Your Racist Friend

This is where the party ends.

Kiss Me, Son of Blog is a small but mighty newsletter where I am writing about every song by They Might Be Giants. This week, it passed 100 subscribers.

I love being part of this fandom and want to thank you for enjoying TMBG along with me.

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I owe “Your Racist Friend” an apology. It’s the 6th song on the Flood album from They Might Be Giants and it is an absolute powerhouse of a song. So why the apology? I do not hype this song up to people or sing its praises nearly enough if at all. Although, I am certainly singing its lyrics often.

Spotify shows that “Istanbul (Not Constantinople) and “Birdhouse in Your Soul” are TMBG’s most listened track with 104.4 million and 43.2 million plays respectively. When you are on an album amongst titans like Birdhouse and Istanbul, it’s hard to stand out.

Culturally and musically, “Your Racist Friend” stands the tests of time, rocks harder than anything on this entire album, and is deserving of my constant praise.

My First Listen Vibes

When I first heard the intro to this song, it seemed like the hardest rocking TMBG track I’d yet to hear. The striking of the low E minor guitar and accompanying splay of drums with a fading accordion gave it the heaviest feel on Flood so far.

The chorus starts and we hear the John’s with their iconic unconventional interval harmonies and a fantastic synth slap bass that carries this song across the finish line to TMBG rock glory.

Maybe it’s the trumpet mixed with that rhythmic electric guitar strumming or the frequency in which I listened to Flood in the summer on camping trips with my best friend, but this song feels like a summer song to me.

I can close my eyes, ignore the lyrics mostly, and just let the magic transport me to a campsite near a lake. For me, it feels like waking up while on break from school on a Wednesday afternoon and not having to sit in a desk in a class room.

Listen to this AMAZING Song

If this is your first listen, hop into the comments and let me know what you think? Does it make you think of summertime? How does it make you feel?

How this song continues to comment on the anti-woke people who say others just can’t take a joke

In recent years, although it is certainly not a new phenomena by any means, people love hide behind “I was kidding" when being called out for saying shitty things. A common occurrence is for some edgelord¹ comic to say or post something racist, homophobic, transphobic, or any other ignorant/hate filled phrase that is clearly meant to bully or make fun of a group that group of people.

The person gets tons of engagement online that reinforces and condemns what was said and then they cry out about how nobody can take a joke anymore. Here’s a lyric from the song that gets more and more poignant every day:

Can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding

This is where the party ends

I can't stand here listening to you

And your racist friend

Final Thoughts

It really wasn’t until my adult life that I connected with the lyrics of this song. Having not gone to parties or hung out with people drinking, or following politics or current events. Gaining a social life and encountering people with very different views from my own made each listen make a little more sense.

For me, Twitter was the catalyst that shot “Your Racist Friend” into the Stratosphere of my daily consciousness. A song that rocks and calls out the distaste for hypocritical contrarians who think they can hide behind their non-comedy writing skills. One of those people is trying to become the president again and this is where the party ends.

1. Dictionary

Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more

noun

INFORMAL

1. a person who affects a provocative or extreme persona, especially online (typically used of a man).

   "edgelords act like contrarians in the hope that everyone will admire them as rebels"