88 Lines About 44 Women: A Poll

i have no idea what this is

It's a song.

Me neither.

(x-post)

A song? Oh. I'm not gonna vote then, I hate those.

Jackie gets the best line in the song, hands down.

i halve no idea what this is

Gloria or Brenda also acceptable options.

This is so sad that people don't know this.

KIDS THESE DAYS

was this strictly a regional SoCal hit or something?

HOW DO YOU PEOPLE NOT KNOW THIS ARE YOU MORONS (NOT YOU TUOMAS)?

John Peel played it quite a bit in the UK

seriously I thought everyone over the age of 25 knew this song

"Amaranta, here's a kiss / I chose you to end this list"

^^^best end lyric ever

I kind of vaguely knew for a while that there was a song with this title but didn't actually hear it until I wrote that article.

this song is blowful.

seriously I thought everyone over the age of 25 knew this song

-- Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, November 1, 2007 9:38 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

The song came out in 1984, try everyone over 35.

I'm 28 and can't imagine anyone my age who's not a total fucking geek knowing this song.

but... I am not 35!

I've only heard this by chance

first time I heard this my friend, who is a big TMBG fan, played it for me -- the mp3 was mistagged as being a TMBG song :(

23 years old. This song still gets played on the radio in the Bay Area.

what are you talking about? everyone knows this song? it was an easy choice.

http://www.last.fm/music/They+Might+Be+Giants/_/88+Lines+About+44+Women

lolz

(for those that don't know, its by the Nails)

Nine Inch Nails?

Just The Nails. Follow up was a decent cover of the Nuggets track "Let it All Hang Out"

I was going to vote "Jackie" but upon seeing the list, I'd forgotten about Bobbie. Does anyone *under* 35 even know what bobby soxers were?

This record was played tons on WBCN in Boston when it came out.

88 Line > End of the World As We Know It > American Pie > Didn't Start the Fire

but... I am 35. (the second thing i said above was a statement, not a question.)

88 Line > End of the World As We Know It > American Pie > Didn't Start the Fire

^^^^^ indisputable

i dispute it. they're all equally shitty.

It's funny: reading this all written down makes me wish for a book version, illustrated by Edward Gorey.

I'm 24, I know this, and I thought it was a fairly well-remembered song...

They played this every afternoon on the radio in the early 90s. I had no idea it was an 80s song. It took me years before I found out that it wasn't a rare Trent Reznor song.

I went with Gloria's line. It's the one I've always liked best, but I don't really understand what it means.

I went with Katherine, since she didn't do that shit at all. Not Katherine.

(34 yo representing)

kingkingvsgodzilla, the last taboo

What hit me about the Bobbie Sox line is that it's a very plausible 1983 New Wave stage name, yet even though the New Wave aesthetic is alive and well, a lot the pop culture it played off (are we not a man in a straw porkpie, UHF monster movie afternoons, cha cha cha with Mr. Flouride...) is long gone.

i had this album, bought it more or less when it came out. It wasn't so great except for this song & Let It All Hang Out.

Mary was a black girl / I was afraid of a girl like that

Where's Sasha on this one??

I once played this on my radio-show, at the bequest of today's birthday-boy. I remember quite liking it!

This was flogged to death on our national youth broadcast network back in the day(yes, I am over 35). The correct answer is, of course, Tanya.

Or possibly Dinah, if you like that kind of woman (I do).

Jackie has the best line, but I voted for Jean-Marie

(how can anyone not know this song?)

i only know this from the rough trade singles club version (which i'm guessing was a re-release)

free download at lastfm:
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Nails/_/88+Lines+About+44+Women

So it's not "Love's been good to me" Frank Sinatra then?

(recorded from vinyl by the sound of it. they could've cleaned it up a bit)

"Amaranta, here's a kiss / I chose you to end this list"

^^^best end lyric ever

-- Dom Passantino, Thursday, 1 November 2007 21:39 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Ha. I hold out no hope for Amaranta I'm afraid.

I have always envied the guy who wroted this song. He went out with all the wrong women before finding the right one.

Can Ned Raggett please cover this song?

I heard the "88 lines about 44 Simpsons" parody version of this on Dr. Demento's radio show prior to hearing what that song was a parody of [roughly 1998ish].

Upon first hearing "women", i misheard "whales and cops" as "boils and cocks". Such is the way my mind works.

37 in the hizzy. [shoot me now]

Oh, and: Dinah.

I'm 28 and can't imagine anyone my age who's not a total fucking geek knowing this song.

-- Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, November 1, 2007 9:55 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Anyone who posts their age is really ignoring the last half of this sentence.

Can Ned Raggett please cover this song?

OMG yes.

I'm 28 and can't imagine anyone my age

Is this what you mean?

I used to be pen pals with a Jackie, who fancied herself a punk rocker. Not as rich, though. Still, I have to give it to Ronnie, who was so impressive that the lead singer broke down the song's fourth wall for her.

I talked about seeing the Nails live, right? I saw them by accident in 1985 at Danceteria. The lead singer read each verse off a sheet of computer paper; when he was done with each one, he'd rip off the paper and casually toss it into the audience. Big Black opened for them, but I foolishly was talked into hanging out on another floor.

This song also inspired an answer song using the same lyrical format, "True Love," by Minneapolis all-female new wave band Tetes Noires. Great tunes both; I actually had never heard The Nails one until recently.

reading these is better than hearing them

I just thought of doing a "88 Lines About 44 ILXORs" parody thread but then thought better of it.

I am genuinely curious about the winner here

A Janet played this song for me to explain why she would never write poetry.

So, that one.

Gloria, the last taboo / was shattered by her tongue one night
Mimi brought the taboo back / and held it up before the light

^^^ if the "last taboo" is what i suspect... how do you hold a rim-job up to the light? with a spelunker's head-lamp?

Maybe it's not what you suspect . . and something you hadn't even imagined.

This thread makes me want to hear the Nails albums.

Gloria, the last taboo / was shattered by her tongue one night
Mimi brought the taboo back / and held it up before the light

^^^ if the "last taboo" is what i suspect... how do you hold a rim-job up to the light? with a spelunker's head-lamp?

-- elmo argonaut

I'm thinking, if Mimi brought the taboo back, then she did not permit it to happen, but, perhaps, subjected it to an intellectual analysis, and, perhaps, elucidated the psychoanalytic and anthropological context of the taboo's creation, such that our hero was, perhaps, somewhat enlightened as to the taboo's origins and psychodynamic. And for that, he appreciates her.

Perhaps.

Girls, all I really want is girls
And in the morning it's girls
Cause in the evening it's girls

I like the way that they walk
And it's chill to hear them talk
And I can always make them smile
From White Castle to the Nile

Back in the day
There was this girl around the way
She liked by home-piece M.C.A.
He said he would not give her play
I asked him, "Please?" he said, "You may."
Her pants were tight and that's ok
If she would dance I would D.J.
We took a walk down to the bay

I hope she'll say, "Hey me and you should hit the hay!"
I asked her out she said, "No way!"
I should have probably guessed their gay
So I broke North with no delay
I heard she moved real far away
That was two years ago this May
I seen her just the other day
Jockin' Mike D. to my dismay

Girls - to do the dishes
Girls - to clean up my room
Girls - to do the laundry
Girls - and in the bathroom
Girls, that's all I really want is girls
Two at a time I want girls
With new wave hairdos I want girls
I ought to whip out my girls, girls, girls, girls, girls!

I always thought Eloise's lines said "whales and cocks" which is also a better rhyme for Bobbie Sox. Great song but I think it was re-recorded for one of those Rhino 80s comps with a more prominent drum/bass line which kind of ruined it for me.

I voted for Gloria; I, like some of the earlier posters, have wondered what the Gloria/Mimi taboo bit was all about.

i like how patty makes the houston/cough syrup connection.

"Dinah drove her Chevrolet / into the San Francisco Bay " or "Carla was a different type / she's the one who put it in:

somehow, I didn't vote for either Tanya or Carla - so apparently my taste in song lyrics is unrelated to my taste in women.

The first time I heard this I was tense, wondering if my name would be mentioned. It wasn't, though my friend's (Gina) was.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I still want Ned to cover this, but maybe in the order in which the poll results are returned.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

weird

Rhonda and Terri deserved better.

I like the idea of covering the song with the lyrics in order of most popular lines.

i just heard this out in the wild and wondered if we polled it, great to hear again and it played right after Japanese Breakfast

i always thought the 44 lines was about cocaine but realize it's 44 lines in the song

first time i've ever heard of this. not a fan.

44 88

lol remember the time Mazda made a commercial out of this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2v9F-BdhUI

"backslash dot com all day long"