Live in 1977:

We’ve jumped around Devo’s history quite a bit so far, but this is the first time we’ve encountered a track from their second album, 1979′s Duty Now For The Future. Its not as critically well regarded as either the album that came before it (Q: Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!) or the album that came after it (Freedom of Choice), but it is still a critical record of a seminal band in their prime.

One of the major tracks from this album is “Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA,” which is in fact a pair of songs. While the lyrics are, of course, open to a certain amount of interpretation, I love this decoding of it by SongMeanings.net commentator Neonsolid:

I think the smart patrol part is a red herring to fool people, the first three sung parts are just describing they average schlub and his disdain for modern living. But they all end with…

“Guess I’m just a spudboy
Looking for that real tomato”

Which makes me think this song is supposed to be a really dry parody of a love song describing sex and the usual DEVO social commentary.

“We shove the poles in the holes” = Dick in vagina.

The Mr DNA part is describing sperm attacking eggs.

Hey, that works for me.