The Guitar
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(Redirected from The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight))
Illustration by J. Otto Seibold representing the song from the Apollo 18 promo
| song name | The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) |
| artist | They Might Be Giants |
| releases | Apollo 18, The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) (Promo), Direct From Brooklyn, Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants, A User's Guide To They Might Be Giants: Melody, Fidelity, Quantity, Rhino Hi-Five: They Might Be Giants (EP), Flood + Apollo 18, 50,000,000 They Might Be Giants Songs Can't Be Wrong |
| year | 1992 |
| first played | June 20, 1992 (1007 known performances) |
| run time | 3:49 |
| sung by | John Flansburgh; Laura Cantrell sings the "Lion Sleeps Tonight" chorus. |
Trivia/Info
- The chorus of this song borrows from the Tokens hit, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Even though these words never appear in the song, the record label insisted the subtitle appear in the song's published name[1].
- According to John Flansburgh, this song was inspired by a jam session the band had with J. Otto Seibold on drums, who may be the "Jim" referenced in the song's lyrics[2]. Flansburgh would mention in an interview[3]: "I had come up with the whole groove that's the rest of the song beforehand, and so it's a real Frankenstein of a song - two very different things strung together for maximum contrast." Seibold also appears as the "drummer" in the accompanying music video.
- The mix of this song originally slated to appear on Apollo 18 was the Williamsburgh Mix, which instead appeared on The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) EP. In 2025, Flansburgh said of its omission[4]: "An Elektra person said they thought it was too long, didn’t want a four minute song on the album, etc. We really got it from every direction in that dept., [so] the suggestion to edit it came in."
- The auctioneer voices heard in the studio recording were sampled from the Series 1000 Sound Effects Library, a collection of sound effects by the Canadian audio company Sound Ideas first released on reel-to-reel tape in 1979, followed by a CD release in 1983[5]. The two sound effects used are "AUCTION - OVER P.A. SYSTEM 02" and "AUCTION - OVER P.A. SYSTEM 03". Regarding how these recordings ended up on "The Guitar", Flansburgh mentioned in 2025[6]: "I was given [a] whole multi-disc library on CD right before we started Apollo 18 and there are dozens of textures from [the] set on that album."
- According to "Boat Of Car" singer Margaret Seiler in the Miscellaneous T Facebook group, she was originally asked to sing the "Lion Sleeps Tonight" chorus, but wasn't available to record[7].
- The music video for this song was mentioned by Flansburgh to have been the first music video that he directed for They Might Be Giants[8]. It was shot in a few different locations around Brooklyn, with many of the band's friends and collaborators appearing in cameos.
- One of the locations where the music video was filmed was Quiet Life at 18 Havemeyer St, Brooklyn, which was John Linnell's old apartment. Other locations included McCarren Park, Brooklyn (and surrounding streets in Northside) and the Polish National Home, which became Warsaw in 2001[9].
- Of the people who appeared as cameos in the music video, some that appeared were Jon Spencer, Joshua Fried, Robin Goldwasser, Tami Blevins and Bo Orloff.
- The chord images seen in the music video were mentioned by Flansburgh in the Direct From Brooklyn commentary to have originated as an idea with another director before Adam Bernstein began working with the band[10]. This director could have been Michael Overn, who briefly worked with They Might Be Giants on a scrapped music video in early 1986[11]. Flansburgh also mentioned he was self-conscious about recycling the idea.
- During some shots in the music video, John Flansburgh can be seen playing two trumpets, which he had previously done during performances of "Lie Still, Little Bottle" at various 1990 shows[12]. When discussing his playing with Linnell in the Direct From Brooklyn DVD commentary, Flansburgh said[13]: "I can't really control what it sounds like, but it does sound like two trumpets." Linnell also plays bass guitar in the music video, but did not play bass in the song's recording.
- The guitars seen in the close-up shots were supplied by Chris Cush of Mojo Guitar Shop, which also built Flansburgh's signature Mojo Chessmaster guitar. Flansburgh on Cush's involvement[14]: "[He] let me basically take photos of all his weird guitars with a macro lens."
- During live performances, the bridge is replaced with a solo by either Marty Beller, Danny Weinkauf, or Dan Miller. Sometimes a "Future of Sound" prophecy is performed by John Linnell. John Flansburgh is also known to stick his guitar into the audience during parts of the song.
- This song was featured as background music in a 2013 television ad for the Buick Encore, "Dinosauria".
Song Themes
Album Lead-Ins, Animals, Colors, Counting, Music, Non-John Vocals, Numbers, People (Imaginary), Precious Metal, Questions, Science, Self-Reference, Sleep, Songs Used In Commercials, Songs With Handclaps, Space, Telecommunication, Title Not In Lyrics, TMBG Remakes, Transportation
Videos
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