Comments on: Basement Songs: They Might Be Giants, “Ana Ng”

By: airbrush sunless tan

airbrush sunless tan — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:12:26 +0000

airbrush sunless tan…

Great article and I like your thoughts on this. Will have to bookmark and stop back….

By: paint colors

paint colors — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 06:54:57 +0000

Yep i think it's being sung by John Linnell too.. it's such a good music..

By: paint colors

paint colors — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:54:57 +0000

Yep i think it's being sung by John Linnell too.. it's such a good music..

By: paint colors

paint colors — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:54:57 +0000

Yep i think it's being sung by John Linnell too.. it's such a good music..

By: Beau

Beau — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:08:19 +0000

I've been listening to this one a lot lately. I tend to read it as a witty look at the possibility of having a soulmate on the other side of the world whom you've never met (though I suppose “walked in the glow of each other's majestic presence” could interpreted differently). From that interpretation, I can understand most of it, but the verse about the World's Fair just baffles me.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:58:31 +0000

Sorry to be nitpicky, but I wanted to let you know that Ana Ng is actually sung by John Linnell.

Otherwise, this is a very awesome story and if I ever find myself travelling through Ohio I'd like to see your brick.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:12:24 +0000

I think it's "make a hole WITH a gun" not "IN a gun".

I remember a friend explaining it to me back in college. If you aim a gun through Brooklyn (where the Johns are from) on a globe, the bullet will exit in Vietnam, where you could assume Ana Ng lives.

Then the rest of it seems to make more sense. "My apartment looks upside-down from there...", etc.

I'm too lazy to check the geography on an actual globe, but it sounds good to me.

By: Old_Davy

Old_Davy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:56:35 +0000

Lincoln was the first TMBG CD I bought (and now I have almost all of them) and it's still their best, if you ask me. The closer “Kiss Me Son Of God” is pure brilliance.

By: Pwyll

Pwyll — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:28:54 +0000

This post sure brought back some memories!

My friend Eli introduced me to They Might Be Giants while we were both in high school. "Ana Ng" was one of the first songs by them that I learned on guitar--and to this day I have a penchant for writing songs with many, many chords. For me, "Ana Ng" has always been about a long distance relationship--possibly between two people who haven't even met--if that makes any sense.

make a hole with a gun perpendicular
to the name of this town on a desktop globe
exit wound in a foriegn nation
showing the home of the one this was written for

I remember rehearsing this song over and over again in the A/V room, trying to nail the four chord change on the words "foriegn nation". Gah.