VIDEO: They Might Be Giants ask "How can you deny an electric car?"
They Might Be Giants "Electric Car" - Click above to watch the video after the break
They Might Be Giants are proving that Neil Young isn't the only musician who can sing about cleaner transportation. The quirky band is releasing a CD/DVD album Tuesday called Here Comes Science that is geared towards kids and teaching about things like the periodic table and Roy G. Biv, a mnemonic device for colors in the visible spectrum.
The song "Electric Car" is sung by Robin Goldwasser, so if you're hoping to hear the duo ofJohn Flansburgh and John Linnell belt our lyrics like "No diesel, steam, or gasoline, Let's take a ride in an electric car, Happiness resides in an electric car" you're out of luck. We ought to be able to trust the Johns to get their car info right, though: Jamie Kitman, who's been managing TMBG for over 20 years, writes car review articles for Automobile Magazine and he's a columnist for BBC's Top Gear magazine.
Here Comes Science is the third educational children's album from TMBG, following 2005's Here Come The ABCs and 2008's Here Come The 123s. One of the band's early hits was "Why Does The Sun Shine?" and a song of the same title – as well as one called "Why Does the Sun Really Shine?" – is included on the new record. Bill Nye would be proud. Watch and listen to "Electric Car" with your kids after the jump. Thanks to Megan for the tip!
[Source: TMBG]
Electric carOn roads so dark
To change the end
Rewrite the start
Electric car
So good, so far
Electric car
On verdant green
Invent a turn
Invent a dream
Electric car
The new machine
Let's take a ride in an electric car
To the West Side in an electric car
How can you deny an electric car?
Won't you take a ride with me?
Come on and take a ride with me
Electric car
Beside the tree
Way past the dock
Way past the sea
Electric car
Roll silently
Electric car
On roads so dark
To change the end
Rewrite the start
Electric car
So good, so far
Let's take a ride in an electric car
To the West Side in an electric car
How can you deny an electric car
Won't you take a ride with me
Come on and take a ride with me
No diesel, steam, or gasoline
Let's take a ride in an electric car
Happiness resides in an electric car
You can even drive an electric car
Won't you take a ride with me?
Come on and take a ride with me?
Let's take a ride in an electric car
To the West Side in an electric car
How can you deny an electric car?
Won't you take a ride with me?
Come on and take a ride with me
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
HotRodzNKustoms 7:47PM (8/28/2009)
Well... as far as the electric car argument Inside Line's long term test is proving why I deny an electric car.
http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2009/08/2009-mini-e-i-cant-make-it.html
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gerrrg 7:51AM (8/29/2009)
That's kind of a crappy argument that you pointed to: Oh, the store I shop at is 50 miles away, so electric cars are a problem.
If a person cared about the environment, they wouldn't have gone 50 miles just to SCP to get a handbag strap repaired. Hence, it's a red herring. Further, as is pointed out with A Better Place, certain cities and states will become testing grounds for a network of charging stations. Just because Mini / BMW is trying to green its image does NOT make for a bad argument against electric cars.
Kattleox 10:05AM (8/29/2009)
"If a person cared about the environment, they wouldn't have gone 50 miles just to SCP to get a handbag strap repaired"
Wake up man, this is the real world. Very few people care about the environment, and that includes people with hybrids and full electric cars. Most people, I have noticed, are willing to drive farther for menial tasks if they can do so with excellent milage or otherwise little cost to themselves. Most people would drive 50 miles to be sure, especially if they didn't have to pay for gas.
oldraven 10:10AM (8/29/2009)
gerrg, you're missing the point here. Eco-concious people don't need convincing. It's the rest of the populous that needs a car that can change their lives to environmentally friendly ones without asking them to really change their lifestyles. Baby steps, bud. I'd rather people just buy local (produce, clothing, furniture, etc.) before all switching to EV's, but every little bit helps, right?
James 4:11PM (8/29/2009)
My favorite part of the video is the end. And it's perhaps the most convincing point ever made about electric vehicles.
"Come on, even her black friend has one!"
rooster 7:56PM (8/28/2009)
The electric underwater bus is only a slight stretch from the reality of pure electric vehicles given current tech. Add in the unobtanium materials and associated environmental impact of mining/processing/transorting, and a high efficiency diesel is a much more earth friendly choice.
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TonyInMI 8:00PM (8/28/2009)
Yeah let's indoctrinate our children with this BS. Where is the electricity supposed to come from? Man-made climate change is a farce!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TqqWJugXzs
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Nick 8:57PM (8/28/2009)
@TonyInMI
"Yeah let's indoctrinate our children with this BS."
Versus your BS?
"Where is the electricity supposed to come from?"
Coal fired power plants, and even then, the degree of efficiency is far greater than everyone driving around pushing an ICE. This has been proven over and over for years now. Living under a rock?
"Man-made climate change is a farce!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TqqWJugXzs"
No, it's not, but it seems like you prefer to believe a couple of right-wing newscasters over the experience of thousands of the scientific elite. For F-s sake man you're dumb. YOU are the on being manipulated, not the other way around.
Nick 8:57PM (8/28/2009)
@TonyInMI
"Yeah let's indoctrinate our children with this BS."
Versus your BS?
"Where is the electricity supposed to come from?"
Coal fired power plants, and even then, the degree of efficiency is far greater than everyone driving around pushing an ICE. This has been proven over and over for years now. Living under a rock?
"Man-made climate change is a farce!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TqqWJugXzs"
No, it's not, but it seems like you prefer to believe a couple of right-wing newscasters over the experience of thousands of the scientific elite. For F-s sake man you're dumb. YOU are the on being manipulated, not the other way around.
mugatu 9:07PM (8/28/2009)
Calm down Francises, both of you. No need to get hot. But Nick, coal? Isn't that on the black list of the Obama admin. I'm sure you meant bird safe windmills.
TonyInMI 12:01AM (8/29/2009)
Watch the video bone head.
Adam Bruce 2:13AM (8/29/2009)
@TonyInMI
Watched the video and it's riddled with holes. I can sum up the anti global warming debate with this:
By saying that global warming is a left wing conspiracy you are saying you trust the scientific opinions of the same "scientist" that are trying to prove the universe is 6,000 years old, evolution is a lie we must remove from our schools and Dinosaurs hitched a ride on Noah's Ark.
oldraven 10:18AM (8/29/2009)
Adam, you're forgetting that HGW is still only a consensus, not a fact, of scientists who's numbers are dwindling fast as new evidence arises daily showing that the planet is experiencing yet another warming cycle, and we are in fact still recovering from the last ice age.
Ignore Global Warming for once, people. More people die in LA from smog than they do from Car Accidents annually. There are plenty of reasons to curb pollution without bringing up some extremely bogus fear sewing theory (proven to be born from false data and outright lies) made up to push a new Carbon Currency. Drive an electric car so you can breathe and see the sky at night. Do it for yourself, not Gore.
AngeloD 11:11AM (8/29/2009)
Quote: ""No, it's not, but it seems like you prefer to believe a couple of right-wing newscasters over the experience of thousands of the scientific elite. For F-s sake man you're dumb. YOU are the on being manipulated, not the other way around.""
Not this hysterical crap again.
Peddle your faith-based enviro-religion mumbo-jumbo elsewhere please.
The "scientific elite" as you call them are solidly skeptical of the theory of anthropogenic global warming.
How many times does this have to be pointed out to you enviro-religion fundies?
M.I.T. Professor of Climatology Dr. Richard Lindzen Ph.D. on the Global Warming fraud:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008220
TonyInMI 11:22AM (8/29/2009)
@ Adam Bruce
I thought the video was very clear that "global warming" (recently renamed "climate change") is a POLITICAL swindle - not necessarily a right/left debate. That was one of the points that I thought was important to share. The guy from Greenpeace really brought it home! Also where at the end of the video they point out that the "green" push actually has negative impact on the peoples that are in very dire straits already! A real eye opener.
The main point, to me, made a lot of sense. That the SUN is in control of the climate instead of humans. Even from a non-scientific perspective this seems so obvious - our sun is why we have any climate at all! I have a good friend who has a masters in environmental engineering and he has been talking about this for years - that when the oceans are warming they give off CO2 and when they are cooling they take in CO2 but it is a very long cycle of hundreds of years.
My hope is that people would put aside their left/right beliefs and look at this video for what it is - pure scientific evidence without political bias or left/right agenda. They speak out against the political establishment not (necessarily) environmentalists.
I agree with your reference to how scientists are treated when they challenge the establishment. I believe your reference was to the scientists who were chastised and striped of their funding and tenure when they even suggested investigating Intelligent Design. I am not a proponent of ID but the premise is the same - all they wanted to do is apply the scientific method (that's what they do) to the theory.
I'd like to address your point about evolution but that is a whole new can of nanoworms. ;-)
@ oldraven - I agree with your point - that if someone wants to chose to be "green" fantastic! But we must recognize what the political push to "green" and carbon currency means - and it doesn't mean what we think it means.
oldraven 11:57AM (8/29/2009)
Believe me, Tony. I'm a huge dissenter in the Carbon Credit currency arena. It's a private sector wet dream that doesn't have even the slightest chance of effecting pollution levels from major contributors. I'm just saying that we don't really need to clean up our act based on a lie, when there are so many real reasons to curb emissions. That's not to say that I drive an EV, or will for quite some time. The Volt appeals to me, but the E-flex (Voltec) Orlando is an actual possibility for my family in the future. For now I just feel good knowing I downsized my Grand Cherokee to a 4-cyl Vue, my fun RWD coupe uses forced induction instead of doubling displacement or cylinder count, and my full size truck uses propane, not gasoline, which is basically a free fuel on the production side, seeing as it's a by-product. I'm not as green as I could be, and never will be, but I think we should all do what we CAN for real reasons, but shouldn't have to give up too much, just excess. Besides, what's the point of civilisation regressing, when it can simply refine and economise?
cool_ozzyfromkalush 8:06PM (8/28/2009)
If somebody would give me an electric car, I would defend it to the hills and pretend to be eco... but to buy one? with money? my money? No, thank you, I will pass.
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mugatu 8:13PM (8/28/2009)
Electric cars, watermelon juice... Shouldn't these stories be on Autoblog Green? Remember when Autoblog was fun. More cool cars, less of this please.
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Bart 8:25PM (8/28/2009)
Do the lyrics also mention hazardous chemicals and environmentally damaging plants? Spontaneous combustion of li-on batteries?
Thought so.
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Ray 8:36PM (8/28/2009)
Where's the electricity come from to recharge those millions of cars they want in the future, and how will it be generated? And how is our power grid going to handle all that extra load from people recharging their cars at night?
I highly doubt these morons think anything through.
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