Song Name: Secret Agent Man
Artist: DEVO (cover song)
Appears On:
- Secret Agent Man b/w Soo Bawlz
- Duty Now For The Future
- DEV-O Live (expanded reissue), DEVO Live 1980
Year: 1975
Years Performed: 1977-1980, (2000,) 2006-2012, 2018-2019 2021-present setlist.fm stats
Run Time: 3:35 (single/album version)
Writing Credits: P.F. Sloane / Steve Barri [1] (Arrangement by Mark Mothersbaugh)
Sung By:
- ◦ Bob Mothersbaugh (Lead vocals on demo used for video, on album version, and live performances after 1977)
- ◦ Mark Mothersbaugh (Backing vocals on album version and live versions after 1978, live vocals on demo and 1977 live performances)
- ◦ Bob Casale (Backing vocals on album version and live versions. Doubles Bob1's vocals one octave below)
- ◦ Gerald V. Casale (vocals at early live performances only)
Alternate Versions: Secret Agent Man (Video Version)
Demo Versions: Secret Agent Man (Demo), Secret Agent Man (Mark Vox)
Trivia / Info:
- Secret Agent Man is the first music video seen in DEVO's short film, In The Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-Evolution.
- The early song version in the video features Jim Mothersbaugh on drums. The Duty Now For The Future album version with Alan Myers and Bob 2 was released in 1978.
- There are circulating recordings of this song with vocals by Bob 1, Mark Mothersbaugh, and even Gerald V. Casale.
Onstage Behavior:
- When there is no keyboard line to play, Mark usually twirls his forearms around each other.
Lyrics:
- You know I live a life of danger
- for the FBI
- Keeping tabs on our nation
- on the land, on the sea, in the sky
- But every single night
- before I go to bed
- I get down on my knees
- and thank God
- I’m a secret agent man
- Secret
- agent man
- Secret agent man
- They've given me a number
- but they've taken 'way my name
- I got one hell of a job to perform
- for the U.S. of A.
- Got the responsibility
- of our nation’s top security
- But every night and day
- I salute the flag and say
- thank you Jesus
- Cause I'm,
- I’m a secret agent man
- Secret
- agent man
- Secret agent man
- They've given me a number
- but they've taken 'way my name
- You know they got me doin' this doin' that
- and a little bit of something else
- Fighting cavities of evil
- Safe-guarding America's health
- But not an afternoon pass
- I don’t get up off my ass
- Thank you God cause I'm,
- I’m a secret agent man
- Secret
- agent man
- Secret agent man
- They've given me a number
- but they've taken 'way my name
- Secret
- agent man
- Secret agent man
- They've given me a number
- but they've taken 'way my name
- Cause I'm a secret agent man
Original Lyrics: (sung by Johnny Rivers in the "live" 1966 recording)
- There's a man who leads a life of danger
- To everyone he meets he stays a stranger
- With every move he makes another chance he takes
- Odds are he won't live to see tomorrow
- Secret Agent Man
- Secret Agent Man
- They've given you a number and taken away your name
- Beware of pretty faces that you find
- A pretty face can hide an evil mind
- Oh, be careful what you say
- Or you will give yourself away
- Odds are you won't live to see tomorrow
- Secret Agent Man
- Secret Agent Man
- They've given you a number and taken away your name
- Secret Agent Man
- Secret Agent Man
- They've given you a number and taken away your name
- Swinging on the Riviera one day
- And then lying in a Bombay alley next day
- Oh, don't you let the wrong words slip,
- while kissing persuasive lips
- Odds are you won't live to see tomorrow
- Secret Agent Man
- Secret Agent Man
- They've given you a number and taken away your name
- Secret Agent Man
Video:
- Short Film / Music Video:
- Appears on The Men Who Make the Music.
- Part of The Truth About De-Evolution, included on The Complete Truth About De-Evolution.
- The video starts with music from the beginning of a Smart Patrol demo.
- Live Video: DEVO performs "Secret Agent Man" on Live 1980
Links:
External links:
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