(She Was A) Hotel Detective
The song "(She Was A) Hotel Detective", which was written by John Flansburgh, first appeared on "They Might Be Giants", the band's debut album. It was later followed up by "She Was a Hotel Detective", which appeared on an EP, "Back to Skull", released in 1994. The sequel was written by John Linnell, "in the tradition of 'Peggy Sue Got Married' and 'Let's Twist Again'". The lyrics to "She Was A Hotel Detective" (the sequel) include the phrase "motel directive", which is transcribed between the leadout grooves of the original "Hotel Detective" vinyl EP. A second sequel, "(She Was A) Hotel Detective in the Future", was released on the band's podcast, and subsequently on a CD compilation of songs from the podcast, "Cast Your Pod to the Wind". This final sequel was followed by a fake "commentary track" for the song, which was actually far longer than the song itself. The music video for "(She Was A) Hotel Detective" was directed by Adam Bernstein. Some portions of the video show cartoons of the two Johns, animated by Joey Ahlbum. The video is split between these animated segments and segments of John Flansburgh and John Linnell performing the song in a dark room in front of a large sign. The video is intentionally over-indulgent, but John and John were unhappy with the final result. Joey Ahlbum's animated versions of John Linnell and John Flansburgh from the "(She Was A) Hotel Detective" music video were used in the first episode of the 1991 sitcom "Clarissa Explains It All" to show that Clarissa liked Linnell (referred to as "John, the one without glasses"). The figures were also used by Bar/None on promotional postcards. All tracks by They Might Be Giants. They Might Be Giants Additional musicians

Production
"Hotel Detective" series
"(She Was A) Hotel Detective" is a song and single by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants. It was released as a single two years after the release of "They Might Be Giants", the album on which it originally appeared. The entire contents of the EP also appear on the compilation album "Miscellaneous T".