Song Name: Whip It
Artist: DEVO
Appears On:
- Freedom of Choice, Now It Can Be Told, Greatest Hits, Best Of DEVO Vol. 1, DEV-O LIVE, E-Z Listening Disc, Recombo DNA, Live In Central Park, DEVO Live 1980, Hot Potatoes, Pioneers Who Got Scalped, The Adventures Of The Smart Patrol Soundtrack, this is the DEVO box, New Traditionalists: Live 1981 Seattle, Butch Devo And The Sundance Gig, Social Fools: The Virgin Singles 1978-1982, 50 Years Of De-Evolution (1973-2023) (2023 remaster)
and other compilationsDiscogs
- Freedom of Choice, Now It Can Be Told, Greatest Hits, Best Of DEVO Vol. 1, DEV-O LIVE, E-Z Listening Disc, Recombo DNA, Live In Central Park, DEVO Live 1980, Hot Potatoes, Pioneers Who Got Scalped, The Adventures Of The Smart Patrol Soundtrack, this is the DEVO box, New Traditionalists: Live 1981 Seattle, Butch Devo And The Sundance Gig, Social Fools: The Virgin Singles 1978-1982, 50 Years Of De-Evolution (1973-2023) (2023 remaster)
Run Time: 2:37 (album version)
Year Written: 1979
Year Released: 1980 (album version)
Years Performed: [1] 1979-2014, 2016(April 29), 2018-2019, 2021-present setlist.fm stats
Writing Credits: Mark Mothersbaugh/Gerald V. Casale
Sung By: M. Mothersbaugh, G. Casale
- Gerald V. Casale's vocals begin and end this song. Jerry sings the third, fifth, and eigth verses.
- Jerry alternates vocals with Mark in the first, second, fourth, and seventh, verses. Mark sings the lines "give the past the slip," "break your momma's back," "when a problem comes along," "before the cream sets out too long," "when something's goin' wrong","when a good time turns around," "you will never live it down," and "no one gets away."
- In the music video Mark lip syncs to both his lines and some lines from Jerry's solo verses.
Alternate Versions:
- DEVO's E-Z listening version
- Remix versions include Prime Cuts Remix, HMS & M Remix, HMS & M Dub Mix, What is Hip Remix
- DEVO's corporate versions include Swiff It, Strip It, Slip It, Zip It, Drink It, Rip It, and also the Disney Devo 2.0 version. When a company wants to license the song, DEVO choose to re-record a custom version, instead of letting "the bunny" get the ad money.
Demo Versions:
- ◦ Whip It (Demo) - Demo Bundle[2]
- ◦ Whip It (DEMO ALTERNATE VERSION) (2:38) - Recombo DNA
Trivia / Info:[]
- This may be DEVO's most famous song, as well as their most successful US single.
- The single was able to successfully reach #4 on the dance charts, and #4 on the mainstream pop charts.
- In the US it charted regionally at #1 and on the Billboard chart at #14.
- This song is, despite popular belief, not about masturbation or sado-masochism (rather, it seems to exhort the listeners to be proactive in solving their problems).
- The earliest live recording of this song was made on New Year's Eve, 1979. That day, a synthesizer solo (much like the one in Chango or other Hardcore-era songs) was played. It would later be removed and replaced with a quadraphonic, six note solo.
- Excluding 1981, performances of Whip It were part of a medley with the Freedom Of Choice Theme, from its first performance to 1982.
- When advertisers want to use this song, Devo re-record it so WB doesn't get all the money. Devo has also personalized the lyrics for different corporate clients. (see "alternate versions")
- It was remade much later as Swiff It for commercials for Swiffer cleaning products.
- A version of Whip it was re-recorded for Devo 2.0.
- Devo approved a grant to PeTA from the royalties of "Whip It" on a campaign for circuses to stop using big cats as performance animals. [3] [4] [5]
Onstage Behavior:
- Mark Mothersbaugh usually brandished a whip, his belt, or a microphone cable – cracked in time to the sound effects.
Lyrics:
- Crack that whip!
- Give the past “the slip”
- Step on a crack
- Break your momma's back
- When a problem comes along
- You must whip it
- Before the cream sets out too long
- You must whip it
- When something's goin' wrong
- You must whip it
- Now whip it
- Into shape
- Shape it up
- Get straight
- Go forward
- Move ahead
- Try to detect it
- It's not too late
- To whip it
- Whip it good
- When a good time turns around
- You must whip it
- You will never live it down
- Unless you whip it
- No one gets away
- Until they whip it
- I say whip it
- Whip it good
- I say whip it
- Whip it good
- (six note synth solo)
- Crack that whip!
- Give the past “the slip”
- Step on a crack
- Break your momma's back
- When a problem comes along
- You must whip it
- Before the cream sets out too long
- You must whip it
- When something's goin' wrong
- You must whip it
- Now whip it
- Into shape
- Shape it up
- Get straight
- Go forward
- Move ahead
- Try to detect it
- It's not too late
- To whip it
- Into shape
- Shape it up
- Get straight
- Go forward
- Move ahead
- Try to detect it
- It's not too late
- To whip it
- Well, whip it good!
Video:
Short Film / Music Video
- "Whiptease" appears on:
- Concept DEVO.[6]
- DEVO discuss this video at:
- “Devolutionary Times - Episode 4: Freedom of Choice” - DEVOvision
- Restoration
- Peter Conheim and Cinema Preservation Alliance reconstructed and restored DEVO short films and videos which were shown in film festivals – including on January 27th, 2024, at MoMA.[7]
- Beginning in July, 2025, the restorations began to be featured on DEVOvision.
- The restored short band film Whiptease debuted online, in stereo, at DEVOvision on August 18, 2025.[8]
Live Video
References:
- ↑
- ↑
- Demo Bundle (2009) [limited time digital download]
- Tracks:
- Turn Around (demo)
- Demo Bundle (2009) [limited time digital download]
- Whip It (demo)
- Red Shark (demo)
- ↑
- Ohio.com. Akron Beacon Journal. Updated March 4, 2016. "Devo to donate ‘Whip It’ royalties to PETA to help big cats" by Malcolm X Abram, Beacon Journal pop music writer.
- "The new wave band will donate a portion of the royalties from their most popular hit to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to help fund a campaign to encourage circuses to free their big cats, and by extension end the practice of whipping them for training and control... Casale said his wife, Krista Napp, has long been aware of the various big cat issues from extinction to their treatment in zoos and circuses.”
- "(PETA senior vice president of media campaigns), Dan Mathews 'recently contacted us about this very issue and I presented to the band we all agreed that it was a good thing and we did it,' Casale said."
- "The new wave band will donate a portion of the royalties from their most popular hit to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to help fund a campaign to encourage circuses to free their big cats, and by extension end the practice of whipping them for training and control... Casale said his wife, Krista Napp, has long been aware of the various big cat issues from extinction to their treatment in zoos and circuses.”
- ↑
- Breitbart. March 4th, 2016. Devo rebrands ‘Whip It’ for circus protest. by Americans for Prosperity (AFP).
- “We were writing a song about being able to prevail over adversity — and that’s how it’s really being used here,” Devo bassist and songwriter Gerald Casale told AFP on Friday... He said the band was offering the song for use by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and also donating unspecified proceeds from “Whip It” to the rights group.
- ↑
- facebook. ClubDEVO post (2016-3-5). 'DEVO to donate "Whip It" royalties to PETA to help big cats'. post+comments section
- ↑
- Concept DEVO. Storyboarded by Mark and Jerry, Directed by Jerry,
Shot by Chuck Statler and a four-man crew, Edited by Dale Cooper.
Some planning, casting and set fabrication assistance by John Zabrucky.
- Concept DEVO. Storyboarded by Mark and Jerry, Directed by Jerry,
- ...When we got back off that leg of the tour, they go, 'You've got to make a video for 'Whip It'."
"We were rather burned out and really on a schedule, and Chuck Statler, the cinematographer that had been my college friend that we shot everything with, was busy. He was working with Elvis Costello.
So I planned the whole video with my friend, John Zabrucky, who is a prop designer and an artist. We planned the whole thing out, and Mark and I storyboarded it, and we cast it and built a set out of a rehearsal space we had in a warehouse outside of Beverly Hills.
Chuck flew in with just a four-man crew, and we started shooting at something like 7:00 in the morning, and we ended at like 1:00 in the morning. We shot the whole thing in like 16 hours. And then the editor, Dale Cooper, followed the storyboard, we tweaked it a bit, and it went out. It was one of the quickest videos we ever made. Other than 'Beautiful World,' it's the most favorite Devo video I ever directed."
- Jerry (2022)
- ...When we got back off that leg of the tour, they go, 'You've got to make a video for 'Whip It'."
- ↑
- Restored DEVO short films and videos were shown in film festivals – including on January 27th, 2024, at MoMA.
- ↑
- The restored short band film Whiptease debuted online, in 2K and stereo, at DEVOvision on August 18, 2025.
- Restored from a duplicate negative. [1]
- (The videos from Freedom of Choice were previously posted to DailyMotion.com/devo-official on January 24th, 2024. They do not seem to be the restored versions, however. The “Whip It” music video has incorrect attribution: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8rrp2p)
Links:[]
External Links
- "Whip It" -- Rock Band Wiki
- "Whip It" -- Wikipedia
Internal Links
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