Tell Us if You've Seen This Guy Before

"Tell Us if You've Seen This Guy Before" is a song written by Mikaela Thorn and recorded under her alias ThornBrain. It was released on her debut album, *BlackholeWhitespace*. It is the oldest original song on the record and the first song Thorn ever wrote, being written on August 4, 2009 under the original name "They Call Me Person Man".

It was one of three *BlackHoleWhitespace* tracks to be remixed and remastered for *The Forgotten Ones (The 2020 Mixes)* compilation, alongside "Count All the Flies in My House" and "The Forgotten One". The original "Person Man" demo also appeared on *BlackspaceWorkinprogress EP*, and both it and an unreleased alternate mix are included on *The Forgotten Ones 2 (The Free Music, 2009-2021)*.

## About

The song was originally titled "They Call Me Person Man" and was inspired by listening to "Blackhole" by Beck. It was an acoustic song about "the ultimate sad sack", a random person to whom unfortunate things keep happening (having his house burn down from a cigarette, getting beat up by a street gang, getting his already-blind eyes pecked out by doves); the "Person Man" in the title refers to the character from They Might Be Giants' "Particle Man", who is an unfortunate sad sack. The melody and chords were all improvised.

Madcapoperator also did a reading of the lyrics in a loose, Ian Curtis-inspired style for Thorn to use at her leisure. Thorn used this recording for "The Flint Robot has a Perfect Day".

After Sawtooth noted how paranoid the song sounded, Thorn rewrote some of the lyrics to follow this, replacing the They Might Be Giants reference with the idea of a neighborhood creep that everybody avoids because he disturbs them ("You've heard of me before"). The new version is even looser than the original, due to increased use of effects to create a psychedelic atmosphere, and because of the song closing with a wall of guitars and feedback squalls. The song's long title is a reference to Morrissey's long song titles, specifically The Smiths' "Stop Me if You Think You've Heard This One Before".

## Lyrics

### Version 1: "They Call Me Person Man"

Lit a cigarette

Put it out again

Burned down the house

Watch TV

With no AC

Mowed the yard

Worked hard to make it clean and

It's a marshland

They call me Person Man

Sun shines bright

Lose my sight

Contacts are gone

Something's wrong

I think I'm at the gang place

Where my bones break

They call me Person Man

Can't find the potato peeler

A walking stick is not a feeler

To Person Man

Burning love

Sunburned dove

I sympathize

It's taken my eyes

Taken my eyes

Taken my eyes

Taken my eyes...

### Version 2: "Tell Us if You've Seen This Guy Before"

Lit a cigarette

Put it out again

Burned down the house

Watch TV

With no AC

Mowed the yard

Worked hard to make it clean and

It's a marshland

You've heard of me before

Sun shines bright

Lose my sight

Contacts are gone

Something's wrong

I think I'm at the gang place

Where my bones break

You've heard of me before

I'll find what I asked you to

I'm sorry, I just hadn't thought it

Completely through

Burning love

Sunburned dove

I sympathize

It's taken my eyes

Taken my eyes

Taken my eyes

Taken my eyes...