Sep 142010
 

Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.

Devo did some bizarre covers back in the day. The most famous is their schizoid take on the Rolling Stones‘ “Satisfaction,” but they’ve warped everyone from Allen Toussaint (“Working in the Coalmine”) to Nine Inch Nails (“Head Like a Hole”) to fit their strange vision.

Vying for the weirdest has to be this cover of the traditional folk song “Worried Man,” or “Worried Man Blues.” Tying into their de-evolution metanarrative, the video features the band as glowing nuclear plant workers transporting poorly-sealed radioactive barrels. A creepy giant baby (“Booji Boy”) pops up with a sermon about the perils of modernization. A sleazy record producer fights over tampons with his new-wave daughter. All to a bizarre soundtrack that only Mark Mothersbaugh and co. could create.

Devo – Worried Man (Trad. cover)


Check out more Devo at their website.

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  3 Responses to “Song of the Day: Devo, “Worried Man””

Comments (3)
  1. Actually — the bulk of the video is taken from Neil Young’s film _Human Highway_, which starred DEVO, Neil, Russ Tamblyn, Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell. It’s an anti-nuclear power parable. Or, kinda parable. “Mess” is probably the more descriptive term. When it was released on video, Warner Brothers’ used “So Bad It’s Good!” as the tagline.

    The stuff with Rod and Donut Rooter are wrap-arounds shot for the We’re All DEVO home video release. (The break-ins of Rod Rooter are there to cover up for lost footage. In the film, the song is broken up with a few scenes in different parts of it. The edits are where Rod is.)

  2. Thanks for the info Rev! That explains a lot. It also raises a ton more questions, namely “Really, Neil? Really??”

  3. My guess? Neil was doing a LOT of drugs.

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