Where I match a song to a specific memory.
Theme from Flood
Birdhouse in Your Soul
There are periods of respite in the high school band schedule. One of them is the point before winter break after the holiday concert is done. It was senior year Drum Corps and we were counting down to the break. In the fall semester, Drum Corps had their own class, separate from the rest of the band, so the drummers could work on their very important drum things. Secretly, I always thought it was because it was easier to work with the rest of the band when the drummers weren’t always rat-a-tat-tating away on their drums, because they never shut up. But no matter! It was nearly break and we had an entire class of nothing to do. We brought in music and played it while we gossiped, did homework and played cards. At one point during the hour, someone changed the music and the glorious intro of Flood played, followed swiftly by the opening notes of the “Birdhouse in Your Soul.” Soon the syncopated rhythms and odd tonal qualities that are They Might Be Giants were filling the room. Our band director paused in what he was doing, and his eyebrows wrinkled together, listening. “Who isthis?” he asked incredulously, befuddled and amused once again at the quirky nature of the adolescents he was charged to shepherd through life. We laughed, delighted to introduce him to the magic of They Might Be Giants.
I first heard this song on sophomore year choir tour. It was Sichard Rott's tape and I fell in love. With TMBG, that is! 🙂 I have a photograph from that tour with my headphones on and I know that I am listening to his Flood tape. They are the band that I have seen in concert the most times – with 7 as my total count. And I am not such a concerty person, so that says a lot. I still list them as my favorite band.
Whenever I would go see Stella play, they would often play this song while I was there. It was probably just a part of their set, but I liked to believe it was just for me. Come to think of it I have seen them play more than 7 times. But I have never paid for tickets to their shows. I have payed a few covers though.
I love that you included this one! This song, really this album, is a complete snapshot of my HS days!
I'm not familiar with this particular song. I wouldn't say that I've ever been a "fan" of TMBG, but I still have a memory of them. As a teenager, I used to watch Tiny Toons and they had an episode where they used a couple of TMBG songs. "Particle Man" and "Istanbul, not Constantinople," I believe. So that cartoon and this band are inextricably linked in my mind.