references and allusions in my musical work

i take after musicians that like to make references to other things in their own works, like they might be giants. i'm basically exactly like they might be giants, you guys. i'm like if they might be giants and jack staubers was mix together. aha. ahaha. ahahaha. ahahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

wait no go back
go all the way back

• love shack - a reference to the song of the same name by the b-52s.
• Dead Fly - contains a line deliberately similar to "the same place the fly got smashed", the name of an album by guided by voices.
• Grendel - contains multiple references to grendel, the first villain that beowulf defeats in the epic of beowulf. also contains a vague reference to a mummenschanz skit involving clay faces.
• Pool for Bats - contains a reference to "cool for cats" by squeeze, with which this song's title deliberately rhymes.
• Chinese Room - refers to the chinese room thought experiment, a hypothetical that claims to prove that artificial intelligence is not, and will never, be sentient.


• derail - the idea of a vehicle falling down the side of a mountain was ripped from "bending hectic" by the smile.
• hey seek - about my battles with the app seek, an app run by inaturalist where you can hold your phone up to an organism and the app will try to identify it. it didn't work well on the phone i had when i wrote this song.
• Dry Eye - modifies a line from "buddy holly" by weezer: "i can't run and i can't kick / what's the matter babe, i'm feeling sick".
• Center of a Wheel - the wheel of intersectionality is a diagram that was created with the intention to highlight the various marginalizations of society. the closer you are to the center of this wheel, the more privilege you have, and the less prejudice you will face. spokes of the wheel include ethnic background, gender, and ability of the body.
• Negative Nancies Assemble - contains various nicknames for people who are grumpy or pessimistic either at a specific moment or all the time. also contains a reference to the movie office space, which contains a running theme where characters are chastised for not fulfilling unspoken societal requirements.
• I Hate This Song - contains a reference to "the window", a song about trying to force myself to have an idea.
• Rufus Wainwrights - contains references to the scientific criteria for something to be considered alive. i also use the name of rufus wainwright for people who i consider to be better at art (and being a human in general) than me.


• O, Resica - contains a couple references to the resica falls scout reservation, at which i have spent multiple summers for scout camp.
• The Facts Enough - contains multiple references to things that have happened during the israeli genocide campaign in palestine, such as arieh king's tweet about palestinians being subhuman and musing about burying them alive.
• Where's My Sex? - contains a reference to the fact that they might be giants also made a song with a title that is the exact same as an already popular song. my song's title is lifted from "where's my sex?" by weezer.
• Serious - contains references to, in order of appearance: "vega-tables" by the beach boys, "terry got a muffin" by nrbq, "drawing" by barenaked ladies, "cool, cool water" by the beach boys, "honeyjars" by oily bastard, "the furries" by me, "i saw mommy kissing santa claus" by tommie connor, "i love onions" by susan christie, "he perfect, he the way: odebook of simpson" by me, "home movies" by lucas v, and "monster mash" by bobby pickett. links to each song are attached on the album page.
• Camera - "the trick with my finger" is referring to the thing you can do to a mirror to see if it's one-way glass or not. if you place your finger on a mirror and there is a gap in between your finger and its reflection, then it is not one-way glass.
• That Blue Drink from Chili's - named after a blue frozen drink served on the kids' menu at chili's called "electric blue blast".
• Hero - name drops "too much heaven" by the bee gees. it is one of the songs on a cd i kept in my car. i tried listening to it while driving, but it was very nerve wracking. as i listened to the song, i imagined slamming on the pedal and dying. it seemed like a good last song to ever listen to. also, putting a playing card in the spokes of a bicycle is something that is supposedly done by people to make their bikes make a loud noise while in motion.
• Jim Teacher - based on a bizarre tiktok prefaced with a man standing in casual clothing with the text "what i would wear as different teachers". then, he is wearing a tight black tank top and standing with an ominous posture and look in his eyes, accompanied by the text "Jim Teacher". i have no idea whether it's a joke or not, but it's funny regardless.
• Bizarro - contains a very vague reference to the song "philosophy of the world" by the shaggs.
• The Woke Song - this song exists within the context of an outrage against "woke" culture, where conservative pundits push the idea that the queer community is a front for pedophiles to influence the minds of young children and steer them away from a good, god-fearing life, and towards a hedonistic life of debauchery and sin. i can only hope that this song may be listened to by someone in a future where they don't know what this song is parodizing.
• Pollard Noster - the title, as well as the spoken passage at the beginning, is a spoof of the "Our Father" prayer, known as Pater Noster in Latin. also, i call writing songs with two verses and two choruses "my grilled cheese" because, like grilled cheese, it is the thing i make most of the time and it's the thing i'm most comfortable making. i even consider myself to be good at it.
• In My Car - contains a reference to the song "cars" by gary numan, which is about how nice it is being in a car, and to "tom's diner" by suzanne vega, a song that only has the singer's voice with no accompanying instrumental. (i did not intend to add any instrumentation to "in my car")
• Midgley's Theme - contains various references to the legacy of Thomas Midgley Jr., an inventor who patented various environmentally dangerous chemicals, and who eventually contracted polio and ended up accidentally strangling himself using a system he engineered to get himself out of bed without anyone's help.
• If I Wear a Belt - contains a reference to a habit i have of leaning against a wall with my shoulder as i walk, "jumping" over gaps, protrusions, etc. also contains a reference to a line from house. i also say "be nice to me, jesse" at the end to invoke the character of todd from el camino, to whom i sometimes comapre myself cynically.


• Henry's Watch - contains references to an XTC song each time the button is pressed. the watch itself is a reference to c-watches, which i learned of from an oneyplays clip. the song also contains a reference to "how to disappear completely" by radiohead.
• Advertisement for the Church of Simpson - i sing "coffee" by beabadoobee and "raisins" by barenaked ladies at the end of the song. i don't know why.
• Lisa Went to Camp Granada, an Original Piece - contains a line from the allan sherman song "hello muddah, hello fadduh! (a letter from camp)", which appears in the season 7 episode "marge be not proud" when bart switches the tapes of an answering machine so that the song plays for homer instead of an incriminating voice message. homer then asks marge if lisa is at camp granada.
• The Homer Rap, Presented by the First Church of Simpson - contains a spoof of the idea that when jesus was crucified, he died "for our sins", sacrificing himself for every sin of mankind.
• Benny's Homer Song, a Parody of "jonnys ocean song" by Radiohead - contains a line from the season 8 episode "burns, baby burns".
• Introduction to "He Perfect... ...He the Way: Odebook of Simpson" - contains a reference to the album that inspired mine, which i recorded mine on the empty B-side of.


• the woke didn't work on me - contains references to disney and target being subject to whining from reactionaries over their rainbow capitalist practices (i also name drop rainbow capitalism in the song).
• atlas (when i grow up) - contains a reference to the idea i had when i was 9 that my dad would eventually give me his iphone 4 when he got a new one. i imagined the iphone 4 as a supercomputer that i could use to make more advanced trip edits.
• cherries - the first two lines play off of one of the first lines in "the future's so bright (i gotta wear shades)" by timbuk 3.
• jesse pinkman is not blond - "that nordic thing / where they pull your lungs out through your back / while you're still breathing" is called a blood eagle.
• stupid quilt - contains a reference to a dream where i watched my mother and my brother rip two plushies i had to pieces in front of me, while they remained silent and expressionless. also mentions a kind of grass that grew on campus that stunk.
• i want every instrument - contains a reference to john lennon's thoughts about rejecting worldly possessions, and to the fact that he, regardless, owned a big expensive piano. during the list of instruments at the end, part of the melody from "i wish i had a cuica" plays when i mention the cuica.
• to write a song - i play the beginning of "2013" at the end because this song's chord progression and that song's chord progression are the same.
• late night laundry blues - i refer to weezer's green album, which i listened to while i did my laundry on that day.
• i am a filmmaker - about my inclination to imagine artsy film shots. contains references to a video artifact from the days of filming on tape that i quite enjoy. also name drops wes anderson, one of the most popular figureheads in artsy, auteurist filmmaking, whose work i thoroughly enjoy.
• goodbye my ct-403 - at the end, i begin singing "lovely rita" by the beatles, because i thought that the refrain at the end sounded like the refrain from lovely rita, in that harmonized vocals were repeating a short phrase and singing it in two different ways.
• i drink YOUR MILKshake! - a reference to that scene from there will be blood.
• 2013 - contains a reference to a full art kyurem EX, a real pokémon card i had (have? had? iunno). i traded it for a lame-ass zekrom with my friend and i had to give him a lot of cards to get it back. also contains a reference to that time i got really sick in 2019 after watching toy story 4. it might have been the popcorn. not sure.
• kick a revelves - the title is a mincing of the title of a guided by voices song.
• a (real) post on the /x/ board of 4chan
• burned out - i reference three songs i had written previously that day. the third of them is the only one that survived, as the bonus track "rock the ice".
• the trolley song - the title refers to a local business that closed down and became an ugly construction site for an ugly apartment complex.
• the quiet game - refers to the idea of "the quiet game", a tactic supposedly used by parents to turn shutting up into a competitive game.
• the window - contains a reference to an incident where phineas gage, visiting a doctor after his injury, began vomiting so violently that a piece of his brain was ejected from his skull.
• the ball 2 - is a spoof of the ball. also, "β thete-talent line" is a title of a patreon-exclusive song by jack stauber.


• man and woman - refers to the idea that god created two humans, each of one sex, specifically the usage of this idea to exclude others.
• honeybee - the great absence was a name i had given to two back-to-back sleepaway camps i was going to. for some reason i was really worried about it. i had fun.
• smile and wave - the title and chorus lift the line from madagascar.
• will o' the wisp - refers, at the end, to the idea of there being "plenty of fish in the sea".


• the ball - the "chorus" refers to the idea of "staying on top of the ball", which my mom was telling me to do a lot at that point in time.
• Mr. King - "mr. king" refers to stephen hawking, who said that backwards time travel was impossible according to laws of physics.
• twelve seventeen - contains various references to an eye surgery i underwent when i was ten.


• zyzzyva - written after my parents annoyed me by telling me to stop walking faster than them. i took the line "brains are fried" from the title of a book that i saw on my porch.
• the before times - "the before times" was a name that my mom, during the lockdown, gave to the time before the lockdown. i assumed she had made it up herself.
• behind bars - consists mostly of times that i wrote in my diary. every night for a couple years i would write a diary entry, headed by the day of the week, date, and time. i was upset at how late i was going to sleep after i stopped having to get up early.


• If (2011) - the line "when i'm paralyzed / i stick to the wall" was a reference to a Starship 2000 ride that scared me.