Love this song! Kind of reminds me of the Unicorns song "Tuff Ghost" in the dynamics between the ghost/skullivan and the human singers. It's probably a coincidence, but I just LOVE this effect! And I'm glad that Their doing more experimental stuff like this over 20 years into their career...not too many other people doing that...off the top of my head I can think of Tom Waits, The Residents, Sonic Youth, Ween and The Flaming Lips...I can't really think of any others, though I'm sure there's a couple more...but regardless, TMBG belong to a select and elite group of musicians who have a seemingly endless stream of wonderful ideas. And also like several of those aforementioned groups, They've fully integrated internet technology into their lexicon. I downloaded the EP, and I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality (And of course the music quality!). And it made me feel good inside that the money was going straight to Them...hmmm....I kinda went off the subject, which wasthe song Skullivan...so on that note, I'm 100% sure he's saying "Skullivan" in this final version. Not too sure about the demo, though...if he was saying "Skeleton", then why on earth would the song be called "Skullivan"? I do admit, if you go in listening to the song thinking that you're going to hear "Skeleton", it DOES sound like that, but I've gotta say that the lyrics match the title. - Stiddy
Reminds me of Julian Cope - a bit! Very experimental but works well. i can see myself sampling the vocal for reproduction! - Chuckiemustdie
Why do the lyrics here say "when the skullivan walks..." ??? Linnell is clearly saying "skeleton" throughout the whole song. I tried correcting it and it got changed back again. He's saying "skeleton"!!! - jordan
Well, I'll be damned, it is. - jordan
Why would he say Skeleton if the song is called Skullivan? -Tanner
This song scares me...and yet it's my favorite song on this EP. --Checkers Piece Face
This song keeps getting better as Halloween gets closer.
That's kind of the image I get when listening to it, but with more exaggerated hip movement. Possibly with a top hat and cane.
I was listening to this for the millionth time, and I noticed at the end of the 2nd chorus Linnell mumbles something... It's around where it starts to sound "off" I'm pretty sure. I think it might be "On the moonlit night" but it sounds... different. Can anybody tell me what this is? --Lemita 14:50, 14 Mar 2006 (CST)
This new video that was just added to the song page yesterday (the third one) is insanely awesome, and I suggest you all watch it. Normally I despise homemade stuff like this (RZ Studios, etc.), but this is easily an exception. :D -CapitalQ / @ / 05:59, 1 May 2006 (CDT)
How sure are we that Flans is singing the Skullivan's part? There are certain phonemes in these verses that I swear are uniquely Linnell's. That hard "R" he's got--listen to it in the "How does everybody take theiR tea?" line. And his forceful "E" is pretty distinct from Flans's--"...take in your tea-HEE-HEEE..." And his wiggly "O" in "video". My vote's on this one as all Linnell. Can anyone prove otherwise for me? --RonAmoriM 04:00, 17 October 2006 (UTC)