Having trouble figuring out the meaning to your favorite TMBG songs? Well, here's a web page designed to give you hope. The list is incomplete at the moment, but I will be adding the interpretations for the rest of the songs as their meanings come to me.
Everything Right is Wrong Again: This is a song in which wacky hijinks ensue in a trailer.
Put your Hand inside the Puppet Head: This song is about Jim Henson. (Jim Henson might possibly be the same Jim from 'The Guitar'. I'll let you be the judge of that one, though)
Number three: This is a song about the integer that comes between two and four.
Don't Let's Start: This is a song about a mneumonic devices.
Hide Away Folk Family: This is a song about performing animals and the cruel treatment they receive in the circus.
32 Footsteps: This is a song about taking dance classes. Really.
Toddler Hiway: This is a song about a Hiway that is not an Infant Hiway, but is still very young.
Rabid Child: This is a song you sing to your children to keep them from playing with wild raccoons.
Nothing's Gonna Change my Clothes: This is a song about being on the road and having no time to go to the laundromat.
(She was a)Hotel Detective: This song is just an excuse for John Linnell to flail his arms about while pretending to play the sax in a video, because flailing is considered cool in New York City Sax circles.
She's An Angel: This is a song about finding out that your significant other is not of this world, and apparently likes hanging out at dog shows.
Youth Culture Killed My Dog: This song is a touching ballad about a boy and his dog.
Boat of Car: This is a song about scratching up windshields, though I fail to see why anyone would want to do that.
Absolutely Bill's Mood: This song is about thinking about life too much.
Chess Piece Face: This is a song about not knowing how to play chess, and being mocked by the chessboard as a result. A feeling I know all too well.
I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die: This is a song about living forever.
Alienation's For the Rich: This is a song about the social disadvantages of not speaking Esperanto.
The Day: This song is the the sequel to the unreleased song 'The Night', and has absolutely nothing to do with dead singers.
Rhythm Section Want Ad: This is a song about the grave injustices of the Classified Ad Machine, and a revolution that will bring freedom to the world of Ad-placing.
Ana Ng: This is a song about having only consonants in your last name.
Cowtown: This is a song about drowning cattle.
Lie Still, Little Bottle: This is a song about a bottle that keeps moving around when it shouldn't.
Purple Toupee: This is a song about using prank shampoo.
Cage & Aquarium: This song is fun to sing aloud on airplanes.
Where Your Eyes Don't Go: This is a song about why you should buy those little blindspot mirrors for your car.
Piece of Dirt: This is a song about how insignificant you are.
Mr. Me: This is a song about a guy with a really silly last name.
Pencil Rain: This is a song about really dangerous weather.
The World's Address: This is a song about wanting to send the world a message, but there isn't enough room on the envelope for all those zip codes.
I've Got a Match: This is a song about why you don't need to find your lighter.
Santa's Beard: This is a song about good grooming.
You'll Miss Me: I find this song irritating, so I don't care.
They'll Need a Crane: This song suggests that it is difficult to use a wrecking ball without a crane, because wrecking balls are really, really heavy.
Shoehorn with Teeth: This song is just an excuse to spell 'glockenspiel' in front of an audience.
Stand on Your Own Head: This is a song about how impolite it is to stand on someone else's head.
Snowball in Hell: It doesn't snow there often, so I hear.
Theme from Flood: This song is a subliminal message telling you to listen to the rest of the album.
Birdhouse in Your Soul: This is a song about having birds living in your chest, which is a painful and serious medical condition.
Lucky Ball & Chain: This is a song about losing your favorite keychain.
Istanbul(Not Constantinople): This song tries to inform us that you can't go around calling things whatever you want, or no one would know what you're talking about.
Dead: This song is just depressing.
Your Racist Friend: This song is about being irritated by stupid drunk people who insist on talking to you.
Particle Man: This song is a desperate cry for peace in troubled times.
Twisting: This is a song about that infuriating problem where your yo-yo string gets twisted up and causes it to spin instead of smoothly gliding up and down like a sensible yo-yo.
We Want a Rock: This is a song about being easily amused.
Someone Keeps Moving my Chair: This is a song about the little knomes that play mean pranks on you, such as moving your chair just as you are about to sit down, when you make them angry. You should apologize immediately.
Hearing Aid: This song is about accidentally electrocuting yourself with your hearing aid battery.
Minimum Wage: This song is about the American economy and all of the people who are exploited within it. Just kidding.
Letterbox: This is a song about talking to birds and gross mutations.
Whistling in the Dark: This is a song about how bats find their way in the dark.
Hot Cha: This is a song about energy and resource conservations.
Women & Men: This is a song about reproduction. It's a dirty, dirty song.
Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love: This is a song about domestic violence.
They Might Be Giants: There are some truths we are just not meant to know. This song is a mystery that may never be expalined.
Road Movie to Berlin: This is a traffic safety public service announcement for Europe.
Hey, Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal: This is a song about initials.
Lady is a Tramp: This is a song about an animated Disney film.
Birds Fly: This is a song about the difference between birds, and things that are not birds.
The World's Address (Joshua Fried re-mix): This song, on the surface seems have the same message as another song by the same title, but if you listen to it backwards, you will hear faintly in the background the following words: "This is a comp letely different song from the other song by the same title. We also didn't write it. We definitely wrote the other one, but this one is a cover of a song by another band. The amazing thing is that it sounds so similar to ours. What are the odd s of that?"
Nightgown of the Sullen Moon: This is a song about the moon's crossdressing habits.
I'll Sink Manhattan: This is a song about a banned video game.
It's Not My Birthday: This song is a lie. It is TMBG's birthday every day.
Hello Radio: This is a song about trying to speak back to the voices coming out of the radio, and wondering why they never answer you.
Mr. Klaw: This is another song about someone with a silly last name.
Kiss Me, Son of God: This is a song that is used to remind people that TMBG is not a Christian rock band.
The Biggest One: This is a song about being bigger than every other one.
For Science: This is a song about pretending to care about the pursuit of knowledge to improve your chances of having sex.
Track 13: This is possibly the greatest stroke of genius that TMBG has ever written. Oh, they will tell you that it's just a message from their dial-a-song answering machine. They're just too modest for their own good.
The Famous Polka: This song was an excuse to write a polka song.
When it Rains it Snows: And vice versa.
We're the Replacements: This is a song about being the second choice.
Mammal: This is a song about warm-blooded creatures and the struggle to survive and evolve despite a lack of scales or tentacles.
The Statue Got Me High: This is a song about going to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
I Palindrome I: This is a song about playing with your alphabet soup too much.
She's Actual Size: This is a song about not being smaller or larger than you actually are.
My Evil Twin: This is a song about a person's dark side. And donuts.
Spider: This is a song about great big scary spiders with big, piercing fangs dripping with innard-disolving venom that come up through your bathtub drain.
The Guitar: This is a song about a deaf person and a guitar.
Dinner Bell: This is a song about drooling.
Narrow Your Eyes: This is a song about astigmatism.
Hall of Heads: This is a song about a nightmare I had frequently as a child. I don't know how the hell the band found out about it, though.
Which Describes How You're Feeling: This is a song about using as many adjectives as possible to fill the 10-page requirement for your term paper.
See the Constellation: This is a song about ingesting mind-altering substances while stargazing.
If I wasn't Shy: This is a song about causing chaos just for the fun of it.
Turn Around: This is a song telling you what to do when you realize that you're going in the wrong direction.
Hypnotist of Ladies: This is a song about abusing superpowers.
Fingertips: This is a song about touching things.
Subliminal: This is a song about the blinking log in the TMBG Chat room.
Snail shell: This song explains the difference between snails and slugs (though both are slimy and squishy).
Sleeping in the Flowers: This is a song about the wizard of Oz.
Unrelated Thing: This is a song about when someone is talking to you, but all you hear is 'blah blah blah blah blah'.
AKA Driver: This is a song about road rage and cough syrup.
I Should Be Allowed to Think: This is a song about telling people what you think, even if they don't care, or aren't real people.
Extra Savoir-Faire: This is a song about the Fair(e) in Savoir being extended for an extra day so more pigs can win ribbons.
Why Must I be Sad?: This song is a question only you can answer.
Spy: This is a song about inspector gadget.
O, Do Not Forsake Me: This is a song about not wanting to be ignored just because you're old, boring, and have a really silly voice.
Hey, I never said they were good interpretations. I just said they'd be easy. Things are always easier if you just accept what I tell you.
More interpretations coming soon
Note: If you are offended by anything in the above interpretations, don't be. My website is nothing worth getting angry over. If you haven't figured it out for some reason, these are not serious song interpretations. These interpretat ions are full of bullplops and misinformation. Please do not try to correct my deliberate misinformation.