Synopsis

"They'll Need A Crane" presents They Might Be Giants in a playful outdoor performance staged around Bethesda Terrace in New York's Central Park. John Linnell and John Flansburgh perform alongside three much older musicians, creating an intentionally mismatched backing band whose energetic gestures contrast with the song's bleak portrait of a relationship falling apart. The video favors broad movement, theatrical posing, and a polished performance style, turning the duo's melancholy breakup song into an eccentric piece of street-level musical theater.

Factoids & Trivia

• Filming took place in September 1988 at Bethesda Terrace in Central Park, New York City.

• The older musicians were hired through an advertisement in the trade magazine *Backstage* seeking performers aged 40 and over who could play drums, bass, or piano.

• The backing musicians were Johnny Blowers, Ernie Furtado, and Fred Barby. Blowers was a swing-era jazz drummer who had worked with Frank Sinatra, while Furtado was a retired bassist who also wrote crossword puzzles for the *New York Times*.

• Furtado reportedly kept jumping up and down throughout the shoot. When John Flansburgh told him he did not need to, Furtado replied that he would do "anything for rock."

• Flansburgh later described the concept as a way to create a full performance band around a group that was already established primarily as a duo.

• The song was performed during They Might Be Giants' network television debut on *Late Night with David Letterman* on February 1, 1989.

• The video was included on the band's 2003 video compilation *Direct From Brooklyn*, which helped preserve the early clip alongside the group's later music videos.