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Originally Posted by Whoopysnorp
The credit on the album lists the original songwriter and then "arranged by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald V. Casale". Pretty generous credit considering Devo was way more responsible for that song that the original guy.
I've heard that too, and well they should. That song is a little more of a cover than 'Secret Agent Man' though, since they at least kept all the original lyrics.
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I love that version, and it's true that so much was changed, one wonders why it wasn't considered an original version instead of a derivative work. But I think it's pretty safe to assume it happened that way becase the label or its business partner would make more (or lose less) money that way. This is because just about anything that happens in a major label-band relatonship is meant to favor the label.
One likely answer is a pre-existing condition with the song copyright and Warner Brothers, Devo's US label.
Even though it's technically a conflict of interest, Warner Bros. the label and Warner-Chappell the publisher were often organized to be legally very close. This can lead to all kinds of weird things when artists on the label cover songs published by the publisher.
-r