E Eats Everything Kiss Me Son Of God The Statue Got Me High They Might Be Giants

E Eats Everything Album: Here Come the ABCs (2005)
Kiss Me Son Of God Album: They Might Be Giants (1986)
The Statue Got Me High Album: The Statue Got Me High (1992)
by They Might Be Giants

Here Come the ABCs is the second children's album and eleventh studio album by They Might Be Giants, aimed at young children learning the alphabet. The CD and DVD were originally released separately but have since been released as a combo. There are 25 songs in the CD and 38 in the DVD.

While it was produced and released by Walt Disney Records under their Disney Sound label, the band was reportedly given complete creative control over the project, which at the time was very unusual for Walt Disney Records; until then, they had followed a strict artist control policy. As a result, the DVD features puppetry, animation and live action supplied by personal friends of the group, including AJ Schnack, who directed the TMBG documentary Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns). Family members of the band, including John Flansburgh's wife Robin Goldwasser, and John Linnell's son, Henry, contributed some guest vocals. The music videos that appear on the DVD were also aired (in part or whole) on the Disney Channel's children's programming block, Playhouse Disney.

Here Come the ABCs was a great success for They Might Be Giants, the video being certified Gold (sales over 50,000) in 2005. The album reached #1 on Billboard’s Children’s Music charts, won Parenting Magazine’s Children’s DVD of the Year Award and two National Parenting Publications Awards (NAAPA). In addition, Amazon.com called it "the best Children's Music album of 2005" and the 13th best overall album of 2005. Two follow-ups were released, Here Come the 123s in 2008 and Here Comes Science in 2009.

Here Come the ABCs is the second children's album and eleventh studio album by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, aimed at young children learning the alphabet. The CD and DVD were originally released separately but have since been released as a combo. There are 25 songs in the CD and 38 in the DVD.

While it was produced and released by Walt Disney Records under their Disney Sound label, the band was reportedly given complete creative control over the project, which at the time was very unusual for Walt Disney Records; until then, they had followed a strict artist control policy. As a result, the DVD features puppetry, animation and live action supplied by personal friends of the group, including AJ Schnack, who directed the TMBG documentary Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns). Family members of the band, including John Flansburgh's wife Robin Goldwasser, and John Linnell's son, Henry, contributed some guest vocals. The music videos that appear on the DVD were also aired (in part or whole) on the Disney Channel's children's programming block, Playhouse Disney.

Here Come the ABCs was a great success for They Might Be Giants, the video being certified Gold (sales over 50,000) in 2005. The album reached #1 on Billboard’s Children’s Music charts, won Parenting Magazine’s Children’s DVD of the Year Award and two National Parenting Publications Awards (NAAPA).[2] In addition, Amazon.com called it "the best Children's Music album of 2005" and the 13th best overall album of 2005. Two follow-ups were released, Here Come the 123s in 2008 and Here Comes Science in 2009.

"E Eats Everything" is track 3

They Might Be Giants was the second album to be released on the fledgling Bar/None label, with They Might Be Giants as the second group signed to the independent label. Many of the songs on the album existed in a demo form on the band's 1985 demo tape, which was also technically self-titled, though many were re-recorded or given new mixes for the commercial album.[4] The material from the tape was recorded at Studio PASS in New York City with the assistance of Alex Noyes, who permitted the band to use the studio after it closed each day. Additional recording and mixing was done at Dubway Studios.

Some unconventional recording techniques were used in the production of the album. The music is melodic, mostly uptempo synthesizer-and-guitar pop punctuated with odd sound samples and occasionally veering into sparse country- or folk-like arrangements. Drum and bass tracks are almost entirely synthesized, though the album prominently features the accordion. In order to record the guitar solo in "Absolutely Bill's Mood", the band telephoned Eugene Chadbourne in Greensboro, NC, from Dubway Studios. Chadbourne played the acoustic solo and it was recorded onto the studio's answering machine, then mixed into the song.

The album's cover art was illustrated by Rodney Alan Greenblat, who had no prior association with the band. It extends to the back cover of the album, and shows John Linnell and John Flansburgh riding a large blue dog. John Linnell commented that the illustration caused the record to be mistaken for a children's album. The art was pasted up by John Flansburgh.

"The Statue Got Me High" was written by John Linnell. Of the meaning of the song's lyrics, Linnell said:

It's kind of a song about having an epiphany or something. The song actually started with completely different lyrics. That's what I was saying about dummy lyrics. I think the song was called 'The Apple of My Eye'. When I came up with the line 'the statue got me high', it amused me. It was taking two things and putting them together - not a non sequitur but something sort of interesting and odd about the juxtaposition of those two things. Part of it is that it's the idea that the statue would be in a public square, a monument. Not necessarily a work of art, but something that's just utterly immobile and represents something that's in the past - just the idea of that blowing somebody's mind. It seems like one of the least likely things to make the top of your head come off, and that's what happens in the song.

Since its release Linnell has compared the lyrics of the song to the Mozart opera Don Giovanni, which also features a deadly confrontation with a statue.

Somebody compared the song to the story of Don Giovanni which I was not familiar with. It was kind of wonderful that they came up with that. It made the song more interesting to me.

A music video was produced for the single, directed by Adam Bernstein. It premiered on MTV's 120 Minutes in February, 1992. The video features John Linnell and John Flansburgh among various space-themed sculptures and fully suited astronauts at the Sepulveda Dam. At certain points, the video depicts John Linnell's head over a red silhouette of flames. A second version of the video, which does not show the flames and instead shows stock footage of a heartbeat monitor, was also produced, because according to Flansburgh, flames are not allowed to be shown on British television.

They Might Be Giants' name is derived from a movie from 1971 starring George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward, but according to the group, the name is of no greater significance.

The "two Johns" as they are often called, met in high school in Lincoln, Massachusetts, where they worked together in the school's newspaper, but didn't form the band until after they went to (different) college.

Early in the band's career there was a point when they couldn't perform live because Flansburgh had equipment stolen and Linnell broke his wrist. To compensate, they played tapes with various home recorded songs on their answering machine and promoted it as "Dial-A-Song." This service can still be reached today at (718) 387-6962.

TMBG created and performed numerous songs and themes for various TV shows or films, such as "Boss Of Me" for the show Malcolm In The Middle, the theme and all the incidental music for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and the song "Doctor Evil" that opens and closes Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. They have also written and performed theme songs for The Oblongs, Higglytown Heroes, Resident Life, and ABC's Nightline Primetime, as well as songs for The Simpsons, Home Movies, Dexter's Laboratory, Disney's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Courage the Cowardly Dog.

They have created 2 CDs of children's music: No! and Here Come the ABCs, and a children's book and CD set entitled Bed, Bed, Bed. Both albums were released to critical praise and reached #1 on Billboard's Children's Music charts. Here Come the ABCs won Parenting Magazine's Children's DVD of the Year Award and two National Parenting Publications Awards (NAAPA).