The Johns say:

The opening track, and first single, is a pretty big departure for us, as it is our first ode to getting it on. Written with Iggy Pop's bassist Hal Cragin, and featuring a horn and string arrangement by TMBG road veteran Kurt Hoffman (also known for his work with the Ordinaires) this track spotlights Eric's phenomenal playing over a very fine groove laid down by Brian, Hal and percussionist Sue Hadjopoulos.

Quoth Sarah Cooke <psss@pixi.com>:

I was thinking about this a lot in the shower (no connection whatsoever) and came up with this S-E-X-X-Y interpretation. It has little to do with "gettin' it on" but bear with me.

There she is
Standing on the bed
Cookie in one hand, wig on her head
S-E-X-X-Y

I took the bed and cookie lines to mean that the character is a young child, maybe 8 or so. His sex is XY (S-E-X-X-Y sex=XY.) He is wearing a wig, maybe his mother's or something, and decides for the first time that he wants to be a transvetite. Here, and throughout the song, he is referred to as "she."

Unnoticed by few, very very few
And that includes you

Throughout the character's life, he doesn't do a very convincing job of it. That is, it is quite obvious to everyone that he's really a man, S-E-X-X-Y.

One finger nail
Across your back

I don't know about this part, maybe this has something to do with gettin' it on? Maybe gettin' it on with the person who didn't notice him before ("that includes you"?)

Baby's first gold tooth initials inscribed
=>S-E-X-X-Y<=

I thought this meant that the child (refered to as "baby") is now grown up, and enjoying financial successof some sort.

You gotta understand, she wants to be your man
She's got another plan

"She's got another plan;" At this point, the character reconsiders her/his sexuality; he reevaluates his earlier decision that he wanted to be a transvestite. Perhaps this id due to his recent financial/business success. He decides that he doesn't want to be a transvestite anymore, and wants to be normal, "she wants to be your man."

The line in the middle of the song

Secret agent spy, come to see why

This person is either a "secret agent spy" or just a reporter who comes to invesitgate/interview the main character after his/her recent buisiness endeavors. It is this investigation that makes him/her decide that he should lead a more normal life and leads to his reconsideration in the last part of the song. I think the secret agent is female; "she (the main character) wants to be *your* man."

Quoth <Christi587@aol.com>:

Okay, obviously not everyone agrees that this song is about XXY genes. But since it is a fairly popular (and pretty neat) interpretation, I want to post this and get it all out of the way so we don't have to deal with scientific inaccuracies later on, because wrong things just suck.

This is straight from the encyclopedia:

Klinefelter's syndrome, a relatively common human sex-chromosome disorder, occuring at a rate of about one per 700 live male births. It occurs when a sperm carrying both X and Y chromosomes fertilizes a normal ovum. The resulting XXY male characteristically has small testes but a normal-sized penis, a lack of sperm formation, late puberty, usually a delicate and long-limbed physique, occasionally with breast enlargement, and about 25 percent frequency of mental retardation but a much higher frequency of behavioral difficulties. Treatment with male hormones normalizes male appearance and produces a sex drive, but the person with Klinefelter's syndrome remains sterile.

Ta da. So don't anybody dare say "Gee, don't people with Downs Syndrome have XXY genes or something?" And anyone who brings up Jamie Lee Curtis will be shot on sight.

Anyway, you could take this info and run with it a million ways with Mr. Flansburgh's lyrics. Anyone can take it from here, but my job here is done :)

Quoth Cool Daddy Fro <kleinwor@badlands.NoDak.edu>:

S-E-X-X-Y, more than enough

This person has more than enough chromosomes, in fact an abnormal amount.

The next verse and ahalf don't really support this, but they don't really contradict it either.

then...

X because it's extra baby
Y because it's extra baby

describing the extra chromosomes then..

Unnoticed by few, Very very few, and that includes you

describes how while this perosn displays female characteristics, people still notice that he is a man.

secret agent spy, come to see why S-E-X-X-Y

This could be a scientist looking at the chromosomes themselves to see why this has happened.

Baby's first gold tooth initials inscibed S-E-X-X-Y

Describes how the condition was present since he was a baby.

X because it's extra baby
Y because it's extra baby
You gotta understand
She wants to be your man
She's got another plan

Again with the extra chromosomes.She (physically) is still a man.

Quoth <SillyMage@aol.com>:

I completly agree that the song is about Klinefelter's syndrome, but one difference in interpretations I made was in the following lyrics:

Look inside your mind
Look inside your eye
Secret agent spy, come to see why

It seems to my that the "secret agent spy" is a doctor, looking inside the patients mind (either asking him questons, or mind actually meaning brain, such as a CAT scan), and in his eye (such as checking for dialation. You know, when they shine that light in your eye?) Why do docters do such things? To find out what such things are, and what causes them.

Quoth dan spock <dspock@mff.org>:

A person with XXY chromosomes is a kind of hermaphrodite. The song reminded me of an interview I read with funkmaster George Clinton. He was aked what he thought the symbol Prince adopted as his new identity meant. His answer: "Hermaphrodite!" - a funny jab at Prince's pretentious male/female combo symbol, I thought. (Don't get me wrong though, I love Prince's music.) S-E-X-X-Y has a slinky, Prince-like quality to it and TMBG has made sly references to other Prince ditties such as "Purple Toupee" and "Pencil Rain", but I don't think the reference is supposed to be that direct. I think the intention was to add a little double-take ambiguity to what is ostensibly a straight forward soul bedroom opus. One thinks of Danny Bonaduce getting busted with a cross-dressing prostitute, for example. Or that old '70's chestnut "My Girl, Bill."

Quoth Patrick A. Reid<rose@st.net.au>:

Although most people seem to be going for the hermaphrodite interps, I find that the transvestite interp makes much more sense. This is a summary of the best S-E-X-X-Y interp I have read so far: the song is about a heterosexual guy who is sexually attracted to a transvestite. He knows she is really a he, but forces himself into a kind of doublethink. He pretends to himself that he really thinks the transvestite is a woman, because that is how he is attracted to he/she: not as a man pretending to be a woman, but as a woman. Keep this in mind next time you read over the lyrics of the song.