he calls when I'm not home
And he calls when I'm stuck out in the rain
I'm insane
I'm insane
I'm insane
I'm insane
Now listen all you swingers
Don't you try to tag along
I know monkey see but monkey's dead
For you it would be wrong
Put a dime in my juke box
You're gonna hear this song
It won't be fun for long
because
My room's comfortably small with rubber lining the walls
And the sun always calling my name
He calls when I'm alone
And he calls when I'm not home
And he calls when I'm stuck out in the rain
I'm insane
I'm insane
I'm insane
I'm insane
My room's comfortably small with rubber lining the walls
And the sun always calling my name
He calls when I'm alone
And he calls when I'm not home
And he calls when I'm stuck out in the rain
I'm insane
I'm insane
I'm insane
I'm insane
15 Chess Piece Face (01:23)
What's gonna happen to Chess Piece Face?
There go I but for my face
All I know could be defaced by the facts in the life of Chess Piece Face
I don't know where he lives
Or if he knows to sail
Or if little schemes like this one ever cross his trail
But I don't believe he's dreaming
Or if he cares to know
So I shudder in my lampshade
So what's gonna to happen to Chess Piece Face?
There go I but for my face
All I know could be defaced by the facts in the life of Chess Piece Face
Chess Piece Face
Chess Piece Face
Chess Piece Face.
16 I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die (02:00)
Sometimes I feel like being wispy
And once in a while I feel like being dry
But we're doomed and we're drowned by this feeling we surround
So I hope that I get old before I die
Ohhhhh
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
Clear off the kitchen table darling
For on the kitchen table I must lie
I'm just tired for my wife just served the banquet of my life
And I hope that I get old before I die
Ohhhhh
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
Ohhhhh
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
17 Alienation's for the Rich (02:27)
This song is dedicated to all you modern day troubadours out there
And I think I know who you are
I gotta get a job
I got to get some pay
My son's gotta go to art school
He's leavin' in three days
And the TV is in Esperanto
You know that that's a bitch
But alienation's for the rich
And I'm feelin' a-poorer every day
A-hey hey hey
Well I ain't feelin' happy
About the state of things in my life
But I'm workin' to make it better
With a six of Miller High Life
Just drinkin' and a-drivin'
A-makin' sure my dues get paid
Because alienation's for the rich
And I'm feelin' a-poorer every day
A-hey hey hey
Ah hahahaha!
Well I ain't feelin' happy
About the state of things in my life
But I'm workin' to make it better
With a six of Miller High Life
Just drinkin' and a-drivin'
A-makin' sure my dues get paid
Because alienation's for the rich
And I'm feelin' a-poorer every day
A-hey hey hey
A-hey hey hey
A-hey hey hey
Ah hahahahahahaha!
19 Rhythm Section Want Ad (02:21)
In a world we call our home there's lots of room to roam
Plenty of time to turn mistakes into rhyme
There's a place for those who love their poetry
It's just across from the sign that says, "Pros Only"
So if you like a band with a chick singer,
Say your cup of tea is a wall of trombones
If you dig Menudo, or MDC we salute you the way we know
For every one with dollar signs in his eyes
There must be hundreds who look at you as if you're some kind of
Rhythm section want ad
No others need apply to the rhythm section want ad
I'll tell you why
Hats off to the new age hairstyle made of bones
Hats off to the use of hats as megaphones
Speak softly, drive a Sherman tank
Laugh hard, it's a long way to the bank
Do you sing like Olive Oyl on purpose
You guys must be into the Eurythmics
For every one with dollar signs in his eyes
There must be hundreds who look at you as if you're some kind of
Rhythm section want ad
No others need apply to the rhythm section want ad
And here's the reason why
Hats off to the new age hairstyle made of bones
Hats off to the use of hats as megaphones
Speak softly, drive a Sherman tank
Laugh hard, it's a long way to the bank
Do you sing like Olive Oyl on purpose
You guys must be into the Eurythmics
For every one with dollar signs in his eyes
There must be hundreds who look at you as if you're some kind of
Rhythm section want ad
No others need apply to the rhythm section want ad
And here's the reason why
Rhythm section want ad
No others need apply to the rhythm section want ad
And here's the reason why
Why
Why
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