This was They Might Be Giants' biggest hit in both the USA and the UK. The song is a story of a child's blue canary-shaped night light, told from the night light's point of view. Across the room from the night light is a picture of a lighthouse, which would be his primitive ancestor. It could be interpreted that the night light is a metaphor for God or a guardian angel protecting the child.
The lyrics refer to Jason and the Argonauts, who were a band of heroes who in Greek legend set out in the ship Argo to fetch the Golden Fleece. It is unclear what relationship they have to the night light. Possibly the night light is comparing the small amount of light it beams with the lighthouse's powerful beam and it is admitting that if it had been me on that shore when Jason and the Argonauts arrived rather than the lighthouse, they would have been smashed on the rocks because of its shortcomings.
The song's video, directed by Adam Bernstein, was filmed inside the New York County's Surrogate's Court and Hall of Records building in Manhattan.
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