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Purple Toupee

"Purple Toupee"
"Purple Toupee" cover art
Promotional single artwork
Single by They Might Be Giants
from the album Lincoln
Released1989
Recorded1988
GenreAlternative rock, art pop
Length2:40
LabelBar/None, Restless
Songwriter(s)John Flansburgh, John Linnell
Producer(s)Bill Krauss
They Might Be Giants singles chronology
"They'll Need a Crane"
(1989)
"Purple Toupee"
(1989)
"Birdhouse in Your Soul"
(1989)
Music video
Purple Toupee on YouTube

"Purple Toupee" is a 1988 song by alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants from their second album, Lincoln.[1] It was released as a promotional single in 1989. In 1994, a live performance of the song was recorded for the promotional live album, Live!! New York City 10/14/94, which was released by Elektra Records.

According to John Linnell, the song's disjointed lyrics recount a warped memory of the 1960s. The song comments on a contemporary "sixties revival", which Linnell perceived as a "one-dimensional caricature" of the decade.[2] In a nod to this inauthenticity, the lyrics are intentionally misleading, and do not accurately represent the events that they reference.[3] Two Prince songs—"Purple Rain" and "Raspberry Beret"—also served as sources of inspiration for "Purple Toupee".[2]

  1. ^ "The Top 100 Albums of the 1980s". pitchfork.com. November 20, 2002.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference DeMain was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference staythirsty was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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Purple Toupee TL

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