Anagram: Background

“All the words in the song are anagrams, words within a word. ‘Imagine just an “I” less game’ refers to the album theme of illusions.”—Robert Telleria, Merely Players

“Mongo is a character in Blazing Saddles, and in one scene Sheriff Bart delivers a bomb to him, with the line, ‘Candygram for Mongo!’ Thus, ‘Anagram for Mongo’ seemed natural. As for meaning, this is really the wrong word—it is, after all, a word game. Think more of impressions, images, and an internal logic to each line, or each verse. What I was after in that is more of a resonance, so that the listener might feel something rather than think something. With some people it works, with others it doesn’t.” (Backstage Club, 1991)—Neil in Merely Players

“Sometimes you want it to be jarring and disjointed and nonsensical. I think ‘Anagram’ did work, even though it’s a game. The choruses are quite smooth and interesting, and they have a nice sound to them and they kind of mock the whole song itself.” (Profiled!)—Geddy in Merely Players

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