Wu-Tang

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song name Wu-Tang
artist They Might Be Giants
releases The World Is To Dig
year 2026
run time 3:09
sung by John Linnell, John Flansburgh backs


Trivia/Info

Many years ago, we discussed the idea of celebrating an artist or a style of music, but in the form of a completely unrelated genre of music. The original idea was a Tin Pan Alley-style song extolling the greatness of heavy metal. "Wu-Tang" was written more or less along those lines, partly inspired by their TV biopic, but void of any musical reference to the great hip-hop collective. Are we fans? Sure! Would we ever attempt to emulate their sound? Not publicly.
  • The third verse's "Whether a sinner or not, all I know is that I could see and now I'm blinded" references the Gospel of John 9:25: "He answered and said, 'Whether he is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.'"[1]
  • John Linnell mentioned in a 2021 interview with Consequence of Sound that he had recently watched the biographical television series Wu-Tang: An American Saga:
It's interesting — it's a little bit corny, a little bit like a soap opera, but when they talk about the music, it's really interesting, and they have all these different ways of illustrating the creative process. I watched an episode last night where they've got this song where the rap is good, and the beat is good, and then the RZA guy is like, "Well, it needs a hook." And then they bring in Method Man and he sings this thing and it ties everything together. And I gotta say, that is so far from our process. I don't think John and I have ever listened a song that we've been doing, going, like, "All right, it's good but it needs a hook." Basically, if you don't start with the hook, you're never gonna get to the hook later on. I've never figured out how to write a song where I add the hook on later. So it's just interesting to see — wow, you could do that? That's crazy!

Song Themes

Criminal Activities, Eyes, Mind Control, Hypnotism, Modern Technology, Plants, References To Other Songs Or Musicians, Religion, Supernatural

Videos

  • Watch it on Youtube.png - Official visualizer

Current Rating

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Wu-Tang is currently ranked #308 out of 1081. (40 wikians have given it an average rating of 8.56)