51: Lift That Fork, Eat That Snail

51. "South Carolina" by John Linnell [Video: nope]

They Might Be Giants have been together forever. So far as I know, there has never been so much as a threat of the band breaking up. (In fact, they are touring again this year, coming to Salt Lake City in early May.)

But, there was a time when the guys decided to do some solo side projects. Guitarist John Flansburgh formed a group by the name of Mono Puff and released two albums. (Included are fun songs such as "Night Security," about a night security guard and his giant key ring; "Guitar Was the Case," a jumping guitar instrumental; and "Nixon's the One," a song that extolls the many virtues of Richard Nixon.)(It's a very short song.)

Meanwhile, accordion guru John Linnell released a solo album titled "State Songs." Each song on the album had the title of a state, even though the songs themselves might have absolutely nothing to do with the state the song was named after.

The best of these songs is "South Carolina." It's a fun, upbeat tune about a guy riding a bicycle getting hit by a garbage truck, then receiving a large financial settlement as a result. 

This song is, for me, the ultimate workout song. When working out on my elliptical exercise machine, keeping up with the beat of this song is the absolute fastest that I can go. In fact, if I haven't been on the machine for a while, it will usually take me a month or two of working out before I can get to and maintain the speed of this song. 

Of course, thinking about garbage trucks brings to mind my days as a boy scout garbage collector back in Arimo. Do you think they'd allow that today? Twelve year old kids riding around in the back of a large open bed grain truck or, worse yet, hanging onto a ladder on the side of the truck. Or, how about kids riding in the back of said garbage truck on the way to the dump, throwing things out along the way? (Throwing rotten pumpkins out of the truck and watching them smash on the road was pretty fun. No wonder we liked David Letterman so much.) And, I'm pretty sure hanging on to the front of the truck bed as the hydraulics lifts it up to dump out the garbage would probably be frowned upon, too. {Luckily, we grew up in a time that wasn't too litigious.)

COMING UP NEXT: A song worth sluffing school for.