The Man Don't Give a Fuck
Encyclopedia
"The Man Don't Give a Fuck" is a song by Super Furry Animals
, twice released as a single
by the group.
It is based round a sample from the Steely Dan
song "Show Biz Kids
" - "You know they don't give a fuck about anybody else". The sample is repeated more than 50 times and so the single is claimed to feature the word "fuck
" more than any other song, but Insane Clown Posse
's "Fuck the World" in fact beats it with 93 instances. However, the live re-issue of "The Man Don't Give A Fuck" broke that record.
The song was originally intended as a B-side for previous single "If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You
" but the group had not been able to clear the sample in time. However, they persevered and when they were able to clear the sample, released the song as a single in its own right. This arguably sealed the song's cult status among SFA fans, and it became the group's standard set-closer when playing live: the outro would often extend to ten or twenty minutes, with keyboard player Cian Ciaran
in particular taking the opportunity to improvise wildly around the basic sample. A live version was released in 2004.
In October 2011, NME placed it at number 66 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".
as a "multi-compass protest anthem" according to the band's singer and chief lyricist Gruff Rhys
. Rhys has claimed that the track does not refer to a particular issue but is about the "mistreatment that we've had at the hands of politicians for years". Rhys has described "The Man Don't Give a Fuck" as a "protest song for our time" which can be used against "any organisation which you feel is terrorising you as an individual, anyone who's cramping your style". On the song's initial single release in 1996, Rhys stated that the track "could be used now to bring down the Government, but in five years time the world could be run by some pilots from Venus, and they will be The Man
".
on Super Furry Animals' previous single "If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You
". Steely Dan
frontman Donald Fagen
was upset that a sample
of his band's track "Show Biz Kids" featured so prominently on "The Man Don't Give a Fuck", and refused Super Furry Animals' request to use it at the time. Eventually Fagen relented but demanded 95% of the track's proceeds
, a situation which Rhys was happy with as he felt the song would never get played due to its frequent use of the swear word
'fuck'.
Asked about the "perverse" decision to release a single containing the word 'fuck' 50 times by a journalist for X-Ray magazine in 2003, Rhys claimed that the band allowed themselves to be manipulated by former label Creation Records
who came up with the idea. The group felt that by issuing the track as a single they could "remind people how ridiculous censorship is", with Rhys stating that he didn't think people found 'fuck' to be offensive anymore "unless you're in the church where it's beaten into you that ... swearing is bad".
The single's packaging features a photograph of the footballer Robin Friday
showing a V sign
to Luton Town
goalkeeper Milija Aleksic
while playing for Cardiff City
. The artwork also features a dedication to the memory of Friday "and his stand against the 'Man'" alongside the Welsh
proverb "Stwffiwch y dolig ddim y twrci" which roughly translates into English
as "Stuff Christmas not a turkey". The song was recorded and produced
by Gorwel Owen
at his home studio in Llanfaelog
, Anglesey
, Wales
.
. It was printed in a limited edition with an identification number on the back cover.
/Walter Becker
)
Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band that lean towards psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation. Since their formation in Cardiff, Wales in 1993, the band has consisted of Gruff Rhys , Huw Bunford , Guto Pryce , Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band...
, twice released as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
by the group.
It is based round a sample from the Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
song "Show Biz Kids
Show Biz Kids
Show Biz Kids is a song composed by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and performed by Steely Dan. It was the first single from Steely Dan's 1973 album Countdown to Ecstasy....
" - "You know they don't give a fuck about anybody else". The sample is repeated more than 50 times and so the single is claimed to feature the word "fuck
Fuck
"Fuck" is an English word that is generally considered obscene which, in its most literal meaning, refers to the act of sexual intercourse. By extension it may be used to negatively characterize anything that can be dismissed, disdained, defiled, or destroyed."Fuck" can be used as a verb, adverb,...
" more than any other song, but Insane Clown Posse
Insane Clown Posse
Insane Clown Posse is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan. The group is composed of Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler, who perform under the respective personas of the "wicked clowns" Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. Insane Clown Posse performs a style of hardcore hip hop known as horrorcore...
's "Fuck the World" in fact beats it with 93 instances. However, the live re-issue of "The Man Don't Give A Fuck" broke that record.
The song was originally intended as a B-side for previous single "If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You
If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You
"If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You" is the fourth single, and the last to be taken from the album Fuzzy Logic, by Super Furry Animals. It reached #18 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in September 1996....
" but the group had not been able to clear the sample in time. However, they persevered and when they were able to clear the sample, released the song as a single in its own right. This arguably sealed the song's cult status among SFA fans, and it became the group's standard set-closer when playing live: the outro would often extend to ten or twenty minutes, with keyboard player Cian Ciaran
Cian Ciaran
Cian Ciaran is the keyboard player in the band, Super Furry Animals.Ciaran is the brother of Dafydd Ieuan . He plays keyboards, electronics and occasional guitar, drums, steel drum and vocals...
in particular taking the opportunity to improvise wildly around the basic sample. A live version was released in 2004.
In October 2011, NME placed it at number 66 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".
Themes
"The Man Don't Give a Fuck" was written by Super Furry AnimalsSuper Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band that lean towards psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation. Since their formation in Cardiff, Wales in 1993, the band has consisted of Gruff Rhys , Huw Bunford , Guto Pryce , Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band...
as a "multi-compass protest anthem" according to the band's singer and chief lyricist Gruff Rhys
Gruff Rhys
Gruffydd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, performing solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals who obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He also most recently formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008...
. Rhys has claimed that the track does not refer to a particular issue but is about the "mistreatment that we've had at the hands of politicians for years". Rhys has described "The Man Don't Give a Fuck" as a "protest song for our time" which can be used against "any organisation which you feel is terrorising you as an individual, anyone who's cramping your style". On the song's initial single release in 1996, Rhys stated that the track "could be used now to bring down the Government, but in five years time the world could be run by some pilots from Venus, and they will be The Man
The Man
"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise....
".
First release
"The Man Don't Give a Fuck" was issued as a single in December 1996, having originally been set for release as a B-sideA-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
on Super Furry Animals' previous single "If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You
If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You
"If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You" is the fourth single, and the last to be taken from the album Fuzzy Logic, by Super Furry Animals. It reached #18 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in September 1996....
". Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
frontman Donald Fagen
Donald Fagen
Donald Jay Fagen is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, lead singer, and the principal songwriter of the rock band Steely Dan ....
was upset that a sample
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
of his band's track "Show Biz Kids" featured so prominently on "The Man Don't Give a Fuck", and refused Super Furry Animals' request to use it at the time. Eventually Fagen relented but demanded 95% of the track's proceeds
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
, a situation which Rhys was happy with as he felt the song would never get played due to its frequent use of the swear word
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
'fuck'.
Asked about the "perverse" decision to release a single containing the word 'fuck' 50 times by a journalist for X-Ray magazine in 2003, Rhys claimed that the band allowed themselves to be manipulated by former label Creation Records
Creation Records
Creation Records was a British independent record label headed by Alan McGee. Along with Dick Green and Joe Foster, McGee founded Creation in 1983. The label lasted until its demise in 1999. The name came from the 1960s band The Creation , whom McGee greatly admired. McGee, Green and Foster were...
who came up with the idea. The group felt that by issuing the track as a single they could "remind people how ridiculous censorship is", with Rhys stating that he didn't think people found 'fuck' to be offensive anymore "unless you're in the church where it's beaten into you that ... swearing is bad".
The single's packaging features a photograph of the footballer Robin Friday
Robin Friday
Robin Friday was an English association football player who played professionally as a forward for Reading and Cardiff City during a career that lasted four years in the mid-1970s. Born and raised in Acton, west London, Friday was scouted, but not retained, by four professional clubs during his...
showing a V sign
V sign
The V sign is a hand gesture in which the index and middle fingers are raised and parted, while the other fingers are clenched. It has various meanings, depending on the cultural context and how it is presented...
to Luton Town
Luton Town F.C.
Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The club currently competes in the fifth tier of English football, the Conference National, for the third consecutive season during the 2011–12 season.Formed in 1885, it was...
goalkeeper Milija Aleksic
Milija Aleksic
Milija Anthony Aleksic is an English former football goalkeeper.Released by Port Vale in 1969, he played for Eastwood before lifting the FA Trophy with Stafford Rangers in 1972. The next year he returned to the Football League with Plymouth Argyle, before he was signed by Luton Town in 1976...
while playing for Cardiff City
Cardiff City F.C.
Cardiff City Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Cardiff, Wales. The club competes in the English football pyramid and is currently playing in the Football League Championship. Cardiff City is the best supported football club in Wales, averaging approximately 22,500 for...
. The artwork also features a dedication to the memory of Friday "and his stand against the 'Man'" alongside the Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
proverb "Stwffiwch y dolig ddim y twrci" which roughly translates into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as "Stuff Christmas not a turkey". The song was recorded and produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Gorwel Owen
Gorwel Owen
Gorwel Owen is a Welsh producer and musician. He has worked with Datblygu, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Super Furry Animals and Hwyl Nofio. He is also a member of Pondman with his wife, the poet Fiona Owen.-Discography:...
at his home studio in Llanfaelog
Llanfaelog
Llanfaelog is a village in western Anglesey, Wales. It is situated some 13 kilometres south-east of Holyhead and 22 kilometres west of the city of Bangor.-Transport:...
, Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
.
Second release
A live, 23 minute version was released in 2004 as a single with the word 'fuck' mentioned approximately 100 times. It was recorded in London's Hammersmith ApolloHammersmith Apollo
Hammersmith Apollo is a major entertainment venue located in Hammersmith, London. Designed by Robert Cromie in Art Deco style, it opened in 1932 as the Gaumont Palace cinema, being re-named the Hammersmith Odeon in 1962...
. It was printed in a limited edition with an identification number on the back cover.
First release
All songs by (Super Furry Animals/Donald FagenDonald Fagen
Donald Jay Fagen is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, lead singer, and the principal songwriter of the rock band Steely Dan ....
/Walter Becker
Walter Becker
Walter Carl Becker is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, guitarist, bassist and a co-writer of Steely Dan.-Career:...
)
- CD (CRESCD247), 7" (CRE247)
- "The Man Don't Give a Fuck" – 4:46
- "The Man Don't Give a Fuck (Howard Marks Mix)" – 6:20
- "The Man Don't Give a Fuck (Wishmountain Mix)" – 6:58
- 12" (CRE247T)
- "The Man Don't Give a Fuck" – 4:46
- "The Man Don't Give a Fuck (Howard MarksHoward MarksDennis Howard Marks is a Welsh author and former drug smuggler who achieved notoriety as an international cannabis smuggler through high-profile court cases, supposed connections with groups such as the CIA, the IRA, MI6, and the Mafia, and his eventual conviction at the hands of the American Drug...
Mix)" – 6:20 - "The Man Don't Give a Fuck (Wishmountain Mix)" – 6:58
- "The Man Don't Give a Fuck (Darren Price Mix)" – 6:02
Second release
- "The Man Don't Give a Fuck (Live)" (Super Furry Animals/Donald FagenDonald FagenDonald Jay Fagen is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, lead singer, and the principal songwriter of the rock band Steely Dan ....
/Walter BeckerWalter BeckerWalter Carl Becker is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, guitarist, bassist and a co-writer of Steely Dan.-Career:...
) – 23:30
Personnel
- Gruff RhysGruff RhysGruffydd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, performing solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals who obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He also most recently formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008...
– vocals - Huw BunfordHuw BunfordHuw "Bunf" Bunford is the guitarist in the rock band, Super Furry Animals.-Biography:...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Guto PryceGuto PryceGuto Dafydd Pryce is a bass guitar player in the band Super Furry Animals.The name Guto is pronounced in Welsh....
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Cian CiaranCian CiaranCian Ciaran is the keyboard player in the band, Super Furry Animals.Ciaran is the brother of Dafydd Ieuan . He plays keyboards, electronics and occasional guitar, drums, steel drum and vocals...
– keyboardsMusical keyboardA musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the... - Dafydd IeuanDafydd IeuanDafydd Ieuan is the drummer with the band, Super Furry Animals and The Peth. He currently lives in Cardiff with his wife Debbie, and their two children Cai and Lleucu....
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....