Neanderthal Man

Album: Thinks: School Stinks (1970)
Charted: 2 22
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This primitive track has a pretty basic message, with the same stanza repeated several times:

    I'm a Neanderthal man
    You're a Neanderthal girl
    Let's make Neanderthal love
    In this Neanderthal world


    It's consistent with the caveman theme, as language was still developing.
  • Hotlegs (Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme) was the house band for Strawberry Studios in Stockport, England. The band was named Hotlegs in honor of a secretary at the studio.
  • The band didn't have grand ambitions for this song: they were playing it to test a new drum kit and 4-track recorder at Strawberry Studios when they improvised "Neanderthal Man." Phillips label chief Dick Leahy happened to be around, thought it had potential, and got them to record it on his label. It sold over 2 million copies worldwide and topped the charts in Italy.

    Despite the success of the single, Hotlegs stayed focused on studio work for other artists. In 1972, with the addition of Graham Gouldman, they became 10cc, one of the top UK acts of the '70s.
  • The band made a promotional film for this song that was clearly inspired by the 1966 film One Million Years B.C. A decade later, Godley and Creme became visionary directors in the world of music videos.
  • In 2006, Kevin Godley and Graham Gouldman reworked this song into a track called "Son of Man," which tells the story of 10cc:

    They were joined at the heart, joined at the hip
    Working in any old piece of s--t
    For experience and the hell of it
    Fueled by cigarettes and curry
    Hashish, lack of sleep and worry
    Turned out crap they thought was funny
    Because they knew that there were diamonds hidden in the trash


    In 2018, Godley made a video for the song.

Comments: 4

  • Peter from Davenport,flDoes anyone else think that the singer sounds like John Lennon? In fact the whole song kinda reminds me of "Give Peace a Chance".
  • Farrah from Elon, NcThe bizarreness of the song is why I love it!!! Plus, I also love the cool beat.
  • Farrah from Elon, NcThe song was a bit bizarre, but I just love it!!!
  • Dylan from Port Orange, FlI like 10cc, but this has to be one of the most bizarre songs I've ever heard.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

James Bond Theme Songs

James Bond Theme SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the 007 theme songs?

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."

Lita Ford

Lita FordSongwriter Interviews

Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: Tarantino Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: Tarantino EditionMusic Quiz

Whether he's splitting ears or burning Nazis, Quentin Tarantino uses memorable music in his films. See if you can match the song to the scene.

Jules Shear - "All Through The Night"

Jules Shear - "All Through The Night"They're Playing My Song

Shears does very little promotion, which has kept him secluded from the spotlight. What changed when Cyndi Lauper had a hit with his song? Not much, really.

Female Singers Of The 90s

Female Singers Of The 90sMusic Quiz

The ladies who ruled the '90s in this quiz.