Maybe I Know

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"Maybe I Know" live on Post-Modern MTV, 1989
Illustration from the Long Tall Weekend liner notes

song name Maybe I Know
artist They Might Be Giants
releases Stumpbox, Long Tall Weekend
year 1999
first played June 17, 1988 (191 known performances)
run time 2:04
sung by John Flansburgh; John Linnell harmonizes


Trivia/Info

  • From the Summer 1999 Info Club newsletter:
This beloved cover of the Lesley Gore hit from the '60s has been in the John's repertoire since the very beginning. Often an encore selection, it is now finally available to y'all. One of the few songs that the band busked with (along with 'Cowtown' and 'Alienation's For The Rich') on the Brooklyn Heights promenade.
Flansburgh: We did a Lesley Gore song called "Maybe I Know," which we do a lot.

[Interviewer]: Who sings that one?
Flansburgh: I sing it. It's really sad, you know. It really comes across.
[Interviewer]: Can you sell it like Lesley does?
Flansburgh: We do it more like a ballad. We let the really sad part of the song kind of shine through a little bit more.

Linnell: We just do it with the singing and the accordion.
  • It is not clear exactly when the studio version of this song was recorded, though it must have been between 1993 and 1997, since bassist Graham Maby and drummer Brian Doherty are credited. It might have been recorded during or around the sessions for Factory Showroom in 1996, as the song re-entered the band's regular live set that year.
  • This is one of four songs that the band recorded on to wax cylinders at The Edison Laboratory in April 1996. The wax cylinder version of the song is shorter and features all acoustic instruments.
  • According to the Johns, after performing "Maybe I Know" during their only time busking on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade in 1983, a woman approached them and said that her niece, Ellie Greenwich wrote the song, and handed the band $20. The Johns then stopped playing, and bought lunch with the money.[1]
  • According to a 1989 TMBG newsletter, "Maybe I Know" was originally intended to be included on Flood as one of 17 songs (which ended up becoming 19).[2]

Song Themes

Bad English, Denial, Falling, Lies And Deception, Love, Love Gone Sour, Sadness, Swing Feel, TMBG Remakes

Videos

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Maybe I Know is currently ranked #545 out of 1022. (79 wikians have given it an average rating of 8.19)