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Artist: They Might Be Giants
Song: I Should Be Allowed To Think
Album: John Henry
Verse 1:
C#m D A B
I saw the best minds of my generation
C#m D A B
Destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical
C#m D A B
I should be allowed to glue my poster
C#m D B
I should be allowed to think
Chorus:
C#m D A
I should be allowed to glue my poster
B E A E
I should be allowed to think
A E A E
I should be allowed to think
A E B
I should be allowed to think
C#m D A B
And I should be allowed to blurt the merest idea
C#m D A B
if by random whim one occurs to me
C#m D A B
If necessary leave paper stains
C#m D E
On the gray utility pole
Verse 2:
I saw the worst bands of my generation
Applied by magic marker to drywall
I should be allowed to shoot my mouth off
I should have a call-in show
Chorus:
I should be allowed to glue my poster
I should be allowed to think
I should be allowed to think
I should be allowed to think
And I should be allowed to blurt the merest idea
If by random whim one occurs to me
If necessary leave paper stains
On the gray utility pole
Bridge:
A C#m
I am not allowed ( to ever come up with a single original thought )
F#7 - A B
I am not allowed ( to meet the criminal government agent who oppresses me )
Verse 3:
I was the worst hope of my generation
Destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical
I should be allowed to share my feelings
I should be allowed to feel
Chorus:
I should be allowed to glue my poster
I should be allowed to think
I should be allowed to think
I should be allowed to think
And I should be allowed to blurt the merest idea
If by random whim one occurs to me
But sadly, this can never be
Outro:
I am not allowed to think
I am not allowed to think
I am not allowed to think (I am not allowed to think)
I am not allowed to think (I am not allowed to think)
I am not allowed to think (I am not allowed to think)
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Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
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No Picture
Ulti` Average |
#1 by Ulti` 89 at Mar 5, 1970 at 5:13 PM EST |
| this is such a wonderful teen angst anthem, and not in an annoying way. things like gluing your poster to a wall make perfect sense to someone who's young and feels like it's their personal space, but are automatically shot down by parents and other adults. it gives examples of a lot of things that frustrates young people and speaks to them with that kind of passion. i say this about almost every TMBG song, haha, but this one truly is one of the best. | |
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No Picture
Average |
#2 by |
| why can't it be inspired by ginsberg, but sound totally different? i see a great deal of relation between howl and this song, personally. | |
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No Picture
Matt Lead Player |
#3 by Matt Miller at Nov 30, 1997 at 9:14 PM EST |
| inspired by ginsberg? | |
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No Picture
Zach Wanna Be |
#4 by Zach Honeycutt at Feb 3, 1998 at 5:27 PM EST |
| This song is definitely rooted in the anthems of teen angst (as snozzberry commented), but given that this is TMBG and not your local hardcore band, when it comes to "I should be allowed to think" it rings rather ironical. Here's the speaker thinking of all these things he could do, and then he says "I am not allowed to think." The lyrics of this song remind me of when I had conversations with my mother at the age of 14 or so. I'd say something starting with, "Why can't I just..." and my mom, sick of my excuses for why the world wouldn't "let" me do something, would reply, "Okay, you go ahead and do that." So for me, the sense of this song is that the speaker is grousing about his own ineffectuality, and shifting the blame from himself to the rest of the world for not "allowing" him to think up "original thought[s]". The Ginsberg reference strikes me as the speaker's way of validating himself by calling upon the words of a respected but rebellious thinker. | |
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No Picture
Lee Professional Badass |
#5 by Lee the bass player, known as blacktooth90™ at Dec 7, 1999 at 12:14 AM EST |
| I believe that "I should be allowed to think' is about a special ed student who feels that people don't let him do stuff by himself (like thinking) because he's in special ed. | |
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No Picture
NIK Average |
#6 by NIK blaszczyszyn at Feb 27, 2007 at 5:37 AM EST |
| I don't think it was inspired by ginsberg, but the quote at the beginning is ripped out of howl (says so in the liner notes). but... I dunno, it just doesn't seem that much like ginsberg to me... it's more bitterly ironic. I mean, "I saw the worst bands of my generation applied to whiteboard" seems to be a much more modern attack on the music industry. plus, like all of tmbg's stuff, it's more innocent than ginsberg... at least on the outside. | |
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