"Your Racist Friend", produced by Langer and Winstanley, is a politically charged song which follows a fairly straightforward narrative. The song, which depicts a social conflict, is considered to be the band's most clear "political statement". On the other hand, the accordion-tinged "Particle Man" lightheartedly chronicles the disputes of four characters, the titular Particle Man, Universe Man, Person Man, and Triangle Man. Linnell has claimed that the character Triangle Man was inspired by Robert Mitchum's appearance in the 1955 film The Night of the Hunter. The final single, "Twisting", was selected over "Your Racist Friend", in part because it was more lyrically ambiguous.Reed & Sandifer 2013, p. 37. The song references both The Young Fresh Fellows and The dB's, two groups that influenced the sound of the track itself. Flansburgh has noted that, while recording the song, Bezozi accidentally erased the entire drum track for "Twisting". Flansburgh then had to recreate the track from scratch.Reed & Sandifer 2013, p. 77. The cryptic "We Want a Rock" features a violin performance by Mark Feldman, and "Someone Keeps Moving My Chair" revolves around petty concerns and their importance "when everything else is going haywire". "Hearing Aid" features the mixing of standard They Might Be Giants sounds with an Arto Lindsay guitar solo and vacuum cleaner synth sounds, experimentations that Flansburgh found difficult to achieve.
"Your Racist Friend", produced by Langer and Winstanley, is a politically charged song which follows a fairly straightforward narrative. The song, which depicts a social conflict, is considered to be the band's most clear "political statement". On the other hand, the accordion-tinged "Particle Man" lightheartedly chronicles the disputes of four characters, the titular Particle Man, Universe Man, Person Man, and Triangle Man. Linnell has claimed that the character Triangle Man was inspired by Robert Mitchum's appearance in the 1955 film The Night of the Hunter. The final single, "Twisting", was selected over "Your Racist Friend", in part because it was more lyrically ambiguous.Reed & Sandifer 2013, p. 37. The song references both The Young Fresh Fellows and The dB's, two groups that influenced the sound of the track itself. Flansburgh has noted that, while recording the song, Bezozi accidentally erased the entire drum track for "Twisting". Flansburgh then had to recreate the track from scratch.Reed & Sandifer 2013, p. 77. The cryptic "We Want a Rock" features a violin performance by Mark Feldman, and "Someone Keeps Moving My Chair" revolves around petty concerns and their importance "when everything else is going haywire" "Hearing Aid" features the mixing of standard They Might Be Giants sounds with an Arto Lindsay guitar solo and vacuum cleaner synth sounds, experimentations that Flansburgh found difficult to achieve.