Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants

Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants is a 2002 compilation album by American alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, issued by Rhino Records and compiled by the band's co-singer/songwriter and guitarist John Flansburgh. Despite its name, the compilation does not include tracks from the band's "Dial-A-Song" service. It is instead an anthology of various single, album and live tracks from the band's history, spanning their full career up to the time of its release. It includes tracks from every album starting with 1986's They Might Be Giants up through No!, their first children's album, which was released only three months before this compilation.

Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants
Compilation album by They Might Be Giants
Released	September 17, 2002
Recorded	1985–2002
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	150:16
Label	Rhino Records
Producer	Various
Compiler	John Flansburgh
They Might Be Giants chronology
They Got Lost (2002) Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants (2002) Bed, Bed, Bed (2003)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Austin Chronicle
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
The Village Voice	A

The first disc focuses mainly on the group's singles and better-known album tracks, while disc two delves into more obscure fan favorites and live cuts.

Song notes

• "Older" is the original version featured on the album Long Tall Weekend and in the ABC mini-series Brave New World.
• "Robot Parade" is the "Adult Version", with a more hard rock arrangement, as opposed to the version from the children's album No!
• "Boss of Me" is best known as the theme song to the TV series Malcolm in the Middle, although the version here is the full single version, not the shortened version used on the show.
• "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" is a cover song, originally performed by The Four Lads.
• "The Guitar" is a semi-remake of The Tokens' "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".
• "New York City" is a cover, originally performed by Cub.
• "Cyclops Rock" is several seconds longer than the Mink Car album version and contains different guitar noises at the end.
• "Dr. Evil" appeared in the film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and on the film's second soundtrack album.
• "Why Does the Sun Shine (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas) (live)" is the live version of the song from Severe Tire Damage and a cover, originally performed by Tom Glazer.
• "James K. Polk" is a new unreleased version, although it is not labeled as such. It seems to include the same instrumentation as the version from Factory Showroom, but with different vocals.
• "She's Actual Size (live)" is, along with "James K. Polk", the only other exclusive, unreleased song on the set.
• "Spy (Original Version)" is listed as an exclusive, unreleased live version, but is actually the version of the song from Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas).
• "Stormy Pinkness (live in Berlin)" is also listed as an exclusive, but it was previously released through the TMBG Unlimited mp3 service.
• "Fingertips" on this album is one track, while the Apollo 18 album separated the song into 21 different tracks.
• This album contains the single remixes of both "Don't Let's Start" and "(She Was A) Hotel Detective".

Track listing

All songs by John Flansburgh and John Linnell unless otherwise noted.

Disc 1

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original Release	Length
1.	"Birdhouse in Your Soul"		Flood	3:19
2.	"Ana Ng"		Lincoln	3:21
3.	"Don't Let's Start" (single remix)		Don't Let's Start EP	2:33
4.	"Boss of Me"		Boss of Me EP	2:58
5.	"Older"		Long Tall Weekend	1:52
6.	"Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"	Jimmy Kennedy, Nat Simon	Flood	2:35
7.	"Doctor Worm"		Severe Tire Damage	3:01
8.	"The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)"	John Flansburgh, John Linnell, Luigi Creatore, Hugo Peretti, George David Weiss	Apollo 18	3:49
9.	"Dr. Evil"		Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	1:50
10.	"New York City"	Robynn Iwata, Lisa Marr, Lisa Nielsen	Factory Showroom	3:05
11.	"Particle Man"		Flood	1:58
12.	"Cyclops Rock"		Mink Car	2:43
13.	"Minimum Wage"		Flood	0:46
14.	"Man, It's So Loud in Here"		Mink Car	4:03
15.	"We're the Replacements"		Don't Let's Start EP	1:49
16.	"Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)" (live)	Lou Singer, Hy Zaret	Severe Tire Damage	2:20
17.	"Your Racist Friend"		Flood	2:54
18.	"Bangs"		Mink Car	3:14
19.	"Snail Shell"		John Henry	3:21
20.	"Twisting"		Flood	1:55
21.	"Another First Kiss"		Mink Car	3:07
22.	"They'll Need a Crane"		Lincoln	2:31
23.	"The Statue Got Me High"		Apollo 18	3:05
24.	"(She Was A) Hotel Detective" (Single Remix)		(She Was A) Hotel Detective EP	2:21
25.	"Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head"		They Might Be Giants	2:10
26.	"I Palindrome I"		Apollo 18	2:20
Total length:				79:14

Disc 2

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original Release	Length
1.	"She's an Angel"		They Might Be Giants	2:36
2.	"How Can I Sing Like a Girl?"		Factory Showroom	4:28
3.	"James K. Polk"	Matthew Hill, They Might Be Giants	Factory Showroom	3:05
4.	"Meet James Ensor"		John Henry	1:33
5.	"Mammal"		Apollo 18	2:13
6.	"Pet Name"		Factory Showroom	4:02
7.	"No!"		No!	1:29
8.	"I Can Hear You"		Factory Showroom	1:56
9.	"Spider"		Apollo 18	0:51
10.	"I Should Be Allowed to Think"		John Henry	3:07
11.	"Fingertips"		Apollo 18	4:33
12.	"She's Actual Size" (live)		Previously unreleased	7:18
13.	"Spy" (Original Version)		Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas) EP	2:31
14.	"Stormy Pinkness" (live)		TMBG Unlimited MP3 service	2:21
15.	"Exquisite Dead Guy"		Factory Showroom	2:02
16.	"Robot Parade" (Adult Version)		Working Undercover for the Man EP	1:05
17.	"Boat of Car"		They Might Be Giants	1:14
18.	"S-E-X-X-Y"	Hal Cragin, They Might Be Giants	Factory Showroom	3:52
19.	"Number Three"		They Might Be Giants	1:27
20.	"The End of the Tour"		John Henry	3:18
21.	"They Might Be Giants"		Flood	2:45
22.	"Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal"		Purple Toupee EP	3:48
23.	"Nightgown of the Sullen Moon"		They'll Need a Crane EP	1:59
24.	"Snowball in Hell"		Lincoln	2:31
25.	"Purple Toupee"		Lincoln	2:40
26.	"Cowtown"		Lincoln	2:21
Total length:				71:02

Personnel

Musicians

• John Flansburgh – guitar, keyboards, vocals, compilation
• John Linnell – accordion, keyboards, saxophone, vocals, compilation
• Dan Miller – guitar, synth guitar
• Danny Weinkauf – bass
• Dan Hickey – drums
• Zachary Alford – drums
• Amy Allison – vocals
• Alan Bezozi – tambourine, drums (snare)
• Steve Calhoon – drums
• Laura Cantrell – vocals
• Ron Caswell – tuba
• Hal Cragin – bass
• Mark Feldman – violin
• Robin Goldwasser – vocals
• Sue Hadjopoulas – percussion, conga
• Nicholas Hill – vocals
• Kurt Hoffman – horn, horn arrangements, string arrangements
• Luís Jardim – percussion
• Gregor Kitzis – violin
• Julian Koster – singing saw
• Ron Lawrence – viola
• Dan Levine – trombone
• Frank London – trumpet
• Tony Maimone – bass
• Elma Mayer – vocals
• Tim Newman – trombone
• Jim O'Connor – trumpet
• Mark Pender – trumpet
• Mauro Refosco – percussion
• Erik Sanko – bass
• Eric Schermerhorn – acoustic guitar, guitar
• Adam Schlesinger – keyboards, programming, producer
• Peter Stampfel – banjo, vocals
• Krystof Witek – violin
• Lyle Workman – guitar
• Garo Yellin – cello

Production Crew

• Danny Alonso – engineer
• Susan Anderson – photography
• Paul Angelli – engineer, mixing
• Ben Bailes – engineer
• Mark Bishop – engineer
• Albert Caiati – engineer
• Bruce Calder – assistant
• Bob Clearmountain – mixing
• Paula Court – photography
• Reuben Cox – photography
• Peter Dilg – producer
• Patrick Dillett – producer, engineer, mixing
• TJ Doherty – engineer
• Edward Douglas – engineer
• Tom Durack – producer, mixing
• Sheryl Farber – editorial supervision
• Alan Ford – engineer
• Paul Fox – producer
• Cheryl Fugate – project assistant
• Tony Gillis – engineer
• Barbara Glauber – design
• Matt Gold – engineer
• Michael Halsband – photography
• Cosmo Heidtman – engineer
• Dan Hersch – remastering
• Al Houghton – engineer
• Jim Hughes – compilation
• Bill Inglot – remastering
• Hiro Ishihara – engineer
• Beverly Joel – design
• Julie Kantner – photography
• Bill Krauss – producer, engineer
• Chris Laidlaw – engineer
• Rich Lamb – engineer
• Clive Langer – producer
• Mark Leviton – compilation
• April Milek – project assistant
• Katherine Miller – engineer
• Roger Moutenot – engineer, mixing, whip
• UE Nastasi – assistant
• Alex Noyes – engineer
• Alex Olsson – engineer
• Randy Perry – project assistant
• David Robbins – engineer
• Marc Salata – product manager
• Tim Scanlin – A&R
• Brent Sigmeth – engineer
• Brian Speiser – mixing
• Jason Spittle – engineer
• Mark Stern – photography
• Ed Thacker – engineer, mixing
• They Might Be Giants – producer
• Greg Thompson – engineer
• Sarah Vowell – liner notes
• Jeff White – compilation
• Alan Winstanley – producer, mixing
• Jeremy Wolff – photography
• Steve Woolard – discographical annotation
• Toshikazu Yoshioka – engineer

External links

• Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants at This Might Be A Wiki