CIA Man

This song might be nearly 50-year-old, but every stanza of these lyrics can modulate to present day; or in the case of staff and rod, back to Moses. Just replace red dictators with Saddam and Osama, the guerillas with the Syrian rebels, harbors of Nicaragua with the Strait of Hormuz... afraid to say any more lest the A-men look my way.

First of all, the lyrics continually repeat, “Fucking A man! CIA man!” in response to questions that accuse government authority of corruption. If that doesn’t accurately express their frustration with the government, I’m not sure what does. The reference to America’s distaste for communism is early on in the song with “Who can kill a general in his bed? Overthrow dictators if they’re Red?” The Fugs accuses America of wrongly sending troops into countries/parts of countries where we don’t belong with the lines, “Who can train guerrillas by the dozens? Send them out to kill their untrained cousins?” Since the song was originally released in 1965, it’s likely that this line was first created in opposition to America’s involvement in the Vietnam War; numerous Americans didn’t understand the purpose of sending troops to Vietnam, and several troops themselves didn’t understand their purpose overseas, leading to the intense antiwar movement of the time. Finally, they also reference the scandal with Nicaragua toward the end with the lines, “Who can mine the harbors of Nicaragua? Outhit all the hitmen of Chicag-ua?” This last line refers to an event that did not occur until 1984, so it is most likely that this stanza wasn’t added until the song was rereleased on The Fugs’ 1994 album, The Real Woodstock Festival.

The first album that it was released on, The Fugs First Album (1965), created some controversy. In fact, the FBI conducted an investigation in the late 60s on The Doors, and included an excerpt mentioning 11 songs from the Fugs as being “vulgar and repulsive and are most suggestive.”

The Coen brothers used the song in the 2008 film “Burn After Reading”. The song was also re-released on numerous later albums, such as Virgin Fugs in 1967, Fugs 4, Rounder Score in 1975, and The Real Woodstock Festival in 1994.