Night of the Living Chester

Tenna art by @9Aaaalt29 on twt

Sleep's Older Sister - "sister"; gender in a specific interpersonal title. Thanatos is traditionally Hypnos' twin brother, so two things are potentially being changed here. A Wikipedia rabbit hole later, in the Theogony the Fates were also their sisters, so it could potentially be Atropos, the string-cutter. Or he just likes authority and femininity. The question isn't really relevant outside that single line, but it is the single line the song is named after.

Let's Fall In Lava - prototypical "a relationship as fate-mandated self destruction" theme song with zero gender indication or behavioral split

What You Get - ....you know, this is also an Answer-style song, but avoids the uncomfortable edge by being about The Entirety Of Being Alive rather than a romantic relationship. You could find another partner, you can't find another world.

Dead Mall - bookmarking the repeated "scuse me, ma'am" but no clear thoughts on it yet

'Scuse me, ma'am, we're just passing by 'Scuse me, ma'am, must be some other guy 'Scuse me, ma'am, can you let this slide?

would be about trying to get out of being stopped, get out of being searched, and finally get out of having been caught, presumably by a security guard; which would make this another Lady In Charge Of You character.

A very tiny percentage of creators go on to be famous, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t remember little things you did for years and years. Who came up with most of the world’s most famous jump rope rhymes? Who coined some of the famous idioms we use in daily speech? Who made up ‘Jingle Bells, Batman Smells?” Somehow, all of these things stuck and spread around.

When I was a small child, I saw a high school put on a production of the musical HONK. In one song, the mother duck describes various dangers that her baby should avoid in the water, including fishing line, which could strangle him. A member of the ensemble played the role of fishing line, doing a maniacal laugh and over-the-top strangling motions, and I found it hilarious– and to this day, that’s an example I often think of when talking about how ensemble members can still stand out in theatre. The guy who played the role might not even remember that he did that, but I do.

I took Suzuki violin lessons as a kid. The teacher made up lyrics to some of the songs, and she let her students make some up, too. Now whenever I hear the instrumental of one of those pieces, I always remember these ridiculous lyrics about a skunk that we sang in violin class. I don’t even know which student invented them!

In middle school, I found a video about atoms parodying Bill Nye made by some kids for a school product. It probably had less than 1,000 views, but I think of quotes from that video all the time. They had a parody of “We Will Rock You” with the chorus, “Protons, neutrons, electrons” that I think about a lot.

*no actual definition of this. My suggestion would be 'doesn't break the top 10 on TMBW' (would have said 5, but somehow Doctor Worm is currently #6 and I would definitely consider that a standard favourite) but I think it is easier just to say - use your judgement and no one is allowed to yell at you, I just want to know.

Absolutely Bill's Mood - the first TMBG song I ever added to my music library, years before getting to the rest. I heard it out of context and the clapping/"Thank you!" segment made me laugh out loud

Fortnight - I drew a minizine for this one. Even talking to front-row concert people there is still only a 1/3 chance they will remember it.

The version of Snowball in Hell with the "okay, okay, okay" sample at the beginning, which to me captures the spirit of what it's describing better than the album version

Garbage In got some baffled reactions, so I'd braced myself, but it made me grin first listen and then actually get up and jump around (even as I was doing it I was like, really? This song?) and then used a lyric as my status for a month.

Counterfeit Fake (NOT Counterfeit Faker, that one I'm just ok on) is barely a song, yet it gets stuck in my head a lot and I have a convoluted interpretation of it.

These are all 'little flansies', but it's harder to tell what JL songs are "nonstandard" to like—his offbeat ones tend to become memes and then gain ironic and then post-ironic fans because of that. Hmmm...

Wicked Little Critta is so fun, plus regional pride (but again, that one's sort of a meme already)