Poor Dr. Worm!
This comic says 1993, the song only goes back to '97. Was this comic inspiration, or were they both inspired by some worm-drum correlation I’m unfamiliar with? Or is it pure coincidence, because that’s an oddly specific coincidence.
Couldn’t tell you how true it is, but this is what a They Might Be Giants Wiki had to say on the origins of the song:
In an interview with Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, Linnell said that this song’s origins can be traced back to the KISS song “Calling Dr. Love”, when the two Johns would make up alternate lyrics to it. John Flansburgh also discussed this in a later interview:
Well, for a long, long time we have been riffing on the song “Dr. Love” by the band KISS. And I think just the weirdness of the conceit of that song was kind of rolling around in John Linnell’s head. I know a million, billion times we’ve talked about the song “Dr. Love.” It’s such an absurd song. So I think “Dr. Love” was kind of the springboard for the idea behind “Dr. Worm.”
Couldn’t use the quote thing for this or the links would break.
I also need to know the answers to these questions
Seems like it’s just a coincidence? Bird hunt worms by sound so Gary probably just thought “drums are loud”
No. Gary knows something.
He’s not a real doctor, but he is a real worm, an actual worm.
One day somebody else besides him will call him by his stage name.
People used to believe that when birds were turning their heads while hunting worms that they were listening for them. Just in case you went through life without anybody pointing this out: They’re literally just getting a good look at the ground because most of them have their eyes somewhat on the side of their head.
Fun fact: Predators have forward-facing eyes. Prey have side-facing eyes. Worms don’t have eyes.
Furbys are predators.
The comment is a week old, but I feel this because I only recently figured it out. When I was a little pre-K kid I loved watching robins hunt worms in the yard, and my mom told me that they were listening for worms. It made sense when you’re four.
40+ years later I realized that robins have eyes on the sides of their heads and maybe… maybe… there’s another explanation that makes more sense. And I only really thought it through because all these years later I was watching robins hunting something that wasn’t worms in my own backyard. “huh, I wonder what they’re eating back there that’s as loud as worms? Oh shit.”
He misunderstood them when they told him he was “playing with fire”.
He died in a horrible gardening accident
He choked on vomit.
