John Henry (album)

The lyrics to the song "AKA Driver" refer to a "NyQuil driver". John Flansburgh offered an explanation of the legal issue with the inclusion of a brand name:[http://tmbg.com tmbg.com] John Henry track information.

{{quote|It was a brief education for us in the difference between protected speech and trademark infringement. Although it was a possibility that we could have gotten away with it, or settled with the NyQuil manufacturers for a small amount of money, the path of least hassle was simply omitting the name from the package. According to our lawyer you can say pretty much anything in a song about a product, and that expression is a protected part of every American's freedom of speech. However when you title a song after a trademarked product and then start selling your recording (which is also a product) you run the risk of the trademark holder suing you for infringing on their trademark. To make matters tougher on ol' NyQuil Driver, trademark holders are compelled by the law to protect their trademark or they run the risk of their product name falling into the public domain.}}

"I Should Be Allowed to Think" excerpts the first line ("I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical") of the poem Howl by Allen Ginsberg. The song is also, according to its author, John Linnell, an example of the use of an "unreliable narrator".Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns), 2003. Dir. AJ Schnack. "Meet James Ensor" refers to an eccentric Belgian expressionist painter whose works excited John Flansburgh. In an interview, Flansburgh explained that "the line 'Dig him up and shake his hand' is actually very specific – a parallel idea to a lot of his paintings which involve resurrections, skeletons and puppets being animated. [...] With the song, I'm trying to encapsulate the issues of his life – an eccentric guy who became celebrated and was soon left behind as his ideas were taken into the culture and other people became expressionists."[https://web.archive.org/web/19991122080541/http://westnet.com/consumable/1994/10.31/inttmbg.html Consumable Online interview] with John Flansburgh. "Why Must I Be Sad?" is a string of references to Alice Cooper song titles and lyrics, involving several titles from the Billion Dollar Babies album including "No More Mr. Nice Guy," "I Love the Dead," and others.

Instrumental excerpts from "No One Knows My Plan" and "The End of The Tour" were used as the opening and closing themes, respectively, during the first season of the animated variety show Cartoon Planet in 1995. "No One Knows My Plan" was also used in a 30-second PBS Kids web promo in 2005.{{Cite web |date=April 25, 2019 |title=PBS Kids BIG BIG Friend Day Web Promo |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdD-tbcCe68 |access-date=June 11, 2024 |website=YouTube}}

{{tracklist

| all_writing = They Might Be Giants, except where noted

| title1 = Subliminal

| length1 = 2:45

| title2 = Snail Shell

| length2 = 3:20

| title3 = Sleeping In the Flowers

| length3 = 4:30

| title4 = Unrelated Thing

| length4 = 2:30

| title5 = AKA Driver

| length5 = 3:14

| note5 = They Might Be Giants, Tony Maimone, Brian Doherty

| title6 = I Should Be Allowed to Think

| length6 = 3:09

| note6 = They Might Be Giants, Tony Maimone

| title7 = Extra Savoir-Faire

| length7 = 2:48

| title8 = Why Must I Be Sad?

| length8 = 4:08

| title9 = Spy

| length9 = 3:06

| title10 = O, Do Not Forsake Me

| length10 = 2:30

| title11 = No One Knows My Plan

| length11 = 2:37

| title12 = Dirt Bike

| length12 = 3:05

| title13 = Destination Moon

| length13 = 2:27

| title14 = A Self Called Nowhere

| length14 = 3:22

| title15 = Meet James Ensor

| length15 = 1:33

| title16 = Thermostat

| length16 = 3:11

| title17 = Window

| length17 = 1:00

| title18 = Out of Jail

| length18 = 2:38

| title19 = Stomp Box

| length19 = 1:55

| title20 = The End of the Tour

| length20 = 3:18

| total_length = 57:07

}}

John Henry is the first album credited to They Might Be Giants as a full band, rather than a duo:

• John Flansburgh – vocals, guitar
• John Linnell – vocals, keyboard, accordion, horns
• Brian Doherty – drums, percussion
• Tony Maimone – bass guitar, ukulele
• Graham Maby – bass guitar on tracks 11 & 14

Additional musicians

• Robert Quine – guitar solos on tracks 3 & 11
• Hudson Shad – vocals on track 10

• Steven Bernstein – trumpet

{{Reflist}}

• John Henry at This Might Be a Wiki
• [https://jonuleis.com/jh/ John Henry HyperCard Stack Emulator] - A web-based recreation of the band's HyperCard promotional tool

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Category:1994 albums

Category:Elektra Records albums

Category:They Might Be Giants albums

Category:Albums produced by Paul Fox (record producer)