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"
ReleasedApril 1974
Recorded1973[citation needed]
GenreSoul, pop[1]
Length3:25 (single version)
5:38 (album version)
LabelTamla
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)
Official audio
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 April 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, who resigned the same year the song was released.[3][4][5]

  1. ^ John McFerrin. "Stevie Wonder- Innervisions". Archived from the original on July 2, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  2. ^ "Official Charts Company - Stevie Wonder". Official UK Charts. July 23, 2012. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  3. ^ Arthur Chappell, "The Story In The Song - Stevie Wonder - He's Misstra Know It All", Bubblews, January 10, 2014. Archived April 22, 2015, at archive.today.
  4. ^ Daniel E. Frick, "Reinventing Richard Nixon", 2008.
  5. ^ Lynskey, Dorian (May 4, 2007). "Readers recommend: Songs about politicians". The Guardian.