"I Palindrome I" is a song by American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

duo

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 d ...

. It was the second single from '' Apollo 18'', released in 1992 by

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 1 ...

. They Might Be Giants performed the song on ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production company ...

'' in 1992.

Michael McKean Michael John McKean (; born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, singer, and musician known for various roles in film and television such as Lenny Kosnowski in '' Laverne & Shirley'', David St. Hubbins in '' ...

recites the lyrics of the song in the documentary '' Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns''.

Composition

The title of "I Palindrome I" came from a demo written by

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. Common ...

for

's telephone service, Dial-A-Song.

John Linnell John Sidney Linnell ( ; born June 12, 1959) is an American musician, known primarily as one half of the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to singing and songwri ...

adapted the lyric after attending a reading by the American poet

Hal Sirowitz Hal Sirowitz (born 1949) is an American poet. Sirowitz first began to attract attention at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe where he was a frequent competitor in their Friday Night Poetry Slam. He eventually made the 1993 Nuyorican Poetry Slam team, and ...

. The song's opening line, "Someday mother will die and I'll get the money", is a reference to Sirowitz's portrayal of mother-child relationships. The song contains several

palindrome A palindrome is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as the words ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date and time ''11/11/11 11:11,'' and the sentence: "A man, a plan, a canal – Panam ...

s and references to the concept of

recursion Recursion (adjective: ''recursive'') occurs when a thing is defined in terms of itself or of its type. Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic. The most common application of recursion is in mathematics ...

. For example, the lyrics contain the straightforward palindromes "Egad, a base tone denotes a bad age" and "Man o nam". The

middle 8 The 32-bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century. A ...

consists of what critic Stewart Mason calls a "sentence palindrome", in which the words (rather than the letters) are the units in a sequence which reads the same backwards and forwards: Son I am able,' she said, 'Though you scare me.' 'Watch,' said I. 'Beloved,' I said, 'Watch me scare you though.' Said she, 'Able am I, son. The lyrics also reference "a snake head eating the head on the opposite side" (an

ouroboros The ouroboros or uroboros () is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The ouroboros entered Western tradition via ancient Egyptian iconography and the Greek magical tradition. It was adopted as a symbol in Gnost ...

), which reviewer Ira Robbins interprets as "a grim life mask arvedfrom the conceptual clay of reversible phrases".

Reception

"I Palindrome I" received generally positive attention from critics. Writing for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Stewart Mason concluded that the song was musically appealing enough to overcome its shallow lyrics, which he felt employed wordplay for its own sake rather than "in the service of a particular idea or emotion". In a review of '' Apollo 18'', Karen Schlosberg said that the lyrics of "I Palindrome I" sound like "

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

and

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

meeting

the Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conc ...

", creating an "unlikely sing-along hook". In a 2016 ''

Gothamist Gothamist LLC is the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, and other local coverage. It was founded in 2003 by Jake Dobkin and Jen Chung. In March 2017, Joe Ricketts, ...

'' retrospective revisiting They Might Be Giants's studio albums, Ken Bays noted "I Palindrome I" as a highlight for Linnell's strong vocal performance.

Track listing

# "I Palindrome I" – 2:22 # "Cabbagetown" – 2:24 # "Siftin'" – 1:54 # "Larger Than Life" – 4:17 ;Notes *"Larger Than Life" is a remix by Joshua Fried of the ''Apollo 18'' track "She's Actual Size". The remix features guest vocals from members of

Worl-A-Girl Worl-A-Girl is an American hip hop- and R&B-influenced reggae group, formed in 1991. Founding vocalists Charmaine (Charmaine DaCosta), Miss Linda (Linda Scott?), Sabrina (Sabrina Cohen?) and Sensi (Angela Wilks?) released their first album in 199 ...

Personnel

;They Might Be Giants *

–

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 without ...

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 stri ...

– vocals,

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

;Additional musicians *Kurt Hoffman –

tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

on "Siftin'" *Miss Linda and Sensi –

rap vocals Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

on "Larger Than Life" ;Production *They Might Be Giants – producer *Joshua Fried – producer on "Larger Than Life" *Paul Angelli – engineer on "I Palindrome I", "Cabbagetown", and "Siftin'"; mixing on "Cabbagetown" and "Siftin'" *

Patrick Dillett Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name *Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...

– mixing on "Cabbagetown" and "Siftin'" *Poncho Goldstein – engineer on "Larger Than Life" *Rod Hui – mixing on "Larger Than Life" *

Alan Winstanley Alan Kenneth Winstanley (born 2 November 1952) is an English record producer and songwriter, active from the mid-1970s onwards. He usually works with Clive Langer. His early career during the mid-1970s was as an audio engineer, working on album ...

– mixing on "I Palindrome I" ;Artwork *J Otto Seibold – photography

References

External links

*''

I Palindrome I "I Palindrome I" is a song by American alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants. It was the second single from ''Apollo 18 (album), Apollo 18'', released in 1992 by Elektra Records. They Might Be Giants performed the song on ''Late Night with D ...

'' EP at This Might Be A Wiki *"

" (song) at This Might Be A Wiki {{Authority control 1992 songs Palindromes They Might Be Giants songs Elektra Records EPs