The Man is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise. The phrase “the Man is keeping me down” is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase “stick it to the Man” encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means “fight back” or “resist”, either passively, openly or via sabotage. (More from Wikipedia)
In 1972, Mick Farren published his first book, a comic-book style polemic that traces the development of the youth subculture from the 1950’s; the subtitle on the back cover is “How Elvis gave birth to the Angry Brigade”. The co-writer with him is Edward Barker, a cartoonist who designed the covers on the second and third albums by the Pink Fairies. The title is Watch Out Kids and is probably adapted from the lyric “Look out kid” in “Subterranean Homesick Blues” by Bob Dylan.
The online review of the book in funtopia.com – a website devoted to the work of Mick Farren – states: “Farren argues how the establishment soon co-opts any youth phenomenon that is remotely threatening and repackages this rebellion into something more wholesome and saleable to the masses. Therefore, ‘the man’ would always attempt to find a way of sanitising a movement and taking its threat away (still true of today). In a wider political context an ever increasing theme throughout the book is that the system oppresses us by means of exploitation at work, censorship, and indoctrination by the dominant establishment media, to name a few.”
There are some dialogue excerpts on the Silencers’ albums; at the beginning of “13” is a long conversation about “The Man” – probably from Easy Rider (1969) – and there is an occasional mention of the song title on the album, as on “Spaceman” and “Woof Woof” on The Silencers (and “Return of the Son of Woof Woof” on their second album, Cyclerific Sounds).
(December 2014)
