AVC: "The Underdog" is one of the more surprising songs on this record. It actually sounds almost like a Van Morrison song.
BD: Yes! You're the first person to say it. It always seemed like a Van Morrison song to me, and I've said it in a couple of interviews, but no one's picked up on it yet. When I wrote the song, I had the chorus and few ideas, sort of the strummy feel of it, and it seemed like a Van Morrison song to me and then later a Paul Simon song, so I always pictured there being horns on there. It was one of those difficult ones to figure out how we were going to put it together. Then I heard this song by Ray Davies on the Thanksgiving Day EP that had him playing with the Jools Holland Orchestra, and there are horns on that song that make it sound like it's a celebration, and I decided "That's the sound I want for 'Underdog,' Pitting this pretty pissed-off lyric against this horn part that sounds like a fiesta."
AVC: When you say, "You got no fear of the underdog / That's why you will not survive," are you the underdog, or are you the one in fear of the underdog?
BD: I'm not the underdog, but–Well actually, I guess I've been the underdog. To me, it always felt like I was talking to "the big guy," you know, the big guy in the government, and trying to tell him about some things he didn't seem to be aware of. I just think that's a pretty arrogant group of liars we've got up there, and they don't really consider the abilities of their opponents.
AVC: "The Underdog" is one of the more surprising songs on this record. It actually sounds almost like a Van Morrison song.
BD: Yes! You're the first person to say it. It always seemed like a Van Morrison song to me, and I've said it in a couple of interviews, but no one's picked up on it yet. When I wrote the song, I had the chorus and few ideas, sort of the strummy feel of it, and it seemed like a Van Morrison song to me and then later a Paul Simon song, so I always pictured there being horns on there. It was one of those difficult ones to figure out how we were going to put it together. Then I heard this song by Ray Davies on the Thanksgiving Day EP that had him playing with the Jools Holland Orchestra, and there are horns on that song that make it sound like it's a celebration, and I decided "That's the sound I want for 'Underdog,' Pitting this pretty pissed-off lyric against this horn part that sounds like a fiesta."
AVC: When you say, "You got no fear of the underdog / That's why you will not survive," are you the underdog, or are you the one in fear of the underdog?
BD: I'm not the underdog, but–Well actually, I guess I've been the underdog. To me, it always felt like I was talking to "the big guy," you know, the big guy in the government, and trying to tell him about some things he didn't seem to be aware of. I just think that's a pretty arrogant group of liars we've got up there, and they don't really consider the abilities of their opponents.
from http://www.avclub.com/articles/britt-daniel-of-spoon,14127/