Recycled Material

From This Might Be A Wiki

TMBG is known for reusing song titles, lyrics, musical phrases, etc.

1 Reusage
2 References
3 Song duos
4 Song triples
5 Album Lead-Ins
6 Honorable mention

[edit] Reusage

About Me - same idea further developed as I'm All You Can Think About
Anqui - tune, style from Idaho
Coke Radio Ad - "Who's gonna wear my sandals stained with Coca-Cola?" from Poison Flowers
Creepy - "She wants to see me again" like "She wants to see you again" from Twisting
Damn Good Times - Has breakdown idea also used in Spy.
Dan Vs. Cog - tune and many lyrics from Glockenspiel Intro - Born In A Graveyard
Experimental Film - "I already know the ending it's / The part that makes your face implode"
- compare with: Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes - "All the people are so happy now, their heads are cavin' in"
- Also has a similar chord structure to Purple Toupee
First Kiss - "Other women were too sentimental" similar to Pet Name "that sentimental stuff doesn't suit you at all."
Hide Away Folk Family - The music during "Better hide away" is very similar to the chorus in I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die
I Blame You - reuses the tune of Free Bird's Rebirth with changed lyrics
I'll Sink Manhattan - "like he's my lower half"
- compare with: Weep Day - "every woman has a second half"
I'm Just A Note - "I am just a note", "singing in harmony" same tune as "I'm all alone", "behold the mystery" from All Alone
I'm Sick (Of This American Life) - "I didn't come here to socialize...I'm sick...I like staring at two glass eyes"
- compare with: Cyclops Rock - "I'm sick...But I'm not here to socialize...I just stare / With my one glass eye"
I've Learned The Value Of Human Sacrifice - Contains lyrics from I'm Sick (Of This American Life) which, in turn, takes lyrics from Cyclops Rock
Lazyhead And Sleepybones - "When Sleepy Bones says he's feeling tired / Lazy Head wants to rest...Both take naps so long"
- Compare with: My Evil Twin - "He always wants to start when I want to begin...Then sleep all through the day"
Letter/Not A Letter - music behind kids speaking is a faster version of Z Y X
Older - The line "Time is marching on" from XTC Vs. Adam Ant
Ondine - "I dreamed I killed you again / Don't make me kill you again"
- compare with: Extra Krispy - "I'm gonna rock you just one more time / Don't make me rock you again"
Robot Parade - adapted from a song for The Chopping Block called Robot Design
- The original line goes "Robot Design / Rest your head on the Chopping Block"
Sleepwalkers - melody line from What Is Everyone Staring At?
Spiraling Shape - chorus taken from Rocket Ship
Thunderbird - very musically similar to James K. Polk
Upside Down Frown - "Black is white, and the rainbow has a beard"
- compare with: (She Was A) Hotel Detective In The Future - "She walks with the beard of a rainbow"
- The title of the song might come from a line in The Big Big Whoredom - Turn that frown upside down
With The Dark - "Busting my pirate hump, rocking my peg leg stump"
- Compare with: Puppets Gonna Fuck You Up - "Busting my puppet hump, grinding my puppet stump"
Who's Gonna Guess The Dead Guy - tune of Boss Of Me
Wreck It Apart - "Don't make me kill you again" from Ondine
Where Your Eyes Don't Go -"But there's a pair of eyes in back of your head..."
- Compare with: Letterbox - "If I had a pair of eyes on the back of my head for each time..."