Songfacts®:

• English post-punk group Gang of Four's 1979 debut Entertainment! was a major influence on a number of successful alternative rock acts throughout the '80s and '90s including R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana. They carried on releasing critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful records until the late '90s, though their later albums found them drifting towards dance-punk and disco. After splitting for a decade they reunited in 2004 with the original lineup of Jon King, Andy Gill, Dave Allen and Hugo Burnham. Allen and Burnham subsequently left but in July 2010, the band announced the release of first album of new material in fifteen years, Content. This is the first single from the record.
• Guitarist Andy Gill told Spin magazine the story of this song of social observation: "'Who Am I' started as a picture of early America," he explained. "It has a cast of characters - a cripple on crutches, pilgrims, people out shopping. But the breakthrough came when Jon woke up one night and came up with this line, 'Who am I when everything is me?' That kicked the song into another gear. That's where we are at the beginning of the 21st century - self-obsession and vanity has gone into the stratosphere."
• Gill told Spin magazine the new lineup and album are true to the band's original sound: "With the early Gang of Four songs, I would write or collaborate on a lot of the drum and bass parts. Jon and I basically wrote the songs. So it's not different at all," he said. "I approach writing in a very similar way as I did in 1978. It's like asking the same questions and coming up with only slightly different answers."