Hot Cha
Hot Cha
the Eclectic Percussions Plus Possible Personal Ties to this TMBG Flood classic.
Grab your kitchen sink, refrigerator, door buzzer, and oven. It’s time to talk about the 15th song on They Might Be Giants’ ‘Flood’ album - HOT CHA!
While John Flansburgh is typically known for the guitar department of the band (among many other things), this time around he has traded his guitar rocking for some very eclectic and innovative percussion. Flansy’s credits for Hot Cha include both lead and backup vocals along with playing percussion on every household object I listed above. The band turns something that reads like it would be an utter cacophony into something rhythmically transcendent.
tss tss badaBA baDA (pom) baDA (pom) caCOOM
ba baDA baDA DA Bzzzt Bzzzt
The opening percussion to Hot Cha is ingrained in my memory forever. Is that the exact transcription for it? No. Is it how you write percussion out on paper? Probably also no. But if you listen to the intro and look at what I wrote above, I promise it is SO CLOSE.
Click below to listen to Hot Cha by They Might Be Giants
I remember as a teen reading the TMBG newsletter which was printed on paper and delivered to your house IN THE MAIL. Can you imagine!? This is where I first learned that Hot Cha was used so many objects from around Flansburgh’s apartment. In my memory, there was a focus on empty computer boxes being used but those boxes aren’t mentioned in the official credits on the TMBG wiki. I’m certain I read that they were used.
A Choir Kid’s Growing Voice and Groovy Memories
While I wish that every song by my favorite band had some deeply rooted emotional or existential connection to my life - that is not always the case. Hot Cha is a great song. I do remember in junior high choir, the year I moved from being one of the Soprano singers, to being one of the bass singers. It happened between 8th and 9th grade.
This wasn’t a TMBG song that we sang in choir, despite my great efforts to get our teacher to let us sing one1. Hot Cha was, however, one of the first songs where I noticed at home, that I was now singing the lowest octave I’d ever reached as a person before. If not for that small memory, this is a song that I just love groovin’ too. The break in the middle with the piano key and coughing samples is so damn cool. Hot Cha is a damn cool song.
Derby Days and The Mystery of Hot Cha’s Lyrics
Rather than trying to force an incredibly significant sounding detail into posts for songs that I just really like, I try to go learn something new about. What I learned about Hot Cha has completely shifted the way I enjoy this one.
I learned from the TMBW that it’s highly plausible (although denied by Flansburgh) that Hot Cha was written in part about his brother. Here are some details shared on his brother Pax’s blog:
“My brother and I often played the game Derby Day when we were little and Hot Cha was horse number two and my favorite.”
He believes that the lyrics were written “in response to my disappearance from contact with my parents for much of 1982.”
“The song refers to ‘the first time Hot Cha went away a floating island was his home.’ A pretty clear reference to the time i spent hitching on sailboats across the Pacific.”
“. . .we did eat fondue together when we were growing up, which is a bit of an odd food choice.”
Pax makes a strong case. While Flansy seems to be adamant that the song is not about his brother, it’s hard to deny that this was at least heavily influenced by the shadows that his brother cast over his life throughout time.
Hot Cha's Lasting Mystique
Hot Cha may not be one of those songs with a clear emotional tie to my life, but I think its another great example of why I love They Might Be Giants. Not every song has to be deeply significant to be deeply cool. Dissecting the unusual percussion, flashing back to choir class, or pondering the possibility of a cryptic family drama is more than anyone could want from a song. Sometimes, music doesn’t need to be dissected or explained. Sometimes, it just needs to be felt. And “Hot Cha” is all about that feeling - feeling and man_coughing.wav samples.
Whether or not it’s about Flansy’s brother, a horse named Hot Cha, or a bunch of household objects making an unexpectedly cool beat, the song stays with me. Like all of They Might Be Giants’ music, it’s an invitation to dig deeper, but only if you want to.
Sometimes, you can just let the music carry you.