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Phone Power

by They Might Be Giants

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    What is PHONE POWER?
    Bookend the Glean experience with this killer set of new tracks from TMBG! We’ve taken the best of the second six months of They Might Be Giants’ year-long Dial-A-Song project and made a brand new album! It includes show-stoppers like Trouble Awful Devil Evil, I Love You for Psychological Reasons and a transcendent version of Destiny Childs' Bills, Bills, Bills.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Phone Power via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days

      $12 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    LIMITED EDITION PRESSING OF PHONE POWER on 180g AUDIOPHILE WHITE VINYL

    What is PHONE POWER?
    Bookend the Glean experience with this killer set of new tracks from TMBG! We took the best of the second six months of They Might Be Giants’ year-long 2015 Dial-A-Song project and made a brand new album! It includes show-stoppers like Trouble Awful Devil Evil, I Love You for Psychological Reasons and a transcendent version of Destiny Childs' Bills, Bills, Bills.

    You get all these songs!
    Apophenia | I Love You for Psychological Reasons | To A Forest | I Am Alone | Say Nice Things About Detroit | Trouble Awful Devil Evil | ECNALUBMA | Daylight | Sold My Mind to the Kremlin | It Said Something | Impossibly New | I’ll Be Haunting You | Got Getting Up So Down | What Did I Do to You? | Shape Shifter | Bills, Bills, Bills | Black Ops Alt | I Wasn't Listening

    All orders include an instant download of the album delivered to your inbox.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Phone Power via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
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1.
Apophenia 02:33
How could the street light Blink on and off and Spell out all your thoughts? That thing you thought you heard me say: I didn't say that thing That is crazy You're completely crazy Pretty soon you'll be telling me that you've Had enough and you're leaving me Picture of a hunched old lady holding a dog and Telling you what to do Seemingly random arrangement of turbid material Telling you what to do It's only tea leaves Stop being dramatic Next thing you'll be saying that I've been Hallucinating you all along Everyone has got a feeling in the gut You can't just tune it out Don't look at me like that It's only tea leaves Stop being dramatic Next thing you'll be saying that I've been Hallucinating you all along Everyone has got an alien in the gut Someday it will emerge Don't look at me like that Middleburgh Police Department how may I direct your call? Please speak more slowly I'm only getting every other word Person I don't recognize motioning to roll down the window I'm Only getting every other word That is crazy You're completely crazy Pretty soon you'll be telling me that you've Had enough and you're leaving me Next thing you will say I've been hallucinating you all along Pretty soon you'll be telling me that you've Had enough and you're leaving me
2.
Lately I've taken to vacantly making repetitive movements Mistakenly seen as improvements Nearing perfection but wisely electing to shun my reflection Preferring instead shoe inspection Cheese and chalk do not talk But their eyes synchronize with a secret rhythm Which is a way one could say that I love you for psychological reasons Mumbling failure in jail my extremities flail and I wail Though my arms and my legs to the chair are nailed Under the table unwilling unable the torture's medieval The dream is a fable with feeble wings Why does the mouse share the house with the louse? They won't say but they feel their feelings Doesn't subtract from the fact that I love you for psychological reasons Reasons I can't really go into now Reasons we should probably not get into right now I'm ashamed to admit I'm afraid of assuming the blame For my lame abnegation of braveness and fame Brain in a jar in a car in reverse I'm rehearsing The way I'll replay how to say how to be where you are Flammable undiagrammable sentiments Pass between animal beings Hard to explain but it's plain that I love you for psychological reasons Why does the mouse share the house with the louse? They won't say but they feel their feelings Doesn't subtract from the fact that I love you for psychological reasons Reasons I can't really go into now Reasons we should probably not get into right now
3.
To a Forest 02:10
This stuff is complex Never figured out the part that comes next I'm out of my depth Everything I reach for is out of my grasp And nothing comes next You figured on a change or a rest Well, that's a good guess Everything is shifting and shifting again Something punched my mind in the face Tracked me down under my pillow case Now we're alone in this freaky place Our consciousness has been This stuff is complex Never figured out the part that comes next I’m out of my depth Everything I reach for is out of my grasp There are forces out to destroy us I heard whispers, it was a warning They'll knock us out and drag us to a forest Yes, that's what I've been told
4.
I Am Alone 02:29
Thank you for going back in time And thwarting my assassin And while we’re laughing about it I know you didn’t really do that This was a test and you failed Before you fire I should inform you One of us is a double I took the trouble to swap ties Somebody taps you on the shoulder You don't know who is your friend Let’s all just take a deep breath And slowly lower our weapons to the floor I am alone in the three part folding mirror On the bathroom door I am alone in the three part folding mirror On the bathroom door Everyone take off your disguises I see you and your brother Dressed as each other this time So now it appears the double crossers Have been too clever by half The fox has been outfoxed again The row of smug expressions All arrayed around are wiped away so Let’s all just take a deep breath And slowly lower our weapons to the floor I am alone in the three part folding mirror On the bathroom door I am alone in the three part folding mirror On the bathroom door I'm by myself in the three part folding mirror On the bathroom door
5.
I always was the one to leave I had no rehearsal For this role reversal Say nice things about Detroit The way you left you were a big big jerk There I was anticipating Some kind of love I'm still waiting It's like it was just last week I tell myself but it wasn't Dressing up and making plans I'm so bad at staying friends Say something nice Say it again Say something nice Say it again I'd never known a libertine But you sure were thirsty Then it gets all murky Say nice things about Detroit Remember standing in the doorway Private words and holding hands Can't you pretend to pretend? Say nice things about Detroit The way you left you were a big big jerk There I was anticipating Some kind of love I'm still waiting Say something nice Say it again Say something nice Say it again
6.
Sweetly as I fall backwards in slow motion and sink into bliss My unconscious face smiles for I am totally oblivious to all of the Trouble awful devil evil Trouble awful devil evil Bat wings flapping just over my bed Swooping whirling around overhead The weight of my insensate body draws all the bedclothes down with it Unknowing ecstatically lowering into a bottomless pit surrounded by Trouble awful devil evil Trouble awful devil evil Bat wings flapping just over my bed Swooping whirling around overhead Shadows lengthen Darkness spreads across a cold benighted land Ten thousand years have passed and still I continue to descend Arms folded ‘cross my chest, I dream of happiness without end, unaware of the Trouble awful devil evil Trouble awful devil evil Bat wings flapping just over my bed Swooping whirling around overhead Trouble awful devil evil Trouble awful devil evil Trouble awful devil evil Trouble awful devil evil
7.
ECNALUBMA 02:56
Well it's a good thing that I brought a napkin I knew that this would happen Why does this always happen? That a day of impulsive fun becomes an evening Of injury, blood and grieving Injury, blood and grieving Make way make way and stand aside The crowd takes up the cry He comes he comes Bow down bow down and lower your eyes Before the litter borne by men in fancy uniforms A chariot from which a siren warns The regal flashing lights and royal horns Behold the great one comes You've got an electric knife And I've got the need to spite my face I've got a nose, I know what to do Hand me that electric knife Marry me and be my wife Be by my side in the electric parade Make way make way and stand aside The crowd takes up the cry He comes he comes Bow down bow down and lower your eyes Before the litter borne by men in fancy uniforms A chariot from which a siren warns The regal flashing lights and royal horns Behold the great one comes Help me out I can't seem to get this window open Never mind now it's open I think my hand is broken Make way make way and stand aside The crowd takes up the cry He comes he comes Bow down bow down and lower your eyes Before the litter borne by men in fancy uniforms A chariot from which a siren warns The regal flashing lights and royal horns Behold the great one comes
8.
Daylight 01:51
9.
With no place in the processional And no seat in the convention hall I sold my mind to the Kremlin on the Fourth of July I was wearing a Yoda mask You were talking like Lou Ferrigno A hat made of paper. A vest made of ugly An intercom with just one button "This bag is almost empty" That was your sole communication From unimproved roads on the Fourth of July Fishing holes don't exist and country music with all those lists Of things from yesterday you can no longer get Let's talk about Patti Hearst, Skeletor and Charles Manson Reagan closed the hospitals for the mentally ill Train stations filled up with the mentally ill And I'm singing into a tape recorder Trapped in this thing that I can’t get away from "This bag is almost empty" That was your sole communication From unimproved roads on the Fourth of July With no place in the processional And no seat in the convention hall I sold my mind to the Kremlin on the Fourth of July With no place in the processional And no seat in the convention hall I sold my mind to the Kremlin on the Fourth of July
10.
It just said something Nobody heard it but me I wasn't recording Anyway why would I be? It said something new That wouldn't come out of me And I don't even dream about that kind of thing That's not the insane part The insane part is first of all it can't speak Second of all the thing it said it's like it read my mind It just read my mind Now I have to lay down Think things over Everything up is down It just said something I was sleeping and then I was awoken I'll never sleep again Excavate the book Nobody needs to know why Sell the delusion Look it in the eye Speak it in reverse so the babies can see Dress them in silver Set the monkeys free That's not the insane part The insane part is first of all it can't speak Second of all the thing it said it's like it read my mind It just said something I was sleeping and then I was awoken I'll never sleep again (It just said something) it just read my mind Now I have to lay down Think things over Everything up is down (It just said something) it just said something I was sleeping and then (set the monkeys free) I was awoken I'll never sleep again (It just said something) it just read my mind Now I have to lay down (set the monkeys free) Think things over everything up is down (It just said something) it just said something I was sleeping and then (set the monkeys free) I was awoken I'll never sleep again It just said something Set the monkeys free
11.
12.
Flipping this one final switch I'm effectively ensuring that I will be Overcoming all resistance long after my remains have been Vaporized with extreme prejudice and shot into outer space I'll be haunting you Need I remind you of the oath you swore in 1993 Don't act like you don't act like you know why you flinch at the image of these words That are permanently skywritten in the ashes of my incinerated legacy I'll be haunting you I'll be haunting you I'll be haunting you as you are staring into outer space My absence has been weaponized the empty sockets where my eyes Are swiveling to recognize and pin you down I'm the ringing in your ears rewriting all your fears And you're the only one who hears the sound Telltale beating floor kicks on this unreleased remix That rises like a phoenix from the ground I'll be haunting you I'll be haunting you I'll be haunting you as you take in your outer spatial views When you look up you'll remember me and then I'll be haunting you
13.
(Get up now) Left sock, right sock T-shirt, wrist watch Bus pass, laptop House key, cell phone I got getting up so down I can do it in my sleep I got getting up so down I can do it in my sleep (Get up now) I got getting up so down I can do it in my sleep (Good morning) Dry mop, cough drop Late tape drop-box Two lane blacktop Cash cow junk shop I got getting up so down I can do it in my sleep I got getting up so down I can do it in my sleep (Get up now)
14.
Whatever happened to chopped off Unloved, resentful appendages? Will they be phoning us at 3 a.m.? Whatever happened to them? What is that distant scampering? Have you secured the gates And put out the lights? Though my pounding heart nearly drowns it out What is that scampering sound? Someone's tampered with the storage unit lock Someone's dragging something heavy down the block Whatever happened to decency To privacy, to false-bottom suitcases? What is this angry world coming to? What did I do to you?
15.
I've got a big old problem I've got a big old problem I've got a big old problem Shape shifters all around Where did my world go? One minute everything is Home and friends and New York Times and lawn Beware the blob they said How was I to know they meant the UPS delivery man The koi in the tank and the anchorwoman? I've got a big old problem I've got a big old problem I've got a big old problem Shape shifters all around Shape shifter, shape shifter You gotta quit that Shifting of shapes I accepted what you were and then Everything changed And I don't want to live in any place where the people are shifting their shapes They're such a liar They said the planet wouldn't Undulate and then burst into flames What used to be my house Is it that purple tentacle? Or is that the TV repairman? The clarinet? The vegetable stand? I've got a big old problem I've got a big old problem I've got a big old problem Shape shifters all around Shape shifter, shape shifter You gotta quit that Shifting of shapes I accepted what you were and then Everything changed And I don't want to live in any place where the people are shifting their shapes I've got a big old problem I've got a big old problem I've got a big old problem Shape shifters all around If you're someone I used to know I sure don't recognize you so I'm only hanging round amorphous mounds In the town where nothing familiar can be found I've got a big old problem I've got a big old problem I've got a big old problem Shape shifters all around (shape shifters all around) Shape shifters all around (shape shifters all around) Shape shifters all around (shape shifters all around) Shape shifters all around
16.
At first we started out real cool Taking me places I ain't never been But now you're getting comfortable Ain't doing those things you did no more Slowly making me pay for things Your money should be handling And then you ask to use my car (car) Drive it all day and not fill up the tank And you have the audacity To even come and step to me Ask to hold some money from me Until you get your check next week You trifling, good for nothing type of brother Silly me, why don't I go and find another? A baller, when times get hard and I need someone to help me out Instead of a squirrel like you who don't know what a man's about Can you pay my bills? Can you pay my telephone bills? Do you pay my automo' bills? If you did then maybe we could chill I don't think you do So you and me are through Can you pay my bills? Can you pay my telephone bills? Do you pay my automo' bills? If you did then maybe we could chill I don't think you do So you and me are through Now you've been maxing out my card Gave me bad credit, buy me gifts with my own ends Haven't paid the first bill But instead you're running to the mall Going on shopping sprees Perpetrating, telling your friends that you be balling And then you use my cellphone (phone) Calling whoever that you think's at home And then when the bill comes All of a sudden you be acting dumb Don't know where none of these calls come from When your momma's number's here more than once Trifling, good for nothing type of brother (trifling) Silly me, why don't I go and find another? A baller, a man who's there when I need someone to help me out Instead of a squirrel like you who don't know what a man's about Can you pay my bills? Can you pay my telephone bills? Do you pay my automo' bills? If you did then maybe we could chill I don't think you do So you and me are through You trifling, good for nothing type of brother (good for nothing) Silly me, why don't I go and find another? (another) You trifling, good for nothing type of brother Silly me, why don't I go and find another? You trifling, good for nothing type of brother (good for nothing) Silly me, why don't I go and find another? (another) You trifling, good for nothing type of brother (trifling) Silly me Can you pay my bills? Can you pay my telephone bills? Do you pay my automo' bills? If you did then maybe we could chill I don't think you do So you and me are through Can you pay my bills? Can you pay my telephone bills? Do you pay my automo' bills? If you did then maybe we could chill I don't think you do So you and me are through
17.
Black ops Black ops A holiday for secret cops Black ops Black ops Dropping presents from the helicopter It's been a long year We've been so far from home Too many people here Here come the drones We take the best of it And make a mess of it Ripping up some lawn And then we're gone Black sites Black sites A thousand miles from day or night Black sites Black sites The story will remain unwritten Before we make you gone You'd best be running on Stick to the music, child Don't get us riled Hey, there's a spot we missed I see a Communist And there's another one And his dumb son Black ops Black ops Little vials filled with knock-out drops Black ops Black ops Maybe leave you in your old gym locker Black ops Black ops A thousand miles from day or night Black ops Black ops A story told before rewriting Hey there's a passport here But it could disappear Tarmac to landing pad Don't look so sad We fly to Amsterdam And in a little bit We'll sing our special song And this is it You'll be standing when the music stops We're not worrying about the optics
18.
I wasn't missing it I wasn't listening I turned away When I heard them say It's Dial-A-Song I always had my doubts So I just tuned it out I didn't know Why they had to crow About Dial-A-Song My mind is a desert And it's the horizon line My soul was destroyed Now it fills the void The songs on that telephone line I could be guessing wrong But I'm still hanging on I'm still on the ropes Stuck on my hopes For Dial-A-Song

about

What is PHONE POWER?
Bookend the Glean experience with this killer set of new tracks from TMBG! We’ve took the best of the second six months of They Might Be Giants’ year-long Dial-A-Song project and made a brand new album! It includes show-stoppers like Trouble Awful Devil Evil, I Love You for Psychological Reasons and a transcendent version of Destiny Childs' Bills, Bills, Bills.

You get all these songs!
Apophenia | I Love You for Psychological Reasons | To A Forest | I Am Alone | Say Nice Things About Detroit | Trouble Awful Devil Evil | ECNALUBMA | Daylight | Sold My Mind to the Kremlin | It Said Something | Impossibly New | I’ll Be Haunting You | Got Getting Up So Down | What Did I Do to You? | Shape Shifter | Bills, Bills, Bills | Black Ops Alt | I Wasn't Listening

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released May 1, 2020

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