John Flansburgh:

With a conceptual tip of the hat to the song ‘Rawhide,’ this song is really the soundtrack to any crummy job. Sonically, this was a real adventure in sampling both original and illegal, and we ain’t saying which is which, but more of it is played than you might think, considering the sleazy sounds. The whip crack sound itself was fully created in the studio, as we couldn’t locate an effective sound effect (although you’d think they were abundant). The wind sound of the whip coming from Linnell’s decaying Moog synthesizer and the actual crack sound created by a wet towel snapped in the air and some creative miking from Roger [Moutenot, producer]. He was kind of revealing his inner-jock with that move.