They Might Be Giants' "Alphabet of Nations"... For You, By You!

I was excited when this was announced a few weeks back, and I'm just as excited today.  Why? Well, it's release day for the deluxe reissue of They Might Be Giants' classic 2002 kids' album No!.  (You can pick up the album via iTunes and in many other places.)

I would suspect that many readers already have the album, but the fancy reissue also comes seven bonus tracks, including a brand new version of "Alphabet of Nations."  "Brand new," you say?  "What's wrong the original version?"  Well, nothing, but as anyone who've seen the band perform the song live (or on Conan O'Brian) can attest, the extended version they perform is just extra... awesome.

Hey, at the request of the band I've removed the download and stream of "Alphabet of Nations," but I'll be uploading another track for your downloading/streaming pleasure shortly.  I assure you, the version of "Alphabet of Nations" is worth your 99 cents at your favorite e-music-supplier.

The band's hosting a challenge on Tumblr and Twitter, crowd-sourcing images from around the world to include in a brand-new video they're creating for this new version of the song.  They're looking for you to post photos on Twitter with the hashtag #TMBGnation or tumblr at http://tmbgnation.tumblr.com/.  By July 10, they're looking from 3 photos posted from people from, or hailing from these specific countries:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chad, China, Denmark, Dominica, Egypt, Ecuador, Fiji, France, the Gambia, Guatemala, Hungary, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Mongolia, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Suriname, Turkey, Uruguay, Vietnam, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

They're looking for portraits of faces (big smiles!), flags, celebrations of culture, and/or action photos.  (And even if you're from a country not on a list, they still want to see those photos. We're all from West Xylophone, right?)  Go, go, crowdsourcing iPhone users!