@ALBUM: Flood Artist: They Might Be Giants 1990 Elektra Records All selections by They Might Be Giants unless noted. ------------------------------------------------------ @SONG: Theme from Flood Why is the world in love again? Why are we marching hand in hand? Why are the ocean levels rising up? It's a brand new record for 1990 They Might Be Giants' brand new album: Flood ------------------------------------------------------ @SONG: Birdhouse in Your Soul I'm your only friend I'm not your only friend But I'm a little glowing friend But really I'm not actually your friend But I am CHORUS Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch Who watches over you Make a little birdhouse in your soul Not to put too fine a point on it Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet Make a little birdhouse in your soul I have a secret to tell >From my electrical well It's a simple message and I'm leving out The whistles and bells So the room must listen to me Filibuster vigilantly My name is blue canary one-word Spelled l-i-t-e My story's infinite Like the Longines Symphonette It doesn't rest CHORUS I'm your only friend I'm not your only friend But I'm a little glowing friend But really I'm not actually your friend But I am There's a picture opposite me Of my primitive ancestry Which stood on rocky shores and Kept the beaches shipwreck free Though I respect that a lot I'd be fired if that were my job After killing Jason off and Countless screaming Argonauts Bluebird of friendliness Like guardian angels its Always near CHORUS (And while you're at it Leave the nite lite on inside the Birdhouse in your soul) ---------------------------------------- @SONG: Lucky Ball and Chain I lost my lucky ball and chain And now she's four years gone Just five feet tall and sick of me And all my rattling on She threw away her baby-doll I held on to my pride But I was younng and foolish then I feel old and foolish now Confidentially She never called me baby-doll Confidentially I never had much pride But now I rock a bar stool and I drink for two Just pondering this time bomb in my mind CHORUS She walked away from a happy man I thought I was so cool I just stood there whistling "There goes the bride" As she walked out the door I could shake my tiny fist And swear I wasn't wrong But what's the sense in arguing When you're all alone? Sure as you can't steer a train You can't change your fate When she told me of that day I knew I'd lost my home Confidentially I never told you of her charms Confidentially We never had a home But this railroad apartment Was the perfect place When she'd sit and hold me in her arms I lost my lucky ball and chain And now she's four years gone Just five feet tall and sick of me And all my rattling on CHORUS ------------------------------------------------- @SONG: Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (J. Kennedy/N. Simon) Istanbul was Constantinople Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople Been a long time gone, Constantinople Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night Every gal in Constantinople Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople So if you've got a date in Constantinople She'll be waiting in Istanbul Even old New York Was once New Amsterdam Why they changed it I can't say People just liked it better that way So take me backto Constantinople No, you can't go back to Constantinople Been a long time gone, Constantinople Why did Constantinople get the works? That's nobody's business but the Turks' Istanbul ---------------------------------------------------- @SONG: Dead I returned a bag of groceries Accidentally taken off the shelf Before the expiration date I came back as a bag of groveries Accidentally taken off the shelf Before the date stamped on myself CHORUS Did a large procession wave their Torches as my hed fell in the basket And was everybody dancing on the casket? Now it's over I'm dead and I haven't Done anything that I want Or, I'm still alive And there's nothing I want to do I will never say the word "Procrastinate" again; I'll never See myself in the mirror with my eyes closed I didn't apologize foor when I was eight And I made my younger brother Have to be my personal slave CHORUS So I won't sit at home anymore And you wn't see my head in the window And I won't be around ever anymore And I7ll be up there on the wall at the store I returned a bag of groceries Accidentally taken off the shelf Before the expiration date I came back as a bag of groceries Accidentally taken off the shelf Before the date stamped on myself CHORUS ------------------------------------------------------ @SONG: Your Racist Friend CHORUS This is where the party ends I can't stand here listening to you And your racist friend I now politics bore you But I feel llike a hypocrite talking to you You and your racist friend It was the loveliest party that I've ever attended If anything was broken I'm sure it could be mended My hed is tired from bobbing and pretending Listen to some bullet-head And the madness that he's saying This is where the party ends I'll just sit here wondering how you Cn stand by your racist friend I know politics bore you But I feel like a hypocrite Talking to yo You and your racist friend Out from the kitchen To the bedroom to the hallway Your friend apologizes, he could see it my way He let the contents of the bottle do the thinking Can't shake the devil's hand And say you're only kidding CHORUS --------------------------------------------------------- @SONG: Particle Man Particle man, particle man Doing the thins a particle can What's he like? It's not important Particle man Is he a dot, or is he a speck? When he's underwater Does he get wet? Or does the water get him instead? Nobody knows Particle man Triangle man, Triangle man Triangle man hates particle man They hve a fight Triangle wins Triangle man Universe man, Universe man Size of the entire universe man Usually kind to smaller man Universe man He's got a watch with a minute hand Millenium hand and an eon hand And when they meet it's a happy land Powerful man, universe man Person man, person man Hit on the head with a frying pan Lives his life in a garbage can Person man Is depressed or is he a mess Does he feel totally worthless? Who came up with person man? Degraded man, person man Triangle man, triangle man Triangle man hates person man They have a fight Triangle wins Triangle man --------------------------------------------- @SONG: Twisting She set your goldfish free And now she's sighing Blew out your pilot light And made a wish She doesn't have to have her db's records back now But there's not a lot of things That she'll take back CHORUS She wants to see you again She wants to see you again See you twisting in the wind She's not your satellite She doesn't miss you So turn off your smoke machine And Marshall stack She doesn't have to have Her Young Fresh Fellows tape back But there's not a lot of things That she'll take back CHORUS --------------------------------------- @SONG: We Want a Rock Where was I? I forgot The point that I was making I said if I was smart that I would Save up for a piece of string and a rock to wind the string around Everybody wants a rock To wind a piece of string around Throw the crib door wide Let the people crawl inside Someone in this town Is trying to burn their playhouse down They want to stop the ones who want A rock to wind a string around But everybody wants a rock To wind a piece of string around If I were a carpenter I'd Hammer on my piglet I'd collect the seven dollars and I'd Buy a big prosthetic forehead And wear it on my real head Everybody wants prosthetic Foreheads on their real heads Throw the crib door wide Let the foreheads come inside Someone in this town Is trying to burn the foreheads down They want to stop the ones who want Prosthetic foreheads on their heads ------------------------------------------- @SONG: Someone Keeps Moving My Chair Mr. Horrible Mr. Horrible Telephone call for Mr. Horrible But before he can talk to the ugliness men There's some horrible business left For him to attend to Something unpleasant has spilled on his brain As he sponges it off they say: "Is this Horrible? Is this Horrible? It's the ugliness men, Mr. Horrible We're just trying to bug you We thought our ddreadfulness Might be a thing to annoy you with." CHORUS But Mr. Horrible says, "I don't mind, The thing that bothers me is Someone keeps moving my chair." "Would you mind if we balance This glass of milk Where your visiting friend Accidentally was killed? Would it be okay with you If we wrote a reminder of things we'll forget to do today otherwise using a green magic marker, if it's alright On the back of your head? CHORUS --------------------------------------------------- @SONG: Hearing Aid Forsty the supervisor lives by himself Sometimes I feel sorry for him Usually I can't I've turned off my hearing aid Don't say the electric chair's not good enough For king-lazy-bones like myself More coffee for me boss Because I'm not as messed up as I want to be Because Because --------------------------------------------------- @SONG: Minimum Wage Minimum Wage....HEYAH!!!! --------------------------------------------------- @SONG: Letterbox I'll never know what you'll find when you Open up your letter box tomorrow 'Cause a little bird never tells me anything I want to know, she's my best friend She's a sparrow CHORUS And I'll never know what you never never Want to know when you know What you are-o If I had a pair of eyes in the back of my hed For each time you forgot to take out All the things you forgot to talk about When you took a bite out of my spine I would have a lot of eyes on me by this time Wouldn't I? Wouldn't that just be fine CHORUS ---------------------------------------------------- @SONG: Whistling in the Dark A woman came up to me and said "I'd like to poison your mind With wrong ideas that appeal to you Though I am not unkind." She looked at me, I looked at something Written across her scalp And this is what it faintly said As I tried to call for help: CHORUS There's only one thing That I know how to do well And I've often been told that you only can do What you know how to do well And that's be you Be what you're like Be like yourself And so I'm having a wonderful time But I'd rather be whistling in the dark There's only one thing that I like And that is whistling in the dark A man came up to me and said "I'd like to change your mind By hitting with a rock," he said, "Though I am not unkind." We laughed at his little joke and then I merrily walked away And hit my head on the wall of the jail Where the two of us live todaay CHORUS ----------------------------------------------- @SONG: Hot Cha CHORUS Hot Cha, where are you? Everybody's eyes are closed I can't see why I miss you so So Hot Cha, where are you? First time Hot Cha went away A floating island was his home then the phone rang off the hook And Hot Cha had to run back home CHORUS Second time he went away Left the bathtub running over Stereo on and cooking bacon Never came back to tell us why CHORUS If that honey would come back We would throw such a party Drink and cook the prodigal son Fondue forks for everybody CHORUS ------------------------------------------ @SONG: Women and Men When the ship runs out of ocean and the vessel runs aground Land's where we know the boat is found Now there's nothing unexpected About the water running out "Land's" not a word we have to shout But there's something beside the shoreline Coming up from the shipwreck Moving across the beachhead Making as if to say CHORUS Women and men Women and men Women and men Bringing with them messages of love And everywhere they go love will grow When you see the faces of the women And the men, you too will know Women and men have crossed the ocean they now begin to pour Out from the boat and up the shore Two by two they enter the jungle And soon they number more Three by three as well as four by four Soon the stream of people gets wider Then it becomes a river River becomes an ocean Carrying ships that bear CHORUS -------------------------------------------- @SONG: Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love Pistol shots Gun shots Pistol shots gun shots Bullets from a revolver Bullets from a gun Bullets through the atmosphere here they come John I've been bad and they're Coming after me Done someone wrong and I fear That it was me Sapphire bullets Bullets of pure love ------------------------------------------- @SONG: They Might Be Giants They might be giants They might be rain They might be heat They might be frying up a stalk of wheat They might be brain They might be washed They might be Dr. Spock's backup band CHORUS Tabloid footprints in your hair Tabid footprints everywhere We can't be silent Because they might be giants And what are we gong to do unless they are They might be giants They might be bald They might be snow They might be something else in the snow The might be fake they might be lies The might be big, big, fake, fake lies CHORUS ---------------------------------------------------- @SONG: Road Movie to Berlin We're in a road movie to Berlin Can't drive out the way we drove in So sneak out this glass of bourbon And we'll go We were once so close to heaven Peter came out and gave us medals Declaring us the nicest of the damned You said you were the king of liars And I believed you and called you sire But I realize now that I have been deceived Time won't find the lost It'll sweep up our skeleton bones So take the wheel and I will take the pedals We're in a road movie to Berlin Can'T drive out the way we drove in So sneak out this glass of bourbon And we'll go --------------------------------------------------- DON'T BLAME ME... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Eric Wincentsen "Greetings from the Humungous- 267@ef.gc.maricopa.edu The Lord Humungous!" Glendale Community College, -The Road Warrior Glendale, Arizona ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I DIDN'T VOTE FOR SLICK WILLY!