Natural disasters in China divine retribution: "tianzai" (天災), literally 'heavenly disaster'. In ancient beliefs, natural disasters were seen as Heaven’s response to immoral human behaviour, whereby the conduct of different individuals carried different weights. While the behaviour of common people ranked last, the actions of bureaucrats had a greater effect. Given that in Imperial China the emperor's behaviour was believed to be the most important, popular belief was that the emperor should attempt to prevent disasters by ensuring his conduct was in following with moral codes – and if a disaster should occur, he was responsible for addressing the consequences. According to the Overseas
Flood (They Might Be Giants album) in Your Soul", "Your Racist Friend", "We Want a Rock", and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)". These four tracks were produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. Like many of They Might Be Giants' early releases, "Flood" features a range of stylistic eclecticism. The press release for the album notes the "rock rave-up 'Twisting' ... the [country] inflected 'Lucky Ball & Chain' ... the existential oom-pah of 'Particle Man'", and "tender night-light metaphor and melody" of the lead single, "Birdhouse in Your Soul". Jon Pareles wrote for "The New York Times" that the album "shrug[s] off most typecasting". He added that through