Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants

Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants
Compilation album by They Might Be Giants
Released	September 17, 2002
Recorded	1985–2002
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	150:16
Label	Rhino Records
Producer	Various
Compiler	John Flansburgh
They Might Be Giants chronology
They Got Lost (2002) Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants (2002) Bed, Bed, Bed (2003)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
The Austin Chronicle	[2]
Q	[3]
Robert Christgau	A[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[5]
Uncut	[6]

Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants is a 2002 compilation album by They Might Be Giants issued by Rhino Records and compiled by singer, songwriter, and guitarist John Flansburgh. Despite its name, the compilation does not include tracks from the band's "Dial-A-Song" service. It is instead an anthology of various album and live tracks from the band's history, spanning their full career up to the time of its release. It includes tracks from every album starting with 1986's They Might Be Giants up through No!, their first children's album, which was released only three months before this compilation.

The first disc focuses mainly on the group's singles and better-known album tracks. Disc two delves into more obscure fan favorites and live cuts.

Song notes

Some of the songs on the album are actually different versions than the original, such as:

• "Older" is the original version that featured on the album Long Tall Weekend and on the ABC show Brave New World.
• "Robot Parade" is the "Adult Version", with a more thrashy sort of sound, as opposed to the version from No!.
• "Boss of Me" is best known as the theme song to Malcolm in the Middle, although the version here is the full version, not the shortened version used on the show
• "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" is a cover, originally performed by The Four Lads
• "The Guitar" is a semi-remake of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
• "New York City" is a cover, originally performed by cub
• "Dr. Evil" was written for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
• "Why Does the Sun Shine (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas) (live)" is the live version of the song from Severe Tire Damage and it is a cover, originally recorded by Tom Glazer
• "James K. Polk" is a new unreleased version, although it is not labeled as such. It seems to include the same instrumentation as the version from Factory Showroom, but with different vocals
• "She's Actual Size (live)" is, along with the above "James K. Polk", the only other exclusive, unreleased song on the set
• "Spy (Original Version)" is listed as an exclusive, unreleased live version, but is actually the version of the song from Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)
• "Stormy Pinkness (live in Berlin)" is also listed as an exclusive, but it was previously released through the TMBG Unlimited mp3 service
• "Fingertips" on this album is one track while Apollo 18 had as 21 separate tracks
• This album contains the single remix of "Don't Let's Start" and "(She Was A) Hotel Detective"

Track listing

All songs by They Might Be Giants unless otherwise noted.

Disc 1
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original Release	Length
1.	"Birdhouse in Your Soul"	John Flansburgh, John Linnell	Flood	3:19
2.	"Ana Ng"		Lincoln	3:21
3.	"Don't Let's Start (Single Remix)"		Don't Let's Start EP	2:33
4.	"Boss of Me"		Boss of Me EP	2:58
5.	"Older"		Long Tall Weekend	1:52
6.	"Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"	Jimmy Kennedy, Nat Simon	Flood	2:35
7.	"Doctor Worm"		Severe Tire Damage	3:01
8.	"The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)"	Luigi Creatore, Hugo Peretti, George David Weiss	Apollo 18	3:49
9.	"Dr. Evil"		Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	1:50
10.	"New York City"	Robynn Iwata, Lisa Marr, Lisa Nielsen	Factory Showroom	3:05
11.	"Particle Man"		Flood	1:58
12.	"Cyclops Rock"		Mink Car	2:43
13.	"Minimum Wage"		Flood	0:46
14.	"Man, It's So Loud in Here"		Mink Car	4:03
15.	"We're the Replacements"		Don't Let's Start EP	1:49
16.	"Why Does the Sun Shine (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas) (Live)"	Lou Singer, Hy Zaret	Severe Tire Damage	2:20
17.	"Your Racist Friend"		Flood	2:54
18.	"Bangs"		Mink Car	3:14
19.	"Snail Shell"		John Henry	3:21
20.	"Twisting"		Flood	1:55
21.	"Another First Kiss"		Mink Car	3:07
22.	"They'll Need a Crane"		Lincoln	2:31
23.	"The Statue Got Me High"		Apollo 18	3:05
24.	"(She Was A) Hotel Detective (Single Remix)"		(She Was A) Hotel Detective EP	2:21
25.	"Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head"	Flansburgh, Linnell	They Might Be Giants	2:10
26.	"I Palindrome I"		Apollo 18	2:20
Total length:				79:14

Disc 2
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original Release	Length
1.	"She's an Angel"		They Might Be Giants	2:36
2.	"How Can I Sing Like a Girl?"		Factory Showroom	4:28
3.	"James K. Polk"	Matthew Hill, They Might Be Giants	Factory Showroom	3:05
4.	"Meet James Ensor"		John Henry	1:33
5.	"Mammal"		Apollo 18	2:13
6.	"Pet Name"		Factory Showroom	4:02
7.	"No!"		No!	1:29
8.	"I Can Hear You"		Factory Showroom	1:56
9.	"Spider"		Apollo 18	0:51
10.	"I Should Be Allowed to Think"		John Henry	3:07
11.	"Fingertips"		Apollo 18	4:33
12.	"She's Actual Size (Live)"		Previously unreleased	7:18
13.	"Spy (Original Version)"		Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas) EP	2:31
14.	"Stormy Pinkness (Live)"		TMBG Unlimited MP3 service	2:21
15.	"Exquisite Dead Guy"		Factory Showroom	2:02
16.	"Robot Parade (Adult Version)"		Working Undercover for the Man EP	1:05
17.	"Boat of Car"		They Might Be Giants	1:14
18.	"S-E-X-X-Y"	Hal Cragin, They Might Be Giants	Factory Showroom	3:52
19.	"Number Three"		They Might Be Giants	1:27
20.	"The End of the Tour"		John Henry	3:18
21.	"They Might Be Giants"		Flood	2:45
22.	"Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal"		Purple Toupee EP	3:48
23.	"Nightgown of the Sullen Moon"		They'll Need a Crane EP	1:59
24.	"Snowball in Hell"		Lincoln	2:31
25.	"Purple Toupee"		Lincoln	2:40
26.	"Cowtown"		Lincoln	2:21
Total length:				71:02

Personnel

• Zachary Alford – drums
• Amy Allison – vocals
• Danny Alonso – engineer
• Susan Anderson – photography
• Paul Angelli – engineer, mixing
• Ben Bailes – engineer
• Alan Bezozi – tambourine, drums (snare)
• Mark Bishop – engineer
• Albert Caiati – engineer
• Bruce Calder – assistant
• Steve Calhoon – drums
• Laura Cantrell – vocals
• Ron Caswell – tuba
• Bob Clearmountain – mixing
• Paula Court – photography
• Reuben Cox – photography
• Hal Cragin – bass
• Peter Dilg – producer
• Patrick Dillett – producer, engineer, mixing
• TJ Doherty – engineer
• Edward Douglas – engineer
• Tom Durack – producer, mixing
• Sheryl Farber – editorial supervision
• Mark Feldman – violin
• John Flansburgh – guitar, keyboards, vocals, compilation
• Alan Ford – engineer
• Paul Fox – producer
• Cheryl Fugate – project assistant
• Tony Gillis – engineer
• Barbara Glauber – design
• Matt Gold – engineer
• Robin "Goldie" Goldwasser – vocals
• Sue Hadjopoulas – percussion, conga
• Michael Halsband – photography
• Cosmo Heidtman – engineer
• Dan Hersch – remastering
• Dan Hickey – drums
• Nicholas Hill – vocals
• Kurt Hoffman – horn, horn arrangements, string arrangements
• Al Houghton – engineer
• Jim Hughes – compilation
• Bill Inglot – remastering
• Hiro Ishihara – engineer
• Luis Jardim – percussion
• Beverly Joel – design
• Julie Kantner – photography
• Gregor Kitzis – violin
• Julian Koster – singing saw
• Bill Krauss – producer, engineer
• Chris Laidlaw – engineer
• Rich Lamb – engineer
• Clive Langer – producer
• Ron Lawrence – viola
• Dan Levine – trombone
• Mark Leviton – compilation
• John Linnell – accordion, keyboards, saxophone, vocals, compilation
• Frank London – trumpet
• Tony Maimone – bass
• Elma Mayer – vocals
• April Milek – project assistant
• Dan Miller – guitar, synth guitar
• Katherine Miller – engineer
• Roger Moutenot – engineer, mixing, whip
• UE Nastasi – assistant
• Tim Newman – trombone
• Alex Noyes – engineer
• Jim O'Connor – trumpet
• Alex Olsson – engineer
• Mark Pender – trumpet
• Randy Perry – project assistant
• Mauro Refosco – percussion
• David Robbins – engineer
• Marc Salata – product manager
• Erik Sanko – bass
• Tim Scanlin – A&R
• Eric Schermerhorn – acoustic guitar, guitar
• Adam Schlesinger – keyboards, programming, producer
• Brent Sigmeth – engineer
• Brian Speiser – mixing
• Jason Spittle – engineer
• Peter Stampfel – banjo, vocals
• Mark Stern – photography
• Ed Thacker – engineer, mixing
• They Might Be Giants – producer
• Greg Thompson – engineer
• Sarah Vowell – liner notes
• Danny Weinkauf – bass
• Jeff White – compilation
• Alan Winstanley – producer, mixing
• Krystof Witek – violin
• Jeremy Wolff – photography
• Steve Woolard – discographical annotation
• Lyle Workman – guitar
• Garo Yellin – cello
• Toshikazu Yoshioka – engineer

References

1. Allmusic review
2. The Austin Chronicle review
3. Album reviews at CD Universe
4. Robert Christgau Consumer Guide
5. Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 808. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
6. Uncut review

External links

• Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants at This Might Be A Wiki