They'll Need A Crane
From This Might Be A Wiki
Behind the scenes, featuring video director Adam Bernstein
| song name | They'll Need a Crane |
| artist | They Might Be Giants |
| releases | Lincoln, Lincoln Sampler, They'll Need A Crane (EP), Ana Ng (Single) [European Release], Then: The Earlier Years, 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, 50,000,000 They Might Be Giants Songs Can't Be Wrong |
| year | 1988 |
| first played | January 16, 1988 (73 known performances) |
| run time | 2:33 |
| sung by | John Linnell, John Flansburgh sings harmony during chorus |
Trivia/Info
- John Linnell talked about writing this song in a 1989 NME interview: "The song itself basically started with an old Gerry & the Pacemakers riff. We had the riff and the title. A lot of our songs start that way... we think up a good title and then write the song round it."
- John Flansburgh has cited the English indie rock band The Housemartins as an influence on this song.[1] The guitar riff and overall musical arrangement share similarities with their 1986 single "Happy Hour".
- Flansburgh reflected on the song in a 2013 interview: "It's a beautiful, strange song. It's got a vaguely Housemartins feel to it, which is really a little bit different for us. It's just sad. It's a very interesting song, just in terms of the combo-platter of the music versus the lyric."
- The music video for the song was directed by Adam Bernstein and produced by Billy Kent of Scorched Earth Productions.[2] Filming took place in September 1988 at the Bethesda Terrace in Central Park, New York City. The video features Flansburgh and Linnell performing with a backing band of three elderly actors, described as "professional old guys".[3] Flansburgh recalled in 2016: "It was filmed when TMBG was quite established as a duo, so when trying to figure out how to create a performance based video we hired a band to jump around with us."[4]
- A contemporary press release identified the actors as Johnny Blowers, a swing era jazz drummer; Ernie Furtado, a retired jazz bassist and New York Times crossword puzzle writer; and Fred Barby, a character actor on keyboard.
- The actors were hired through an advertisement placed in the trade magazine Backstage.[5] The ad appeared in the magazine's August 26, 1988 issue: "Musicians/Actors needed: drummer, bass, piano—40 & over—for music video. Pay. Must be proficient on instrument." Linnell stated in a 1989 interview: "They were actors we got through an ad. They're interesting guys — the drummer played with Frank Sinatra. He couldn't really play our song, it was totally modern for him."
- Flansburgh spoke about bassist Ernie Furtado in the 2003 Direct From Brooklyn DVD commentary: "He kept on jumping up and down all throughout the shoot. At one point I told him he didn't have to jump up and down and he was like, 'oh no, anything for rock.' And I thought that was sporting of him. He actually was semi-retired. He wrote crossword puzzles, which was really strange, and actually had sold a bunch of them to the New York Times, which I thought seemed like a dream job."
- This was the fourth of seven music videos that Adam Bernstein directed for the band. Linnell recalled in the Direct From Brooklyn commentary: "This I remember as the moment when Adam decided that he was going to make something that didn't look cheap. And as a result, it kind of dictated the whole style of the video. [...] Aside from the fact that there are these elderly guys playing in our band, it's trying to look like a very straightforward, almost glamorous kind of video."
- In a 1995 interview, Bernstein claimed that Flansburgh and Linnell "hated" the music video. Flansburgh later refuted this, stating in 2023: "I have never heard JL say he hated it. Speaking for myself, I don't hate it. I like it, and it was a smart progression after our other videos."[6]
- A photo from this shoot of Flansburgh and Linnell sitting in director's chairs was taken by producer Billy Kent and released as a press photo to promote Lincoln.
- This song was originally intended to serve as the lead single from Lincoln, rather than "Ana Ng". In November 1988, Bar/None Records issued a promotional single of "Ana Ng" to radio stations, where it gained unexpected momentum. Jamie Kitman, the band's manager, recalled in a 2022 interview with the 9 Secret Eps Podcast: "There was so much pent-up demand that it became an instant hit before we could even get to what we thought was the single, which I think was 'They'll Need A Crane'. By that time, 'Ana Ng' was so big that it was almost like an afterthought."
- On February 1, 1989, the band made their network television debut with a performance of this song on Late Night with David Letterman. Flansburgh and Linnell were accompanied by the Letterman house band, making it one of the earliest instances of the duo playing with a live backing group. Flansburgh wrote about the experience in Everything Sticks Like A Broken Record, a 2023 track-by-track retrospective on Lincoln:
I can't really recall playing it on Letterman that well, although I do remember Will Lee and me talking about how annoying it was that guitars didn't stay in tune. I'm sure Will Lee has played in tune for his entire life, but as a guitar player, I can tell you it's always been a painful struggle for me. I remember him saying, "The G string, man... it's impossible. It just doesn't work." There's the old joke that guitar players spend half their lives tuning and half their lives playing out of tune. So yeah, I think the guitars might be out of tune on that recording.
Song Themes
Addiction, Compulsion, Aversion To Work, Body Parts, Drinks, Food, Funny But Sad, Happiness, Love Gone Sour, Music, Not In Common Time, Occupations, Onomatopoeia, People (Imaginary), Real Estate, Sadness, The Senses, Telecommunication, Trade Names
Videos
- Watch it on
- Watch it on
Current Rating You must be logged in to rate this. You can either login (if you have a userid) or create an account with us today. They'll Need A Crane is currently ranked #6 out of 1059. (437 wikians have given it an average rating of 9.21) |
Other Links for “They'll Need A Crane” [edit]
|
