Kiss Me, Son of Extras: Stormy Pinkness
A short, personal reflection on “Stormy Pinkness,” a They Might Be Giants EP track about heartbreak and quiet grief.
I’m writing about every song from every full studio album by They Might Be Giants. These posts are for the other songs.
The EP tracks. The rarities. The songs that didn’t make the main record but somehow made permanent homes in my life.
This is Kiss Me, Son of Extras.
Stormy Pinkness is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. Not just “beautiful for a TMBG song,” but beautiful out of all songs.
All one minute and ten seconds of it.
It’s the third track on the Istanbul (Not Constantinople) EP, and the first time I really heard it was on a cassette in junior high.
There was a girl I talked to every Sunday night. After months of building connection (and courage), I shared how I felt in paper form. I asked her out.
It wasn’t reciprocated. She started dating a football player named Pat. Our weekly calls ended.
That night, I played this song alone in my bedroom.
And I cried.
Fast forward to today. Okay, now rewind to this past summer.
It’s the first night in bed alone after the divorce.
This time I didn’t even have to play this song. I could already hear it in my mind. I lay in bed, sang it quietly to myself, and cried again.
This is Stormy Pinkness.
This is Stormy Pinkness
You’re reading a post from Kiss Me, Son of Extras. A series of posts for the TMBG songs that don’t live on a big studio album. These posts are for the EP tracks, the rarities. The ones tucked away in between bigger releases but are also woven into my actual life.
See all Kiss Me, Son of Extra posts - Start Here
Dive deeper into TMBG lore at TMBW.net (fan-run and fantastic)
Oh how I adore Stormy Pinkness. This song is the epitome of "It's short because we said all we had to say". If there were any more verses, I feel as though it would lose its charm. The soft accordion, the wobbling backing, it all adds to a perfect one minute soundscape. "The things we cherish are small indeed, so much the larger, the need" is perhaps the most poetic lyric they've written. It makes me cry, it makes me smile... it's baffling that it never got to an album.
One last note. If anyone hasn't heard the "Love Edition" of this song, I urge you to seek it out! They played it live while the crowd chanted "love" repeatedly and it really does add to the experience.
I hadn’t heard this song before. I guess it’s a sad waltz, and I can imagine a young unrequited crush and an older requited turned unrequited love both being triggered and comforted by this song.