He's Misstra Know-It-All

"He's Misstra Know-It-All"
Single by Stevie Wonder
from the album Innervisions
B-side	"You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover"
Released	April 1974
Recorded	1973[citation needed]
Genre	Soul, pop[1]
Length	3:25 (single version) 5:38 (album version)
Label	Tamla
Songwriter(s)	Stevie Wonder
Producer(s)	Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder singles chronology
"Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" (1973) "He's Misstra Know-It-All" (1974) "You Haven't Done Nothin'" (1974)
Music video
He's Misstra Know-It-All (album version) on YouTube

"He's Misstra Know-It-All" is a single by Stevie Wonder for the Tamla (Motown) label, from his Innervisions album, which reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart in May 1974.^[2] The song takes the form of a mellow ballad with a steady beat, principally a solo performance with Wonder providing lead vocal, background vocal, piano, drums, handclaps and congas. Ethereal flute-like sounds are provided by his TONTO modular synthesiser. Willie Weeks, on electric bass, is the only other musician. Towards the end of the song the mood changes to a stronger feel, more strident singing and with hand-claps emphasising the beat, half-beat and quarter-beat.

The song was released again in 1977 in both the UK and US as the B-side to "Sir Duke".

The song is essentially a long description of a know-it-all confidence trickster character who is a "man with a plan", who has a slick answer to all his critics and who has "a counterfeit dollar in his hand." It has been alleged that this is a reference to United States' President Richard Nixon.^[3]

Track list[]

A. "He's Misstra Know-It-All" – 3:25 (Stevie Wonder)
B. "You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover" (Wonder, Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy)^[4]

Personnel[]

• Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal, piano, drums, handclaps, TONTO synthesizer, congas
• Willie Weeks – electric bass

References[]

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