Give Me Back My Man
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| “Give Me Back My Man” | |||||
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| Single by The B-52's from the album Wild Planet |
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| Released | 1980 | ||||
| Genre | Rock New Wave |
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| Length | 4:00 | ||||
| Writer(s) | Fred Schneider Ricky Wilson Keith Strickland Cindy Wilson |
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| Producer | Rhett Davies The B-52's |
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| The B-52's singles chronology | |||||
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"Give Me Back My Man" is a song written and recorded by the American rock band The B-52's. It was released as the second single from their 1980 album Wild Planet.
[edit] Overview
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Sung by band member Cindy Wilson, the song is a moody, emotional performance that became a staple of subsequent B-52's albums. Loveland from 1982's Mesopotamia is another example. With Ricky Wilson playing a twangy, surf guitar riff, the song seems like a take on the old "don't take my man" narrative. The lyrics of the chorus are classic B-52's, "I'll give you fish/I'll give you candy/I'll give you everything I have in my hand/Give me back my man". The song name checks Korvettes, a Woolworths-type store and has the beautifully sad lyrics "Walking out of Korvettes/Package in her hand/Motions to all the seabirds/Throws divinity on the sand". The sound of the seabirds gives the song a Shangri-Las meets Alfred Hitchcock feel. Divinity is a type of southern fudge that is very difficult to make. Then in classic B-52's style, the mood and lyrics change to a more literal interpretation. Toward the end of the song Cindy sings "Where's that motorboat/Cuz he's in the motorboat/ Her man's in the motorboat/Give her back her man" and all of a sudden the audience has the image of "her man" kidnapped and being whisked away in a motorboat and who has him, why do they have him, where are they taking him and is he ever released. These are all questions that are left unanswered.
The song charted on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart along with album track "Party out of Bounds" and prior single "Private Idaho", reaching number five (chart rules at the time allowed multiple album tracks to occupy the same position together). Released as a single in the UK, it hit number sixty-one on the UK Singles Chart.
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