They Might Be Giants

"This track was recorded at the Edison Historic Site in West Orange, New Jersey on an Edison wax cylinder recorder. We performed this and other songs in front of a small audience, singing and playing acoustic instruments as loud as we could into a pair of enormous metal cones, the larger of which was perhaps twelve feet long, which fed the sound into a hundred year old non-electrical recording device created by Thomas Edison in the 1890s. The wax cylinder recorder carves a groove into a rotating tube of softened wax with a needle that is vibrating from the sound pressure collected at the small end of the cone. That is the best we can explain it. It looked very cool."

Comments

9 years ago

ZyxthePest

"I'll call you when I get there…"I have no idea why, but that line always makes me feel sad.

9 years ago

thymernoykoa

(((OH RAS!)))

9 years ago

daveincognito

Even now, 18 years later, drive through intercoms can be hard to hear. They're better than they were, but you'd think we could do better.

10 years ago

Theodore O

It took me a second listen to realize that the lyrics all describe some form of technology that allows the transmission of voices. Pre-recorded voice for a car alarm, telephone on plane, intercom, drive-thru intercom system, it all ties together quite well.

10 years ago

Shawn Borri

Recorded by my friend Pete Dilg.

11 years ago

David Latapie

Enregistré sur un phonographe d'époque !

11 years ago

Beck436

Really a beautiful little song about human progress, with all the more beauty in the fact that it's recorded on such an early instance of said human progress.

12 years ago