Maybe I Know

• Song
• Lyrics
• Interpretations
• Credits
• Guitar Tab
• Bass Tab
• Chronology

"Maybe I Know" live on Post-Modern MTV, 1989

Illustration from the Long Tall Weekend liner notes

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song name	Maybe I Know
artist	They Might Be Giants
releases	Stumpbox, Long Tall Weekend
year	1999
first played	June 17, 1988 (188 known performances)
run time	2:04
sung by	John Flansburgh; John Linnell harmonizes

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Trivia/Info

• From the Summer 1999 Info Club newsletter:

This beloved cover of the Lesley Gore hit from the '60s has been in the John's repertoire since the very beginning. Often an encore selection, it is now finally available to y'all. One of the few songs that the band busked with (along with 'Cowtown' and 'Alienation's For The Rich') on the Brooklyn Heights promenade.

• John Linnell and John Flansburgh on the cover in a January 1990 interview with East Coast Rocker:

Flansburgh: We did a Lesley Gore song called "Maybe I Know," which we do a lot.

[Interviewer]: Who sings that one?
Flansburgh: I sing it. It's really sad, you know. It really comes across.
[Interviewer]: Can you sell it like Lesley does?
Flansburgh: We do it more like a ballad. We let the really sad part of the song kind of shine through a little bit more.

Linnell: We just do it with the singing and the accordion.

• The recording released on Long Tall Weekend was likely recorded in 1996 during sessions for Factory Showroom, as plans were mentioned in the August 1996 edition of Musician for the song to be featured as a B-side or an EP track preceding the album's release.
• According to the Johns, after performing "Maybe I Know" during their only time busking on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade in 1983, a woman approached them and said that her niece, Ellie Greenwich wrote the song, and handed the band $20. The Johns then stopped playing, and bought lunch with the money.^[1]
• According to a 1989 TMBG newsletter, "Maybe I Know" was originally intended to be included on Flood as one of 17 songs (which ended up becoming 19).^[2]

Song Themes

Bad English, Denial, Falling, Lies And Deception, Love, Love Gone Sour, Sadness, Swing Feel, TMBG Remakes

Videos

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