| He's Misstra Know-It-All | |
| Cover: | Misstraknowitall.jpeg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Stevie Wonder |
| Album: | Innervisions |
| B-Side: | You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover |
| Released: | April 1974 |
| Recorded: | 1973 |
| Genre: | Soul, pop[1] |
| Length: | 3:25 (single version) 5:38 (album version) |
| Label: | Tamla |
| Producer: | Stevie Wonder |
| Prev Title: | Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing |
| Prev Year: | 1973 |
| Next Title: | You Haven't Done Nothin' |
| Next Year: | 1974 |
"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]
A. "He's Misstra Know-It-All" – 3:25 (Stevie Wonder)
B. "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover" – 2:32[6] (Wonder, Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy)[7]