Particle Man
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"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 and Children's music, children's band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as ...
, 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 (list of non-water floods, 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 of significant con ...
''. It has become one of the band's most popular songs, despite never having been released as a single.
John Linnell John Sidney Linnell ( ; born June 12, 1959) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist, and is one half of the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to sing ...
and
John Flansburgh John Conant Flansburgh (born May 6, 1960) is an American musician. He is half of the long-standing Brooklyn, New York–based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants with John Linnell, for which he writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar. Earl ...
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! ''No!'' is the first children's album (and ninth studio album) by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, released in 2002 on Rounder Records and Idlewild Recordings. Retaining the eclecticism, humor and psychedelic sensibilities of their a ...
'', 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
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
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. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...
, and has a watch with hands relevant to the age of the universe ("He’s got a watch with a
minute A minute is a unit of time defined as equal to 60 seconds. It is not a unit in the International System of Units (SI), but is accepted for use with SI. The SI symbol for minutes is min (without a dot). The prime symbol is also sometimes used i ...
hand, a
millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a 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. The song's author,
John Linnell John Sidney Linnell ( ; born June 12, 1959) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist, and is one half of the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to sing ...
, 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) ''Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)'' is a documentary profiling the alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, featuring interviews with Frank Black, Sarah Vowell, Dave Eggers, Mark Hoppus, and others. It was directed by AJ Schnack and premiered ...
'' that "nothing is missing from your understanding of 'Particle Man.''
Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) ''Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)'' is a documentary profiling the alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, featuring interviews with Frank Black, Sarah Vowell, Dave Eggers, Mark Hoppus, and others. It was directed by AJ Schnack and premiered ...
''. Dir. AJ Schnack. 2003.
Band member
John Flansburgh John Conant Flansburgh (born May 6, 1960) is an American musician. He is half of the long-standing Brooklyn, New York–based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants with John Linnell, for which he writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar. Earl ...
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 is known for his antihero roles and film noir appearances. He received nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. He received a star on the Holl ...
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 a They Might Be Giants cover song of "
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" is a 1953 novelty song, with lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy and music by Nat Simon. It was written on the 500th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, Ottomans. The lyrics humorously refer to th ...
", were made into
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
s featured on the
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
animated series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...
, ''
Tiny Toon Adventures ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It originally aired from September 14, 1990 to December 6, 1992, airing in syndication before eventually settling a ...
'' and ''
The Plucky Duck Show ''The Plucky Duck Show'' is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Entertainment. It is a short-lived spin-off of ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' focusing primarily on the character of Plucky Duck. It premi ...
''. Both appeared in the episode "Tiny Toons Music Television". In the video for "Particle Man", Plucky Duck portrays both the title role (as a pro-wrestler) and Person Man (after discarding his outfit), while Triangle Man and Universe Man are presented as massive wrestlers.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'', Hamton J. Pig as a wrestling announcer who lip-syncs the song's lyrics, and Dizzy Devil playing the accordion. The music videos for "Particle Man" and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" 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, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school ...
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 John Sidney Linnell ( ; born June 12, 1959) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist, and is one half of the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to sing ...
stated that this was his favorite version of the song. Another rendition was done by the fifth graders of the Kingsley Montessori School in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
. The recording was accompanied by an animated video made by the students, which the band uploaded to
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. 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 (September 23, 1956 – May 24, 2025), often abbreviated PAD, was 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 Grea ...
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 comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...
about the character
Multiple Man James Arthur Madrox, also called the Multiple Man, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Len Wein, he first appeared in '' Giant-Size Fantastic Four'' #4 (February 1975). ...
. 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 author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...
. 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 Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a fl ...
'' 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 John Sidney Linnell ( ; born June 12, 1959) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist, and is one half of the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to sing ...
– vocals, keyboards,
accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...
''
Flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, 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 of significant con ...
'' (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 the ...
. 1990.
*
John Flansburgh John Conant Flansburgh (born May 6, 1960) is an American musician. He is half of the long-standing Brooklyn, New York–based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants with John Linnell, for which he writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar. Earl ...
– guitar


Additional musicians

* Alan Bezozi – drums * Skyline Studio staff –
handclap A clap is the percussive sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often quickly and repeatedly to express appreciation or approval (see applause), b ...
s


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