A long time ago, during my more turbulent years, I spoke often with a friend of mine in Seattle about many things typical of angsty teenage life. During those phone calls, I was subjected to music playing in the background that baffled me as much as my friend’s opinions did. An inquiry or two later, and I knew that my friend had a penchant for They Might Be Giants and their quirky music. The song in question was “Birdhouse in Your Soul”, and it introduced me to the wonderful curiosity that is John and John’s music.

I picked up a few CD’s of theirs many years down the road, and one of them had a song I swore I’d heard before. On the John Henry album, the track called “No One Knows My Plan” reminded me of a television show that I couldn’t quite place. I remembered that the show seemed to involve cooking in a humorous setting, and that this song was used during quick show voiceovers before commercial breaks. I have yet to find out just what show this was, or whether they did indeed use a voiceless version of No One Knows My Plan, but I hope to find out some day.

The song itself has a curious rhythm, one that had me thinking back to El Ritmo Tropical. I felt that this kind of stepping would be a fresh departure from the standard method I’d previously followed, so I decided to include They Might Be Giants into Plaguemix Two.