Song Name: Triumph of the Will
Artist: DEVO
Appears On: Duty Now For The Future [1], Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology, 50 Years Of De-Evolution (1973-2023) (2023 remaster)
Year Released: 1979
Year Performed: Never
Run Time: 2:18
Writing Credits: Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V. Casale
Sung By: Gerald V. Casale
Trivia / Info:
- This track describes a man’s stated prerogative to pursue a girl despite her resistance as a “triumph” of his will, his desire, over the circumstances. In Devo’s trademark robotic fashion, this situation, the subject of many a popular love song, is described without any emotion, treating romance in a detached, disturbing way. Naming the song for the most famous Nazi propaganda film likely did little to dispel the notion that Devo are somewhat fascistic, a judgment in no way foreign to the group, as seen in Rolling Stone articles.[2]
- Paraphrasing what Jerry said, in the Devo Print Archive, "triumph" is about a successful anti-fap lifestyle - i.e. it takes a "triumph of the will" to successfully not be a "wanker" but unsuccessfully, the genetic imperative still “cries out”.
- It was a thing I had to do
- It was a message from below
- It was a messy situation
- It was a desire for a girl
- I'm not a wanker or a banker
- I'm not afraid to take a risk
- It is a thing females ask for
- When they convey the opposite
- Chorus:
- Before I die
- Before I die
- I'll get another piece of pie
- I'll get another piece of pie
- I'll get another piece of pie
- If I have to lie
- It was a thing I had to do
- It was a message from below
- It was a messy situation
- It was a triumph of the will
- [repeat chorus]
- When the well cries out for water
- It is a need that must be filled
- It goes beyond the law of nature
- It takes triumph of the will
Additional Info:
- ‘We always had to have something that had nothing to do with rock music. Like on Duty Now for the Future, we had “Triumph of the Will” and “The Corporate Anthem.” We always managed to do that.’
- ↑
- “Triumph of the Will” (2:18)
- Duty Now for the Future (1979)
- Audio CD track 8
- ↑
- Gatten, Jeffrey N. The Rolling Stone Index : twenty-five years of popular culture, 1967-1991 (1993)
- https://archive.org/details/rollingstoneinde00gatt_0/page/1015/mode/1up?q=%22Devo%22
- Morris, Chris. "Devo's New Nuremberg Rally."
- Goldberg, Michael. "Devo: Sixties Idealists Or Nazis and Clowns?"
- Gatten, Jeffrey N. The Rolling Stone Index : twenty-five years of popular culture, 1967-1991 (1993)
Links: