My America

This is the newest They Might Be Giants song. They will release another one tomorrow night.


Dial-A-Song has been rebooted in a sleek, far less chaotic fashion. The lo-fi "dial" part of the equation still exists but only as a nod. The main attraction is now a website with music videos of varying degrees of professionalism.

I believe the idea is that some or many of the 52 tracks They plan on 'sharing' in this way will end up officially being released on a new record. Clearly, more time has been spent on these productions compared to the phone-only demo tape versions of Dial-A-Songs of yore—the tonal phone-ness being the great equalizer when it comes to (poor^) sonic quality (hear for yourself: 844-387-6962)—and, to my ears, these new tunes sound like finished products.

I could riff on here about integrity and aesthetics and some other extremely minor issues I have with the project^, but I'd like to make some notes about this particular song instead, which I feel is excellent.

"No Cops" is a deeply weird song. They posted the lyrics on the TMBG website and I'd like to share them here:

Hello balcony and folks on the floor
Hello to the sound man, hello to the door
Man smoking out on the street
He can’t comprehend the screaming

We’ve locked all the doors and please understand
We’ve nailed down the latch so meet our demands
In the time that we permit, or else the band will get it

We are here to steal your dreams
Just listen and comply
No cops, no cops, no cops, no cops
Just They Might Be Giants
No cops, no cops, no cops, no cops
Just They Might Be Giants

What's happening here? Someone or someones has infiltrated a TMBG concert, barricaded the audience in and is threatening the band member's life if their "demands" are not met. It's hard to believe this isn't a metaphor for something. What or whom is the menacing unseen presence and why are they holding the band hostage? What could the audience possibly have that is worth murdering a nerd-rock quintet?

There are some other fascinating concerns as well, such as which John is singing this tune? I was initially convinced it was John F., but now I'm not so sure. This marks perhaps the first time in the band's history this wasn't crystal clear. It's also difficult to hear/interprate a song with a title like "No Cops" released in 2015 by a New York-based band and not immediately think about Eric Gerner and the NYPD. It's a fairly cheeky move titling the song this, imo, especially given the realities of the absurd, and starkly apolitical subject matter. But I digress.

We are three songs into this 52-song project and I could not be happier that there's new TMBG music in my life each week.