Quotation from the TMBG Early Years Handbook, maintained by Myke Weiskopf <jerk@execpc.com>.

14. Where does the source material from "Snowball in Hell" come from?

Krauss, 1994: "It's a dub off of something I gave Flansburgh for his birthday in 1985. I bought it at a bookstore in my hometown in New Jersey, and it's from a tape from some kind of series on how to manage your time effectively. I saw it on a rack with a bunch of tapes on how to make the most money in your life, how to relax.. It was just a bunch of 'how-to' cassette tapes. I was just flipping through them, and Flansburgh's birthday was coming up; I came across 'How To Manage Your Time Effectively', and I thought, 'Flansburgh will find a way to use this.' And so I gave it to him for his birthday. And we ended up putting it in 'Snowball'."

While the facts contained within this document are not copyrightable, the style, organization, and content of the document is copyright (c) 1994 Myke Weiskopf. Please do not reprint or quote without permission. This document features information previously published in OBSCURE Magazine, No. 5 ("They Might Be Giants"), which is copyright (c) 1994 Obscure Publications / Myke Weiskopf.

Quoth Josh <josh@fyi.net>:

I dont know if anybody has noticed this, but there is a pretty clear connection between the songs Snowball in Hell and Sleeping in the Flowers. In Snowball in Hell there are the lines:

Side effect or drug trip
My panacea's in a Xerox shop

Have a nice day, you want it when?
Have a nice day, have a nice day

The line "my panacea's in a Xerox shop" leads the listener to believe that there is something in a Xerox shop which the singer of the song really cares about. The next two lines are something that a Xerox shop worker might say, asking the customer when he needs his copies done. Well...In Sleeping in the Flowers the lines are:

I got a crush; copy shop clerk
But she won't look up at me
Don't want to be known as the freak
who just comes around to catch her eye

This seems to be about the same person. I don't know if this person really exists. I don't know if everybody already knows about this connection. Just thought I would mention it :)

Giantisms:

• Owing money is made singsongy-- Money-i-o, Money-i-a.
• "If it wasn't for disappointments, I wouldn't have any appointments."