Most celebrated composer?

[mmcirvin]

Casey B asked me:

So, in a McIrvin universe, who *is* the most celebrated composer?

It occurs to me that by looking at my favorite metric of MP3 play counts, it's possible to answer this question with mathematical precision.

In a McIrvin universe, the most celebrated composer, as measured by the single work with the highest play count, is now apparently Shiro Akaishi. And the second most celebrated composer is Casey B.

Then Mark Mothersbaugh.

Comments

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

And if you summed over all works, it would almost certainly be John Flansburgh and/or John Linnell.

*Second*-most-celebrated?

[(Anonymous)]

Dammit! I knew I didn't mix Jimpson's nose-flute high enough in the solo! That would've made the difference, right?

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Dammit! I <b>knew</b> I didn't mix Jimpson's nose-flute high enough in the solo! That would've made the difference, right? <clenches fist, shakes it at the sky> <b>SHIIIIIII-ROOOOOOO!</b>

No, #2 is a great honour, especially since the overall stats are dominated by the Johns. Slow-Of-Brain Fact #1: I'd listened to "<u>Particle Man</u>" for about <b>ten years</b> (not continuously, obviously) before I worked out what it was about.

Love,
Casey B

Re: *Second*-most-celebrated?

[pootrootbeer.livejournal.com]

So what is it about?

Re: *Second*-most-celebrated?

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

TMBG recently revealed that Triangle Man symbolizes Robert Mitchum.

Re: *Second*-most-celebrated?

[(Anonymous)]

Well... it might be just me, mind you - well, I know it's not just me because I think it's the source of some contention amongst the TMBG netters, but it might be just "we kooks" - but it seems like it's a science vs. religion parable.

Yes? No?

Love,
Casey B

Particle Manology

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

That is one popular interpretation. But I think TMBG have said that they didn't have anything that specific in mind.

The mystery that determines the interpretation is typically what Triangle Man represents: is he God (the Trinity)? The government? Something more abstract (say, the Greek letter delta as mathematical symbol of change)?

The one clue we've actually gotten from the song's authors is that they had just seen some old movie on TV in which Robert Mitchum played the bad guy, and somebody remarked that he looked like an evil triangle. So Triangle Man is Robert Mitchum, maybe.

Once on alt.music.tmbg I decided to come up with an interpretation more ridiculous than anybody else's, and insisted that Triangle Man symbolized the axial U(1) triangle diagram anomaly that determines the allowed collections of particle charges in grand unified gauge field theories.

Part of the song is pretty explicitly about the humiliation inherent in the human condition, halfway between particles and universes. There's also some evocation of the old Spider-Man cartoon theme ("Spider-Man/Spider-Man/Does whatever a spider can"), and, I suspect, an old schoolyard parody of the Popeye song ("I'm Popeye the Sailor Man/I live in a garbage can"). Beyond that it's kind of murky.