They Might Be Giants - Shape Shifter Lyrics

Algorithm comment

when I see all you SJWs sliding along enveloped in your sad commie thought cycle never seeing the puppet strings, you really do resemble the blob. unnerving. like a Windows 10 update or Apple all together, you think you're helping but you're really doing damage beyond your scope, openly go against the wishes of those around you and actively try to stop them having control on their own property. it's really quite selfish and sick what you do, but hey, you're a monstrous blob to be reckoned with right?

Is this one of those copypasta things?

@Scratch-O unfortunately no

...what?

My family when I came out as trans XD

I think this song is definitely about transphobia.

you all are the blob.

@holeheadmole congrats on being the 40 percent

@Mattuiop wouldn't it be the 60%?

or hopefully at least

Why do they all look like they have rabies?

This should be the theme for Prey

Anyone else find those puppets creepy?

Spoilers







I put my hand inside the puppet head.

Yeah, they're disgusting.

Monkey Jesus Not “spoiler alert”?

Star Trek DS9 alternate opening theme music

that is really, really, funny.

I've always enjoyed TMBG's perspective on the different subjects they choose to sing about. They approach the whole shapeshifter subject not with fear but with annoyance, thus making the song a great deal more entertaining.

Actually that's such a good point? Thank you for putting this out there into the universe

The nanobots growing in the cracks in the sidewalk will solve these problems while creating new ones

I like the bridge because it sounds like a Paul F. Tompkins monologue. "Shapeshifters? You gotta quit that."

I sing this song when I battle Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat since he's a shape shifter. This song is actually about how quickly things can change in such a short amount of time. It is scary and I can see why this is a legit fear. That is how it is in my experiences. This is my favorite song from Phone Power. I fell on the floor laughing when I first heard this song.

the band in the music video is meant to represent tmbg, with the obvious hipster motif

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! SONG A WEEK IN 2018 !!!!!

It's about the anxiety of the world changing around you as you age. In particular, I think it's about people who want to be accepting of change and tolerant, but it still makes them really anxious.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! :(

this is about the Mandela effect, isn't it? I learned about it in spring of 2016, so I didn't realize it when I heard this for the first time. but the video and lyrics perfectly describe the Mandela effect..

I think it's about people near you not being the people you think they are.

They Probably Aren't Midgets are my favorite band!!

I could not be more confused and/or terrified.

The stop-motion puppets in this video seriously disturb me.

I came back to this video, apparently 5 months later, thinking maybe it wouldn't be as bad now that I've opened my mind more. But no, even though I'm no longer terrified, those things are just extremely unpleasantly ugly to look at. Seriously, who designed these monstrosities?

Not to be rude or anything.

I have to listen to this song on another tab to avoid looking at the puppets. Also, your icon dosent happen to be from yume 2kii, does it?

Ah yes, it's some art I found, quite some time ago, of the "Gakuran" character; and I was pretty fond of the game back then (I still am, but I don't really play it anymore because I can't). I'm glad to have met another person who is at the very least aware of Yume 2kki's existence.

I'm a big fan of yume nikki but sadly can only watch let's plays of yume 2kii because the download won't work. :( My computer tries to translate the Japanese downloaded and replaces everything with ? marks.

Yeah, I got it to work on my old laptop (with Windows), but it was still a pretty complicated and difficult process. I remember having to find and install a really specific version of RPG RTP as well as change the computer's locale to Japanese. Which was never really a problem for me, because I was learning Japanese at the time (and still am), but for someone who doesn't understand the language it would likely be a significant big trade-off. Mind that the linguistic change only affected very few parts of the computer, but those parts changed nonetheless.

Either way, both games are definitely awesome.

#pizzagate

Easily my favorite from this experiment. This whole song a week thing actually got me inspired to make my own channel this year doing the same thing. The amount of work it takes it crazy. Thanks again for the inspiration to make fun music TMBG!

whay is your interpretation of this song.

Kawaiikittychu7 the Mandela effect.

I take it as a metaphor for the type of person who thinks they're accepting of minorities until personally confronted with one. Like people who are fine with "the gays" until they find out their son is gay, or white people who don't think they're racist but don't want a black family moving in next door "because it will affect the property value."

I think it's the line, "I accepted what you were but then everything changed, and I don't want to live in any place where the people are shifting their shape."

So it's not literal shape-shifting, but the narrator sees it as that because these people he thinks he's fine with are suddenly real people in his life instead of abstract concepts, and he's NOT fine with them, but in the narrator's mind he is still the same person who was always fine with that type of person, so it must somehow be the minorities who changed.

I know that is probably not at all what the song was meant to mean, that's just what I took away from it.

yeah I think its about progressiveness too

@Madam Madd I always saw it as a person who was more specifically transphobic and homophobic. The phrase "where the people are shifting their shape" always stuck out to me as being about people "changing" in ways that aren't considered natural.

@Ezra Block Agreed, good thinkin!

Am I the only one who imagines Captain Sisko in Deep Space Nine singing about his big old problem with shapeshifters?

God, the lyrics for this song. Fucking genius metaphor.

I've come up with multiple interpretations for this song... still great though.

Anzyll And all you can do is think of swear words, no wonder you’re a nobody who won’t be remembered

I still have all your shit from the Adventure Quest Worlds event from you guys! I think that was back in 2012 or so? Either way, I still really like your music!

is aqw still even big lol

@Robert G Yes, actually.

Aiden Montgomery yo what your aqw user name

Fuck man, i went on there after seeing this comment to see the single Dr Worm in my house.

It sounds like they're saying "Prob Lem"

they are. that's how you spell it

He's saying it sounds like they're saying "Prob Lem" as two words instead of just "problem"

@Vancha Ah, well I guess it's just to match the beat

It sounds better than if they pronounced it normally for the extra beat. Try saying the word normally and the unstressed syllable sounds weird.

The video ruins it.

I had friends who I accepted as they were, until they shifted their shapes. Now I got a big old problem called loneliness XD

the video reminds me of tally halls ruler of everything.....not the song though.

TMBG are the hardest men in rock. Seriously, they mess with all mediums and genres. And write all those songs

I'm 23 and what is this?

What does being 23 have to do with your question?

*SHAPE SHIFTS DICK INTO BIGGER DICK*

Thank you TMBGs for making 'weird' weird again

grody puppets?

D:

The chorus of this song sounds just like a Weird Al song, but I can't figure out which one. Any help?

+JHYW Given that parts of Shape Shifter sounds a lot like the Beach Boys I'd suggest Pancreas.

Yup, pancreas or weasel stomping day

E..eek!

I've got a big ole problem...TMBG is the only band I truly enjoy!

terrifying video + great song = super combo

Terrific team, terrific number. Thanks for post.

Linnell sings really nice in this song.

Thank you, They Might be Giants.

BOB AND PROMETHEUS!

+Late Night Book Club Prometheus and Bob*

I swear TMBG is the Beatles reincarnated.
The constant flow of weird and creative songs.
I'm gonna miss dial a song

I think I'm responsible for .1 % of this videos views...

I can't stop listening to this, it's so fantastic.

All of their songs have great meaning, not just with the lyrics but the band as well.

This is the greatest chorus ever.

Gul durn changelings takin our jobs

Amazing song! A very scary video. :))

jesus christ how terrifying


good song tho 11/10

At 1:24, amidst the Shape Shifters posters in the background, there is a poster for Catnip (a short film by the director, Jason Willis) and the cover of Trish Bruxvoort Colligan's album Wild Acre.

That was terrifying!! But that was a neat song :)

You guys are awesome. Thanks for all the music/entertainment. Love you guys. Have a good 2016 :)

Awesome! Keep up the good work, guys!

Amazing how TMBG can produce such quality songs and vids every week. I can't - and dont want to - decide on a favourite.

Thanks for a great year, John and John!

Wow, what a send off, especially with last week's entry, they left us with two of the strongest tracks from the year. I wonder if they will ever do this again

My top songs:

1) Unpronounceable
In no particular order) ECNALUBMA, Let Me Tell You About My Operation, Shape Shifter, Erase, and Sold My Mind to the Kremlin.

WOW! --- The last might be my absolute fav - and that's saying a lot for this awesome year!!

Well, guess it's time to start putting together my #DialASong2015Top10
I'll have to think it over a while.

Now that dial a song is over, what was your favorite song of these wonderful 52 weeks?

+Andrew Schultz Honestly, I don't think any of the songs topped Erase.

+Andrew Schultz


This was an AWESOME year !! But here are my top favs for
2015 (#1 to #12) anyone agree?:

1) Let Me Tell You About My Operation

2) ECNALUBMA

3) I Am Invisible

4) Elephants

5)Music Jail pt 1 and 2

6) Answer

7) Shape Shifters

8) I’ll Be Haunting You

9) Hello Mrs. Wheelyke

10) Good To Be Alive

11) Sold My Mind to The Kremlin

12) I Am Alone

+Andrew Schultz Mine was I Am Invisible

such a great song!!

can't believe it's over :( such an amazing year of music thank you guys so much!!

That was a great sendoff, the chirus reminded me of Weird Al, which was awesome. But, anyways, I look forward to the new album and we'll see TMBG in anothet year.

+Dan Hibdon Reminded me of a cross between Weird Al, Hyadain, and of course They Might Be Giants.

That's a big ol' problem!
Cheers to a Happy New Year.
I will miss you guys.

Ben Aaron Yeah your big ol problem is you think years are new

Gonna miss this next year. Thanks for all the great songs!

A great send off to 52 wonderful weeks of Dial-A-Song! I'll be doing the week 52 announcement on Sunday evening. I'm going to miss doing the weekly announcements, but overall good times. - ELR

A fine culmination to 52 wonderful weeks. Thanks for this, John and John (And Marty, Dan, Danny, Robin, and everyone else involved). :)

love this video!

What a cool video! What a cool year to be a TMBG fan!

Great song & video!

I was wondering if you could post #50 here too, not just on facebook.

Thank you for making every Tuesday morning this year like my birthday and Christmas combined.

God bless They might be giants, let the music be music forever.

Thanks a lot TMBG for the great music!!

And so ends our year of audible treats. We may never be so spoiled again!

Definitely a fun song to end on - can't wait to get the last album of the set!

Wow - 52 weeks of not only fun songs but fun videos as well. Don't know how they do it. :'D

My biggest fear the last couple of weeks was that the last one would be a dud. I'm glad it's not.

thank you tmbg.

You saved a great one for last, definitely in my top 10 out of the 52!

dial a song is a gift to humanity that we don't deserve

Yay TMBG! Scared about 2016 though...

I hope TMBG automatically reinstalls good music for 2016, because 2015 was a hell of a year

And the moral of the story is:

NEVER INSTALL ANYTHING.

Sad to see these end! Thank you for a great year!

52 great Tuesdays

A wonderful end to a great time

The end ;-;

T'was a great year for Dial-A-Song.

You all absolutely killed it this year. Can't wait for the album to come out.

Thanks for a fantastic year TMBG

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO great song, aMAZING FILM CLIP, what a bow to put on dial a song!!! luv it luv it omgg

It's been a great year hearing something from you guys every week. Here's to another great year coming up soon!

One of my favorites this year.

Really great year, johns. Many thanks for the excellent music.

Thank you for the fifty-two weeks of bliss. Much love from us TMBG fans.

This is... a LOT like the Spiraling Shape music video I wanted to make but was absolutely never going to...

...Cool song! Seems like the type that has to grow on you.

Awesome way to end the year! Sounds like the evolution of Monsters of Mud.

Great finale!
And what a great ride this has been. 2015 has been an incredible controlled explosion of creativity for you guys.
Bravo.

sad that its over ;-; so many good songs!

Yeyyyyy good job!!!!

e: also someone should mix this with Spiraling Shape to make Spiraling Shape Shifter