Song of the Day: The B-52’s “Give Me Back My Man”

It’s hard to imagine now what it was like before there was a B-52’s. When I first heard “Rock Lobster” in 1978 or ’79 on a college radio station in Atlanta, I did a “What the hell is this?!” take. It took me two or three listens to get it. The song had so many weird elements: crazy lyrics! Ricky Wilson‘s odd guitar tunings! Sweet female vocals (and yelps) from Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson mixed with Fred Schneider‘s dry monotone! All of this topped by Keith Strickland‘s great driving drums. The band, affectionately known as “that tacky little dance band from Athens, GA” released their debut LP in 1979 and immediately injected fun back into new wave, punk or whatever you want to call it.

“Give Me Back My Man” was one of the band’s earliest written songs, even though it didn’t show up in recorded form on vinyl until their second album Wild Planet. It is a great dance number (as are most B-52’s songs) about a girl who’s boyfriend is eaten by a shark!

I’ll give you fish
I’ll give you candy
I’ll give you everything I have in my hand.

Schneider even gets to play a glockenspiel on it. Great song, but watch out for sharks!