Lincoln is the second album by the band They Might Be Giants. It was released by Bar/None in 1988. The album is named after the capital city of Lincoln, Nebraska and John Linnell and John Flansburgh's boyhood home of Lincoln, Massachusetts. The album produced three singles — "Ana Ng", "They'll Need a Crane", and "Purple Toupee". It is included on Then: The Earlier Years, a compilation of the band's early material, in its entirety.

Lincoln maintains the range of musical styles present on the previous album, They Might Be Giants, and lyrically attempts to merge word play into narrative songs. Lyrical themes are broadened with the inclusion of songs detailing troubled romantic relationships ("Ana Ng", "They'll Need a Crane", "I've Got a Match"), and songs that verge on social or political satire ("Purple Toupee", "Kiss Me, Son of God"), whereas musically, the album explores a number of genres. For example, songs such as "Cowtown" and "Mr. Me" incorporate elements of sea shanties, while "Lie Still, Little Bottle" suggests a jazz influence.

Like previous releases, Lincoln does not utilize a full band arrangement. Instead, bass and drum tracks are entirely synthetic or sampled, with the exception of "Lie Still, Little Bottle"'s live drums. The drum tracks on the album were produced with an Alesis HR-16 drum machine. The album featured The Ordinaires, a nonet which was also signed to the Bar/None label, providing the string arrangement for "Kiss Me, Son of God".

The cover art depicts a shrine built by Brian Dewan, and photographed by Carol Kitman. Two slightly different versions of the cover photograph exist: one that was used for domestic releases, and another that was used for all releases outside the United States, with the exception of the Australian releases and Italian CD. The two men pictured behind the podiums in the shrine are John Linnell's great-grandfather, Lewis T. Linnell (left) and Flansburgh's maternal grandfather, Brigadier General Ralph Hospital (right).

...
Wikipedia