| "John the Fisherman" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Primus | ||||
| from the album Frizzle Fry | ||||
| Released | Live: December 30, 1989 Single: May 17, 1990 | |||
| Genre | Funk metal | |||
| Length | Live: 3:53 Single: 3:37 | |||
| Label | Caroline (1990) Prawn Song (2002) | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Les Claypool/Todd Huth/Jay Lane | |||
| Producer(s) | Primus and "Exxon" Matt Winegar | |||
| Primus singles chronology | ||||
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"John the Fisherman" is the debut single by American rock band Primus. It was first released on December 30, 1989 on the live album Suck on This, then re-released a year later on May 17, 1990, this time on their debut studio album Frizzle Fry as the lead single.
The band's frontman Les Claypool said of the song:
"John the Fisherman" was written so long ago. I like to write about things I know about so that I don’t sound like a dipshit talking over my head. I fish. Some dads take their kids to football games or baseball games. My dad took me fishing. That’s what we did, almost every weekend. My uncle, my grandfather, that’s what we did. It’s a big part of my history. So, for me, it was always easy to write about. These fishing songs kept popping up, themes about the ocean, and it made it like a chronicle, a subdivision of our body of work.[1]
The live version of "John the Fisherman" that appears on Suck on This interpolates the intro to the 1981 Rush instrumental "YYZ".