How Can I Sing Like A Girl?
From This Might Be A Wiki
| song name | How Can I Sing Like a Girl? |
| artist | They Might Be Giants |
| releases | Factory Showroom, The Complete Factory Showroom Sessions, Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants, John Henry + Factory Showroom |
| year | 1996 |
| first played | April 25, 1996 (293 known performances) |
| run time | 4:32 |
| sung by | John Flansburgh; John Linnell sings some harmony |
Trivia/Info
This song is as much about freedom of expression as it is about how to sing high. Its title was inspired by part of TMBG's live show where Flansburgh had to sing in a falsetto to reproduce the sound of a sped-up vocal from a recording called "She Was a Hotel Detective". And so the idea of having "the right to sing like a girl on demand" was born.
- A bootleg of 1996-03-28b, shortly prior to the Factory Showroom recording sessions, may capture the moment which inspired the title: an audience member shouts "You sing like a girl!" after "Hotel Detective", to which Linnell responds "It takes a man to sing like a girl."
- Flansburgh further elaborated on the song's intent in 2021, saying, "I would say in the abstract it is just about being afraid of sharing one’s self expression and feeling imprisoned by the anxiety of social rejection or bullying. Expressions like 'throw like a girl' were typical in hazing when I was a kid in the suburbs of Boston when I also had long hair (which wasn’t appreciated by everybody)." [1]
- "I want to raise my freak flag" may also refer to the Jimi Hendrix song "If 6 Was 9" ("I'm gonna wave my freak flag high, high!") or the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song "Almost Cut My Hair" ("I feel like letting my freak flag fly").
- The song was subjected to extensive pre-production, with Pat Dillett mixing the track using a Neve console at Donald Fagen's studio.[2]
- In live performances since 2011, the song has often been played with accordion accompaniment only, showcasing a more unplugged arrangement rather than a rock tune. In multiple cases Flansburgh would exclaim "Rock me John!" before Linnell's accordion solo. In 2018, it was frequently performed during the "Quiet Storm" section in many performances, with acoustic guitar, accordion, and electronic drums, showcasing a mellow arrangement, as opposed to the former. Both arrangements are transposed to the key of D major, instead of B major on the album.
Song Themes
Animals, Different When Played Live, Fading, Falsetto, Forgetting And Remembering, Freaks, Gender Issues, Loneliness, Music, Pointing, Questions, Windows
Videos
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