Songfacts®:

• "Don't Let the Man Get You Down" is the opening track on Fatboy Slim's fourth and final studio album, 2004's Palookaville. The song heavily samples the line "And the sign said, 'Long-haired freaky people need not apply,'" from "Signs" by Canadian rock outfit Five Man Electrical Band. A protest song about the societal discrimination faced by members of the 1960s and 1970s counterculture, the original verse goes:
  
  And the sign said, "Long-haired freaky people need not apply"
  So I tucked my hair up under my hat
  And I went in to ask him why.
  He said, "You look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you'll do."
  So I took off my hat, I said, "Imagine that.
  Huh! Me workin' for you!"
  
  Speaking on TikTok, Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, revealed that the sample was introduced to him by a longtime fan, Kevin, who had been following his career since the 1980s: "He started sample spotting for me, but he didn't even send me the whole song; he just sent me that first bit because he knew that would be the bit I would use."
• The black-and-white official music video for "Don't Let the Man Get You Down" was directed by Brian Beletic. It takes a darkly satirical look at racism in America, focusing on a man named Don. The story begins with simple, seemingly harmless statements like "Don likes to fish" but quickly turns with "Don is a racist," showcasing his bigotry toward his neighbors.
  
  The climactic scene shows Don meeting his demise by being run over, with text flashing up: "Don't be a racist, or else." Multiple alternative endings were shot for distribution at the time of release, showing Don dying in various ways, including being stabbed by a burglar, crushed by a knight on horseback, and drowning in a swimming pool while American socialite Paris Hilton watches on.
  
  In the documentary Why Make Videos, Fatboy Slim expressed his admiration for the video and its message, saying, "If there's one message that I would like to give in life, it's don't be racist. Look after your fellow man."