SIDE A - This is a Man's Man's Man's World
Prelude for a Toddler
Toddler's Lullaby
Safety is a Cootie Wootie
THIS IS A MAN'S MAN'S MAN'S WORLD
45rpm Single
| SIDE A - This is a Man's Man's Man's World |
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| SIDE B - Safety is a Cootie-Wootie: | ||
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"This is a Man's Man's Man's World" is, of course, a cover of the James Brown hit, released as a companion piece to the George & James album.
It has been released three times, with three different packages and three different B-sides. The first was [condensed from] a three-part suite for children, "Safety is a Cootie-Wootie." The second was "I'll Go Crazy" from George & James, and the third was the version of "Jailhouse Rock" originally released on the Residue collection.
The Residents created a video for this song, one of the first videos to use Macintosh computer graphics (which the Residents added to the video by simply pointing a camera at the computer monitor).
RATING: 8
Like Intermission, "Man's World" is a very small project that dwarfs its full-length predecessor. Where quality and vision are convcerned, this one three-minute song has it all over George & James, especially over the James side. A friend of mine even prefers this to the original.
The funny thing is that "This is a Man's Man's Man's World" has in common with George & James that it's remarkably faithful to the Brown interpretation. The one difference, though, is significant: The Residents downplay Brown's drama (and let's face it, folks, Laurence Freakin' Olivier didn't have James Brown's dramatic chops), concentrating instead on the melody. So instead of the strings and the suspense, the Residents simply show that the Godfather has a remarkably rich gift for composition—a fact that's constantly obscured by Brown's raw presence as a performer. Why, oh, why couldn't they have given the James side of the album that treasure of insight?
Oh! The B-Side, "Safety is a Cootie-Wootie," is excellent as well. It's allegedly written for your toddler, but I wouldn't personally play it for any child that you wanted to bring up healthy and stable. In fact, of all Residents releases, "Cootie Wootie" is probably the one most genuinely suited to a horror movie—particularly "Prelude for a Toddler," which does majestically disturbing things with a simple piano scale. So if safety is a cootie-wootie, I don't know what this is, because safe it ain't. Great, though! 8-worthy!
But let's not kid ourselves. The A-side is the reason to own this, so while I love "Cootie Wootie" very much, and I recommend it over the other two B-sides, all that really matters is that you get your hands on "This is aMan's Man's Man's World." See?