They Might Be Giants - Daylight Lyrics

Outstanding this, do they ever play it live?

fucking genius, just wish it was 8 minutes longer.

I very much see this as an end of a relationship..

Flansburgh voice is incredible in this song.

this is genius. just wish it was longer!

jonathan davis from korn would make a beautiful cover of this song it's so good!

Wow very cool. So the video shows a dirty, depressing apartment for a while, then in the bridge of the song it cuts to symbols of promise and potential (graduation photos, gifts, awards...). Then cuts to one roommate packing his clothes while another smokes cigarettes and watches TV. The packing roommate almost makes it out, but something draws him back in, he drops the bag and sits down on the couch. The graduation photo looks to be the smoking man, but you never see the face of the other man.

One thing to note is the prominence of the TV in the first shot and that it does come back at the end of the video. So here's my take on what the lyrics and video mean. The "daylight" is really the glow of the TV. "Let's see what the daylight brings" is another way of saying, "let's see what's on TV." When you are "awake and dreaming," you are awake sitting there, but dreaming a story being provided by whatever you are watching.

The song is about the the way prolonged indulgence in television saps one's ambitions. The first shot in the video displays a TV, almost triumphantly atop the mess it has created. The disaster of a bedroom as a symbol of lost ambition, lorded over by the snowing television. The smoking man's promise is shown through numerous symbols, juxtaposed during the lyrics "who needs diamond rings...", but then you can see the dejected man facing the television, he's "worse for trying." Finally, the roommate, still with some hope left for himself, packs his bag, tries to leave, and unfortunately for him this is not a happy ending. The television gets him too.

powerful stuff. Love it.

That explains the "paperback's and radio's tell the tale". The narrator of the song doesn't see the point in living his life if he can passively consume what life is like from media (TV, paperback novels, and radios).

harold they're lesbians

The beginning few seconds almost sound like Bowie Blackstar to me. By that I mean the song itself.

Well that was depressing.

I think I've found my funeral song. It's actually kind of beautiful.

"Who needs diamond rings, picture frames, fancy things, when paperbacks and radios tell the tale?" I'm not 100% sure why, but this rings so very Flans to me. Reminiscent of other lyrics about people worrying about their hair or making cheesy promises in relationships. :)

stone cold resonant.

man, that is a severely filthy apartment... and I should know, I lived in my old apartment!

This, Trouble Awful Devil Evil and End Of The Rope make a great, sad 2015 trilogy.

I wish this was longer. Very cool.

This is my favorite Dial-a-song so far. Hits close to home.

For years, my grandfather said "Dont look up", cause a fortune cookie instructed him once not to and he didnt listen, he choked, survived but the irony is amazing...

If I could only assign more than one like for this video

Let's see what the daylight brings!
I'm optimistic, but this music and video are bringing me down.
I enjoyed it.

Wow. This is incredible. "Tilting at tilting things..." so tilting at windmills. Why? Because they just might be giants. This is a significant song.

+Todd C Thanks, Don Quixote.

Windmills dont tilt, though.

"Up Next: So you don't believe in UFOs - incredible video footage you have to see"

I knew you guys had to be from outer space.

So fabulous!!! Love it!!!

Nothing better than a snow day
Besides a snow day with TMBG, of course

Powerful song and video. Really, really good stuff.

I really loved this song, made me think of some other past songs like Pencil Rain with that style. If only it was longer, too.

God this one was good. My only wish is that it lasted longer.

i replay it enough times for it to last 12 minutes. it should be way longer.

The song was very good and catchy.
However... that smoking was a bit of a turn-off for me.

+Chris Nemec and everything is supposed to be a turn-on for you?

:troll: :ignore:

+Chris Nemec Seriously though, it's obviously not supposed to be an uplifting video about shiny happy people.

real and straight

Fits the mood considering that it's now 6 am, and I've been up all night.

the song is amazing. so creepy. tilting at tilting things conjures such strange mental images. or someone didn't have their V8 today.

I get the impression they (the Johns) feel as if they know something which is not known by most other people. that is a terrible way of expressing my impression but that's kind of the way it seems. From several of their songs i get the sense that they feel as if they were looking at the world in a fishbowl and wondering why other people and occurrences were so strange. Or perhaps questioning their interpretation of what they are observing within that fishbowl. or just musing on the differences of interpretation between themselves and a portion of the people with whom they interact. I'll quickly quote Albert Camus; “At certain moments of lucidity, the mechanical aspects of their gestures, their meaningless pantomime makes silly everything that surrounds them. A man is talking on the telephone behind a glass partition. You cannot hear him, but you see his incomprehensible dumb show, and wonder why he is alive.” – Albert Camus.

NAILED IT baby

Man, this is such high quality stuff. Even after all these weeks in a row. You guys are amazing

This is so ominous. The title is misleading. I love this :)

When I saw the title I was hoping for a cover of Daylight by Matt and Kim. But more original tmbg in my life is never a bad thing.

That was amazing! Such an interesting sound! And catchy too.

Great song!

fantastic ;o;