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Working Undercover For The Man

From This Might Be A Wiki
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song name Working Undercover for the Man
artist They Might Be Giants
releases Working Undercover For The Man (EP), Mink Car
year 2000
first played September 8, 1998 (66 known performances)
run time 2:19
sung by John Flansburgh

Trivia/Info

  • "Well ... I've always been kind of ... it's more a meditation on the "Mod Squad" than anything else. The idea of the narc just seems.... Like, those episodes of "Dragnet" where they have the young, undercover dress in a hippie suit. The whole thing about being in a band, you can almost think of everything as a costume. There's something artificial about it, but you've taken everything from street life, and then incorporated them into a stage show. There's nothing normal about being on stage. There's nothing true about being on stage. I guess the idea of rock music ... people in the rock culture are so hung up on this notion of "authenticity" that it's painful. And I just thought that the idea of the guy in the band, you know, he's just a narc, was kind of exciting. It just revealed a larger potential lie. Like, maybe the guy in Soundgarden isn't really on the verge of total emotional collapse. Maybe he just thinks his hair looks really good today." ~ John Flansburgh bandoppler.com
  • Flans introduced the song at the 2005-07-08 show: "This song is called 'Working Undercover For The Man.' For those who don't know, 'Man' is short for 'The Man.'"
  • Prior to the release of the studio version, this song was performed live with a different arrangement that was more of a nod to 1960s pop.

Song Themes

I Am, Intelligence, Espionage, Lies, Deception, Music, Occupations, Transportation

Videos

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Current Rating

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Working Undercover For The Man is currently ranked #254 out of 710. (39 wikians have given it an average rating of 8.46)
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