One final word of tribute to man's desire to touch the face of the moon: "Destination Moon," a They Might Be Giants tune from the underappreciated John Henry album. The LP, edgier and less whimsical than previous TMBG efforts, returned the duo from the near-mainstream to their unique spot on the pop fringe (Ween and Flaming Lips are neighbors, but they don't visit much anymore). And the song, typical for John & John, is both evocative and inscrutable: it's based on the space-travel film inspired by Heinlein, but that doesn't explain its backwards-recursive refrain, nor why its subject's leg is revealed to be withered at the end. (Of the song, not the leg.)So enjoy the tune, and enjoy the notion of space travel as man's unrelenting urge to go further. But ignore the Simpsons visuals of the YouTube clip I've provided above; they're not useful. A better fan vid would have turned for inspiration to The Adventures of Tintin. Or Wallace & Gromit. Or the moon movie that inspired Smashing Pumpkins' greatest video.
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