Music / The Else

In English: "They take advantage [of]"

I'm impressed, I'm impressed
When that gorilla beats his chest
I fall to bits, I confess
I admit, I'm impressed
When that torpedo in the vest
Barks his orders, I'm impressed

—I'm Impressed

The Else is the twelfth studio album by They Might Be Giants, released in May of 2007. Linnell has admitted in interviews that the album's dark and satirical tone largely came from the tense political atmosphere after the Iraqi war. The album's production was largely a collaboration with "The Dust Brothers", Mike Simpson and John King, and TMBG's usual producer Pat Dillet.

One of the songs on the album, "Careful What You Pack", was originally written for the film adaptation of Coraline.

Tracklist

1. I'm Impressed (2:39)
2. Take Out the Trash (3:14)
3. Upside-Down Frown (2:17)
4. Climbing the Walls (3:15)
5. Careful What You Pack (2:40)
6. The Cap'm (3:11)
7. With the Dark (3:17)
8. The Shadow Government (2:37)
9. Bee of the Bird of the Moth (3:32)
10. Withered Hope (2:54)
11. Contrecoup (3:11)
12. Feign Amnesia (2:29)
13. The Mesopotamians (2:57)

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I Got a New Job, Listing the Tropes:

• All Love Is Unrequited: Sad Sack is in love with Withered Hope, who's in love with their alleged soulmate, who is actually in love with "a beautiful crook" whose picture they once saw, who's in love with "the brand new motorbike", who's in love with Sad Sack.
• Break Up Song: "Take Out the Trash" is a song about convincing a girl that her boyfriend is no good and she should dump him.
  Girl, why not take out the trash
  And once you get him out, tell him not to come back again?
  Girl, put that cat in the bin
  After what he said, after everything he did
• Chew-Out Fake-Out: From "The Cap'm"
  Did you say what I think you just said,
  My hat looks good on me?
  I agree, I agree
• Friendly Zombie: Sargon, Hammurabi, Ashurbanipal and Gilgamesh from "The Mesopotamians" evidently really are the historical figures in question, now risen as undead, at least if the music video's anything to go by. They're hardly malicious, though, and mostly just want to play music together as the titular band and hopefully be remembered for it.
• Girlfriend in Canada: From "Withered Hope"
  Withered Hope says she has a soulmate
  Living in a city in another state
• Mix-and-Match Critters: "Bee of the Bird of the Moth" mentions creatures called "Catbug" and "Man-House".
• Perpetual Smiler: The narrator of "Upside-Down Frown" smiles all the time, to the annoyance of his girlfriend.
  I'm happy at your happiness as well
  Your anger makes me mad, though you can't tell
  Believe me when I say, I'm with you in my private way
  And though you think I'm trying to blow you off
  It's only that my frown is upside down
• Punk in the Trunk: The fate of the narrator of "The Shadow Government"
  Crawling out of the flop-house
  I saw the mayor stealing my junk
  I doth protest, citizens' arrest
  Now my body's in his trunk
• Sanity Slippage Song: "Climbing the Walls"
• Speaking Simlish: A Simlish version of "Take Out the Trash" was recorded and included in the Freetime expansion for The Sims 2.