"Senses Working Overtime" is a song written by Andy Partridge of the English rock band XTC, released as the lead single from their 1982 album English Settlement. He based the song on Manfred Mann's "5-4-3-2-1" (1964). The album and single became the highest-charting records XTC would ever have in the UK, peaking at number five and number 10, respectively. At the suggestion of its director, the song's music video was filmed at double-speed and then slowed down, to make the musicians appear "more graceful". Partridge recalled: "That one was done really quickly, in Shepperton Studios while we were rehearsing for the English Settlement tour. And so that's us rehearsing. ... [The half-speed idea has] been used a hell of a lot since then, but I think we were the first ones to do it."

Track listing

On the 12" release, "Egyptian Solution (Thebes in a Box) (Homo Safari #3)" (Partridge) was added to the A-side as track 2; the B-side comprised "Blame the Weather" and "Tissue Tigers" on both 7" and 12".

Personnel

XTC

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Mandy Moore version

"Senses Working Overtime" was the third single released from Moore's third studio album Coverage (2003) as its opening track. It was written by Andy Partridge and produced by John Fields. The song was included on Moore’s first greatest hits album The Best of Mandy Moore (2004).

Other versions