It’s one of those "what if" scenarios that haunts music nerds and animation buffs alike. You’re watching Henry Selick’s stop-motion masterpiece, Coraline, and the atmosphere is thick, creepy, and beautiful. But something feels slightly off in the soundscape if you know the backstory. Specifically, you might notice that while the movie is bursting with visual whimsy, the musical DNA is almost entirely Bruno Coulais. Except for one song. One tiny, mechanical, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it track.
That song is "Other Father Song." It’s performed by John Linnell. It’s the only remnant of a much larger project. Originally, the quirky alt-rock legends They Might Be Giants Coraline collaboration was supposed to be the backbone of the entire film’s soundtrack.
But it didn't happen.
Why? Because the vibes didn't match. Or at least, that’s the official line.
The Sound of a Movie That Never Quite Was
They Might Be Giants (TMBG) aren't your typical film composers. John Linnell and John Flansburgh are known for intellectual, accordion-heavy, idiosyncratic pop that often masks dark themes with upbeat melodies. It seemed like a match made in heaven for Neil Gaiman’s dark fairy tale. Gaiman himself is a fan. Selick is a fan. On paper, it was a slam dunk.
The band actually wrote about ten songs for the project. Ten. That’s nearly a full album’s worth of material that was intended to guide the emotional arc of Coraline Jones as she navigated the mirror world.
Henry Selick eventually decided the songs were "too upbeat." He wanted something more atmospheric. He wanted something that felt like a fever dream, not a Saturday morning cartoon. And honestly? If you listen to the work Bruno Coulais eventually turned in—with those haunting, nonsensical choral arrangements—it’s hard to argue that he didn't capture the "creepy" factor perfectly. But you have to wonder what the "Other World" would have felt like if it were powered by the frantic, catchy energy of the Johns.
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What Happened to the "Lost" Music?
If you're looking for the They Might Be Giants Coraline sessions, you won't find a neatly packaged soundtrack titled The Rejected Coraline Demos. They’re scattered.
The most famous piece is, obviously, the one that stayed. "Other Father Song" is a brief, frantic piano ditty where the Other Father (voiced by John Hodgman, but sung by Linnell) sings about Coraline being a "peach," a "doll," and a "pal of mine." It’s charming. It’s also deeply unsettling because of how fast it moves. It fits the mechanical nature of the character.
But what about the rest?
- "Careful What You Pack": This is the big one. Originally written for the film's opening or a key transitional scene, it eventually found a home on the TMBG album The Else. If you listen to it with Coraline in mind, the lyrics hit differently. "Careful what you pack / 'Cause you might not be coming back." It’s literally a warning to a girl leaving her old life behind.
- "Mountain Flowers": This was another demo intended for the garden scene.
- Other fragments: Various bits and pieces have leaked out through the band's "Dial-A-Song" service or sporadic EP releases over the years.
The shift in direction wasn't just a minor tweak. It was a total overhaul. When Selick moved away from the "musical" format, TMBG were essentially sidelined. It’s a classic case of creative differences where nobody is necessarily the villain, but the fans end up losing a potentially iconic piece of art.
The Eerie Perfection of "Careful What You Pack"
You really have to listen to "Careful What You Pack" to understand what the film's tone could have been. It’s melancholy. It’s got this driving, insistent beat that feels like a train moving toward a destination you aren't sure you want to reach.
In the final version of the film, the music is world-building. It tells you that this place is ancient and strange. If the They Might Be Giants Coraline songs had stayed, the movie would have felt more like a twisted Broadway play. It would have felt more "New York indie" and less "European gothic."
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The band hasn't been shy about the disappointment, though they’re pros about it. Flansburgh has mentioned in interviews that it’s just part of the business. You write for a director; the director changes their mind; you move on. But for the audience, there’s a lingering sense of "what if."
Imagine the "Other Wybie" or the "Other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible" having full-on TMBG numbers. It would have been weirder. Maybe too weird?
Why the Rejection Actually Makes Sense
Look, I love TMBG. I grew up on Flood. But let’s be real.
Coraline is a movie about a child being lured into a trap. The music needs to feel like honey with a razor blade inside. TMBG’s style is often a bit too "clever." It calls attention to itself. When John Linnell sings, you know it’s John Linnell.
Selick was going for a timeless feel. He used a choir singing in a made-up language because he didn't want the audience to latch onto specific words. He wanted them to feel a vibe. If you have a song with lyrics like "You're as cute as a button in the eyes of everyone who ever laid their eyes on Coraline," it grounds the movie in reality too much. It makes it a "movie musical" rather than a "cinematic experience."
It’s the same reason why certain directors strip away the score entirely in some scenes. Silence, or abstraction, is often scarier than a catchy hook.
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How to Find the Remaining Tracks Today
If you’re trying to reconstruct the They Might Be Giants Coraline experience, you have to do some digital digging. There isn't a single playlist, but you can build one.
Start with "Careful What You Pack" from The Else. Then, find the "Other Father Song" on the official soundtrack (it’s track 6, and it’s only 28 seconds long). Beyond that, you’re looking at archival TMBG stuff. The band has a massive "Instant Fan Club" and various rarities collections where some of these ideas eventually surfaced in repurposed forms.
Honestly? The "Other Father Song" is the perfect microcosm of the collaboration. It’s short, it’s frantic, and it leaves you wanting a lot more than you’re ever going to get.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Collectors
If you're obsessed with this specific intersection of alt-rock and animation, here is how you can dig deeper into the TMBG/Coraline lore:
- Listen to 'The Else': This 2007 album contains the most polished versions of ideas that were floating around during the Coraline development period. "Careful What You Pack" is the crown jewel here.
- Watch the 'Making Of' Documentaries: In some of the early behind-the-scenes footage for Coraline, you can catch glimpses of the earlier, more "musical" conceptualization of the film.
- Track Down the 'TMBG Dial-A-Song' Archives: Some of the more abstract snippets were released as part of their 2015 and 2018 revivals of the service.
- Compare the Soundtrack Versions: Listen to Bruno Coulais' "Dreaming" immediately after "Careful What You Pack." It’s the best way to understand the two different directions the movie could have taken—one being a lyrical, narrative journey and the other being an atmospheric, tonal descent.
The collaboration remains a fascinating footnote in animation history. It reminds us that even when two great creative forces meet, the "fit" has to be perfect for the final product to survive the editing room. TMBG didn't fail; they just wrote a different movie than the one Selick ended up filming.
To get the full experience, find the high-quality FLAC version of "Careful What You Pack" and play it while looking at the original concept art by Tadahiro Uesugi. It bridges the gap between the music and the visuals in a way the final film—brilliant as it is—decided to leave behind.