"Particle Man" is a song by

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants (often abbreviated as TMBG) is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a dr ...

, released and published in 1990. The song is the seventh track on the band's third album, ''

Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

''. It has become one of the band's most popular songs, despite never having been released as a single. John Linnell and John Flansburgh performed the song, backed by a metronome, for their 1990 ''Flood'' promotional video. Although it was released over a decade before the band began writing

children's music Children's music or kids' music is music composed and performed for children. In European-influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has hi ...

, "Particle Man" is sometimes cited as a particularly youth-appropriate TMBG song, and a precursor to their first children's album, '' No!'', which was not explicitly educational. The song is partially influenced by the theme of the 1967 ''Spider-Man'' TV series. They Might Be Giants' official

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account has the user name "ParticleMen", derived from the song title.

Lyrical content

The song describes four different "men": Particle Man, a microscopic being whose attributes are deemed "not important" enough to be discussed lyrically; Triangle Man, a belligerent entity who hates Particle Man, fights him, and wins; Universe Man, a kinder being, who is the size of the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. A ...

, and has a watch with hands relevant to the age of the universe ("He’s got a watch with a

minute The minute is a unit of time usually equal to (the first sexagesimal fraction) of an hour, or 60 seconds. In the UTC time standard, a minute on rare occasions has 61 seconds, a consequence of leap seconds (there is a provision to insert a n ...

hand, a

millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannus, kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

hand, and an eon hand"); and Person Man, a "degraded" being who lives in a garbage can, somehow feels worthless, and who is also despised, challenged, and defeated by Triangle Man. One intertextual (in the most obvious sense) explanation for the first strophe of the song's apparently nonsense lyrics is as a muted parody of the degraded

agon Agon (Greek ) is a Greek term for a conflict, struggle or contest. This could be a contest in athletics, in chariot or horse racing, or in music or literature at a public festival in ancient Greece. Agon is the word-forming element in 'agony', ...

driving the plot of

David Cronenberg David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformatio ...

's The Fly (1986), in which the male protagonist (played by Jeff Goldblum) first appears at a cocktail party in front of a neon triangle, and the agonist (played by

John Getz John William Getz (born October 15, 1946) is an American character actor. After starting his acting career on stage, he has appeared in numerous television series and films. Personal life Getz, one of four children, was born in Davenport, Iowa, ...

) is the editor of ''Particle Magazine'' and drives a sports car whose prominent vanity plate spells out "PARTICLE." Goldblum's character hates Getz's character for publishing an exposée on his scientific discoveries; at the end of the film, they have a fight, and Triangle wins. However, he wins nothing, and begs to be killed in the film's final sequence, an outcome resonant with the depressive tone of the song's announcement of Triangle's victory: "They have a fight, Triangle wins, triangle man." The song's author, John Linnell, denied the assertion that there is a deeper meaning to "Particle Man", stating on a phone interview filmed for '' Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)'' that "nothing is missing from your understanding of 'Particle Man.'' Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)''. Dir. AJ Schnack. 2003. Band member John Flansburgh described it as "just a song about characters in the most obvious sense" and claims that the lyrics are not intended to allude to real people, though Linnell later said that "Triangle Man was based on a friend's observation that

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Jo ...

looked like an evil triangle when he took his shirt off in '' Night of the Hunter''. Nothing else not explicitly stated need be inferred."

Video

Both "Particle Man" and another They Might Be Giants song, "

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

", were made into

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...

s featured on the Warner Bros.

animated series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...

, ''

Tiny Toon Adventures ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' is an American animated comedy television series that was broadcast from September 14, 1990, to December 6, 1992. It was the first collaborative effort of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation ...

'' and '' The Plucky Duck Show''. Both appeared in the episode "Tiny Toons Music Television". In the video for "Particle Man",

Plucky Duck The ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' animated television series features an extensive cast of characters. The show's central characters are mostly various forms of anthropomorphic animals, based on Looney Tunes characters from earlier films and show ...

portrays both Particle Man and Person Man (Person Man being, in the video's interpretation, Particle Man’s

secret identity A secret identity is a person's alter ego which is not known to the general populace, most often used in fiction. Brought into popular culture by the Scarlet Pimpernel in 1903, the concept was widespread in pulp heroes and is particularly prevalen ...

), and the other characters are featured as massive

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spo ...

s.Ricks, Rosy. "They Might Be Giants at the Pabst—Oh, Boy". ''Third Coast Digest''. 2011-10-30. Prime 7 Media. The video also includes cameos by The Crusher from the Looney Tunes short ''

Bunny Hugged ''Bunny Hugged'' is a 1951 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' short, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released on March 10, 1951, and stars Bugs Bunny. ''Bunny Hugged'' is essentially a re-working of Jones' 1948 ...

'',

Hamton J. Pig The ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' animated television series features an extensive cast of characters. The show's central characters are mostly various forms of anthropomorphic animals, based on Looney Tunes characters from earlier films and shows ...

as a wrestling announcer who

lip-syncs Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated thr ...

the song's lyrics, and

Dizzy Devil The ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' animated television series features an extensive cast of characters. The show's central characters are mostly various forms of anthropomorphic animals, based on Looney Tunes characters from earlier films and shows. ...

playing the accordion. The music videos for "Particle Man" and "Istanbul" are credited with having introduced young fans to the band. Although they were not official music videos, the ''Tiny Toons'' selections warranted inclusion on the band's 1999 video compilation, '' Direct from Brooklyn''.

Influence and usage

In addition to the ''Tiny Toons Adventures'' music video above, "Particle Man" has been performed by

schoolchildren A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementary ...

on multiple occasions. In two such instances, the band has obtained recordings of the performances and released them to their fans and the general public. A cover entitled "Schoolchildren Singing 'Particle Man, recorded by a music teacher at an elementary school, appeared on the band's Dial-A-Song phone line, as well as their 1997 compilation '' Then: The Earlier Years''. John Linnell stated that this was his favourite version of the song. Another rendition was done by the fifth graders of the Kingsley Montessori School in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

. The recording was accompanied by an animated video made by the students, which the band uploaded to

. In the Marvel Comics series ''

X-Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'', writer

Peter David Peter Allen David (born September 23, 1956), often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films and video games.Buxton, Marc (March 29, 2014)"From 'Future Imperfect' to '2099': Peter David's Greatest Hits" Co ...

referenced "Particle Man" as the source song for a fictional parody by

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...

about the character Multiple Man. A partial verse, which discussed Multiple Man's ability to create duplicates of himself, was presented as a radio broadcast in issue #73. The song was also a minor inspiration to author

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comic fantasy, comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchet ...

. One of his recurring ''

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat ...

'' characters, Foul Ole Ron, frequently mutters "millennium hand and shrimp". This was a result of Pratchett feeding various texts to a text-generation computer program, and this phrase was a result of merging this song's lyrics (which mention a "millennium hand") with a Chinese takeaway menu. A cover of the song was used, in part, for advertisements and previews for the video game '' Geometry Wars: Galaxies''. In reference to the nature of ''Geometry Wars'', the part of the song about "Triangle Man" is particularly stressed. The single "Particle Man" appears on " Dr. Demento's 25th Anniversary Collection," released in 1995 on Rhino Records.

Personnel

They Might Be Giants

* John Linnell –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

, keyboards, accordion''

'' (album notes).

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between th ...

. 1990. * John Flansburgh –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

Additional musicians

* Alan Bezozi – drums * Skyline Studio staff – handclaps

Production

*Roger Moutenot – mixing *They Might Be Giants – producer

References

External links

*" Particle Man" on This Might Be A Wiki {{Authority control They Might Be Giants songs 1990 songs Songs written by John Linnell Songs written by John Flansburgh