Here Come the ABCs is a 2005 DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 and audio CD

Red Book (audio CD standard)

Red Book is the standard for audio CDs . It is named after one of the Rainbow Books, a series of books that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats.The first edition of the Red Book was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony; it was adopted by the Digital Audio Disc...

 release by They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...

, aimed at young children learning the alphabet. The CD and DVD were originally released separately, but since have been released together as a combo.

While it was produced and released by Walt Disney Records

Walt Disney Records

Walt Disney Records is a family music record label owned by the Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Records was formed in 1956 as Disneyland Records. Before that time, Disney recordings were licensed out to a variety of other labels such as . It was Walt Disney’s brother Roy O...

, the band was reportedly given complete creative control over the project. As a result, the DVD features a variety of puppetry, animation and live action supplied by personal friends of the group, including AJ Schnack

AJ Schnack

AJ Schnack is an independent filmmaker. He directed Kurt Cobain: About a Son, which premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival...

, who directed the TMBG documentary Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)

Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)

Gigantic is a documentary profiling the alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, featuring interviews with Frank Black, Sarah Vowell, Dave Eggers, Jon Stewart, and others. It was directed by AJ Schnack and premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in 2002. It was released in theaters...

. For guest vocals on a few tracks, they turned to family: John Flansburgh

John Flansburgh

John Conant Flansburgh is an American musician. He is half of the longstanding Brooklyn, New York-based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants, for which he writes, sings and plays rhythm guitar...

's wife Robin Goldwasser

Robin Goldwasser

Robin "Goldie" Goldwasser is an American singer and playwright. She is the co-writer of the musical People Are Wrong! with Julia Greenberg. She has a character in the play, as does the producer, her husband, John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants and Mono Puff...

, and John Linnell

John Linnell

John Sidney Linnell is an American musician, is known primarily as one half of Brooklyn, New York alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants...

's son, Henry. The music videos that appear on the DVD were also aired (in part or whole) on the Disney Channel's children's programming block, Playhouse Disney

Playhouse Disney

Playhouse Disney was Disney Channel's television block for programs aimed at entertaining preschool aged children, often airing as its own channel outside the United States. It was introduced in 1997 after Disney Channel's move to basic cable from premium cable, with a target audience of children...

.

Here Come the ABCs was a great success for They Might Be Giants, the video being certified Gold (sales over 50,000) in 2005. The album reached #1 on Billboard’s Children’s Music charts, won
Parenting Magazine’s Children’s DVD of the Year Award and two National Parenting Publications Awards (NAAPA) http://www.tmbg.com/temp_site/facts.htm. In addition, Amazon.com called it "the best Children's Music album of 2005" and the 13th best overall album of 2005. http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Here_Come_the_ABCs%21 A follow-up, Here Come the 123s

Here Come the 123s

Here Come the 123s is the 13th studio album by They Might Be Giants. It is the sequel to the group's 2005 album Here Come the ABCs. The songs are edutainment music aimed at kids, this time dealing with numbers. Like ABCs, there is a CD and DVD...

, was released in 2008.

"Can You Find It?" was featured on the soundtrack to the movie Wordplay

Wordplay (film)

Wordplay is a 2006 documentary film directed by Patrick Creadon. It features Will Shortz, the editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle, crossword constructor Merl Reagle, and many other noted crossword solvers and constructors...

.

While the audio-only release is considered to be They Might Be Giants' 11th studio album, some of the songs make little sense without their visual accompaniment.

CD

All songs by They Might Be Giants unless otherwise noted.

1. "Here Come the ABCs" – 0:11
2. "Alphabet of Nations" – 1:26
3. "E Eats Everything" – 2:43
4. "Flying V" – 1:34
5. "Q U" – 1:09
6. "Go for G!" – 1:14
7. "Pictures of Pandas Painting" – 2:07
8. "D & W" – 1:37
9. "Fake-Believe" – 1:51
10. "Can You Find It?" – 2:55
11. "The Vowel Family" – 1:59
12. "Letter/Not a Letter" – 1:08
13. "Alphabet Lost and Found (Marty Beller
    Marty Beller
    Marty Beller is the drummer for They Might Be Giants. He has two solo albums. He also wrote and sang songs from TMBG's albums, Here Come the ABCs: "Alphabet Lost And Found", Here Come the 123s: "High Five!" and Here Comes Science: "Speed and Velocity".Beller became the full time drummer for the...
    
    ) – 2:49
14. "I C U" – 1:49
15. "Letter Shapes" – 1:22
16. "Who Put the Alphabet in Alphabetical Order?" – 1:46
17. "Rolling O" – 1:26
18. "L M N O" – 1:43
19. "C Is for Conifers" – 2:37
20. "Fake-Believe (Type B)" – 1:56
21. "D Is for Drums" – 2:21
22. "Z Y X" – 1:21
23. "Goodnight My Friends" – 0:25
24. "Clap Your Hands" – 1:21
    • Listed as a bonus track
25. "Here in Higglytown (Theme to Playhouse Disney's Higglytown Heroes)" (Dan Miller, They Might Be Giants) – 0:58
    • Listed as a bonus track

DVD

1. "Here Come The ABCs" 0:25
2. "Alphabet Of Nations" 1:26
3. "E Eats Everything" 2:43
4. "Flying V" 1:34
5. "I Am A Robot" 1:29
6. "Q U" 1:09
7. "Go For G!" 1:14
8. "Pictures Of Pandas Painting" 2:07
9. "D & W" 1:37
10. "Fake-Believe" 1:51
11. "Can You Find It?" 2:55
12. Introducing The Vowel Family 0:11
13. "The Vowel Family" 1:59
14. "A To Z" 0:24
15. "Letter / Not a Letter" 1:08
16. "Letter Shapes" 1:22
17. "Alphabet Lost And Found" 2:49
18. "I C U" 1:49
19. "I Am A Robot (Type B)" 0:56
20. John And John Introduce... 0:10
21. "Who Put The Alphabet In Alphabetical Order?" 1:46
22. "Rolling O" 1:26
23. "L M N O" 1:43
24. Introducing C Is for Conifers 0:12
25. "C Is For Conifers" 2:37
26. "Fake-Believe (Type B)" 1:56
27. "A To Z (Type B)" 0:29
28. "D Is For Drums" 2:21
29. "Introducing ZYX" 0:09
30. "Z Y X" 1:21
31. "Goodnight My Friends" 0:25
32. "Here Come The ABCs' 0:11
33. Introducing The Bonus Tracks 0:14
34. "Clap Your Hands" 1:21
35. "Violin" 3:33
36. "Stalk of Wheat" 1:19
37. "Robot Parade" 1:22
38. "Sleepwalkers" 2:40
39. "Here in Higglytown (Theme to Playhouse Disney's Higglytown Heroes)" 0:58

Exclusive bonus tracks

Special editions with exclusive bonus tracks were produced for various outlets. Bonus tracks include:

• "Hovering Sombrero '05" on the Amazon.com CD
• "I Never Go To Work" on the Best Buy CD
• "Violin" and "Stalk of Wheat" on the Amazon.com DVD
• A CD/DVD combo has since been sold by Amazon.com which features all of the bonus tracks above, as well as "Robot Parade" and "Sleepwalkers" bonus videos on the DVD
• An iTunes
  ITunes
  iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
  
   single was released for "T-shirt" as a companion to Here Come the ABCs

External links

• Disney Records site for the album
• Official band-operated download site
• Here Come The ABCs page at This Might Be A Wiki
• This Might be a Wiki TMBG fan knowledgebase