I’m writing about every song by They Might Be Giants. Equal parts: Fandom, Personal Reflections and Experimentation on what is tolerable for the human reader. First time here? Get the next one in your inbox.
“This next song is based on a true story.”
I saw They Might Be Giants live in 2002 at the Paramount in Seattle, WA. It was an adult rock show but the touring album was No! - the band’s first children’s album. My best friend was out state by that time and I was stuck going with a friend who 1. Did really know this band and 2. Was not appreciating the number of songs being played that were clearly leaning toward a much younger crowd.
Just before playing the song featured in today’s post, John Flansburgh announced, “This next song is based on a true story,” and kicked off a mostly rocking version of In The Middle, In The Middle, In The Middle.
Coming in at track number six, this song tells the (presumably true) story about the importance of looking both ways before crossing the street. John Linnell is playing a clarinet, bass clarinet, keyboard, and a toy piano. Meanwhile, Flansburgh’s wife Robin Goldwasser is singing vocals. It has a very vintage kids song vibe to it and as I’ve discovered yesterday, this is a cover that is resurrecting a very obscure original song.
In the 1960’s, Vic Mizzy (the creator of The Addams Family theme song), wrote a safety jingle for the New York City Department of Transportation. That jingle was sung by his daughter and we can only assume that it led to a sharp decline in pedestrians being struck by cars after they wantonly ran out into the streets in droves.
If you listen to the original below, it has that definitive 60’s jingle sound and vocal affectation that screams “Mad Men era commercials.” I think TMBG did a great job covering this while adding their own little zhuzh.
Let’s Get A Little More Personal
There was a dark time in my life well over a decade ago when I found myself having a family staycation in Seattle. I guess it’s not really a staycation if we didn’t stay at home but we stayed in a hotel for a weekend where we could have easily spent the day, drove home, and come back the next day. Seattle was only a 30 minute drive.
All four of the kids were in various stages of elementary school and could definitely walk on their own. One of the these kiddos used to require the use of a little monkey backpack that had a very long tail I could wrap around my wrist.
Yes, like a leash. And yes, I’m aware of the opinions about such an accessory for parents and their kids. But this kiddo was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and was very prone to running off in stores, into streets, across a zoo. Like a caged bird being set free, so was my kiddo when leaving the house. The monkey backpack helped me ensure that this didn’t happen.
Once they were able to express a desire to not wear this thing, I had to honor that and give them an opportunity to learn and grow. Thus is the way of a good parent.1 Sometimes, it takes hindsight to recognize that downtown Seattle would be by far an overstimulating place for any kid on the spectrum. And in this case, that hindsight arrived about nine seconds after walking out of the hotel onto the busy sidewalk.
At almost every intersection we had to wait our turn to walk across the street but what we learned very quickly was that this kiddo had a separate, secret, internal waiting clock that began counting down the moment we stopped at a crosswalk. Once that time was up, they would sometimes announce, “OK, I’m done standing,” and go for it. Sometimes, it was safe enough, most of the time it was absolutely not okay to walk.
Happy Song / Complicated Emotional Memory
That was also a time when things between the kids’ mom and I were the worst. Between the tenuous relationship and a child prone to darting into the road, every moment of that weekend felt like someone was walking just behind me while holding an airhorn. My nervous system was preparing for the moment where the trigger was pressed and the airhorn would blow in my ear.
But hey, the kids saw the Space Needle.
I don’t think any amount of playing In The Middle, In The Middle, In The Middle would have prevent that smaller human from making the choices they made but the rest of them always waiting patiently and even though the light turned green, would look both ways. I can’t say that this is all in part to the song but I can’t say that it’s not.
So, job well done song. Job well done.
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Good parenting doesn’t mean error free parenting. Just wanted to throw out there that mistakes and bad decisions, even emotional harm, can happen even when not intended. It’s how we handle and learn from those situations, do we ever truly grow as a parent and show our kids through our action what it means to have emotional depth and maturity. Ok, thanks for reading this footnote.