All Over Albany

No corners for you

The They Might Be Giants show at Upstate Concert Hall earlier this week reminded us of the duo's song about The Egg.

What? You haven't hear TMBG's song about The Egg? It's embedded above.

A bunch of years ago we talked with John Flansburgh about the tune, which was part of the band's "venue songs" project:

The whole venue songs project was a way to give the band a creative challenge doing a tour that was remarkably similar to previous tours. So we just decided we would write a new song for every show. Some of the songs are specifically about the venue and others are a little more vague or about a theoretical idea about the venue that might not even be true.

The song "The Egg" is one of the few songs I've ever written while driving.But "The Egg" is actually a very good example of a song that is really responding to the extraordinary qualities of the venue itself. I mean how many venues are like The Egg, you know -- none. It's sui generis as they say in the legal profession.

The song "The Egg" is one of the few songs I've ever written while driving. I recorded it on a tape recorder singing out loud. When I got to the parking lot of The Egg I sat in the back of my car and put some chords to it and then I gave it to the band and we played it that night.

By the way: They Might Be Giants also have a song called "Canajoharie."