“Clap Your Hands” – They Might Be Giants
From No

My wife is generally a demure little woman. It is not that she isn’t happy, or doesn’t enjoy life, it is simply that she rarely gets really excited over something. I suspect that George Clooney (the hottest of hotties, don’t ya know?) could walk up to her, plant a wet one on her lips, hand her two tickets to Paris and a thousand dollars and she’d still recall the experience later as simply “Okay.” She’s just like that, and I love her for it.

Still, there are a handful of little things that make her go uncharacteristically giddy. At the forefront of this very short list is They Might Be Giants. I don’t know what it is about those two geeky guys named John, but my little geeky wife adores them so.

“Clap Your Hands” is off of their attempt at a children’s album, a fact that makes her doubly excited and joyous. They Might Be Giants making up kids music! C’est Fantastique!
It’s a random, goofy tune whose lyrics are no more than “clap your hands,” and “stomp your feet,” but whose utter, relentless feel goodness makes even the most hum-bug of people smile - if just a little.

I guess it is the simple pleasures, that make life worth living. For me it is seeing the stoic love of my life, flop around the living room, with a big old goofy smile on her face, generally loving a little band from New York.

“Fell On Black Days” – Soundgarden
From Superunknown

I used to wear nothing but band t-shirts. Well, nothing but baggy pants, skater shoes, flannel AND band t-shirts. Finding a shirt with my favorite musicians plastered upon it was making a statement, man. It was like demonstrating who I was as a person. Or something.

I had a fabulous Soundgarden tee from the Badmotorfinger era, that had this crazy little design on the back made up of a whole bunch of hands, extending the middle finger. The way it was designed, with all the fingers making a giant circle, you couldn’t really tell that the design was anything more than something funky. This completely explains why my mother actually let me wear the thing.

That summer I attended a week of religious summer camp and I brought along all my favorite band t-shirts, including the offensive Soundgarden one. Thinking I was smart, I brought along a few flannels as well, and covered the rudeness with it. Being not so smart, I had forgotten that this was Arkansas in the middle of summer and a long sleeved flannel gets very hot, very quickly. Somewhere in the middle of singing “Amazing Grace” or “Jesus is Real Cool to Me” I took off the flannel, without a thought given to suddenly flipping off a hundred or so unsuspecting Christian campers.