Song · Pablo Honey era (1992–93)
How Do You?
Two minutes about an insufferable man, with the prank call that named the album buried in the solo.
Pablo Honeyalbum- 1993released
- 2:12length
1992–93
pablo, honey
The Jerky Boys were two men from Queens, Johnny Brennan and Kamal Ahmed, who taped their prank phone calls and let the tapes travel. In one sketch the caller pretends to be the victim's mother and pleads with “Pablo, honey” to come to Florida. Rolling Stone said in 2018 that the band had it off a bootleg tape of the calls from Chapterhouse, a fellow Thames Valley band; the duo did not release the sketch themselves until August 1994, when it opened The Jerky Boys 2. A snatch of it sits under the guitar solo here, and the album took its name from it. Yorke's explanation of the title, in the same piece, was that the five of them were mothers' boys.
the words
a portrait of a bully
The song is a character sketch, unkind and short: a spoiled child grown into a powerful, bigoted man who cheats and bullies his way up, and a chorus that is nothing but the title, asked again and again. The band have never said who, if anyone, he was. Zaleski in Salon heard a gleeful, full-body thrash, with chaotic piano under the guitars.
1993
the reviews
It has not had kind notices. John Harris gave Pablo Honey a warm review in NME but thought this track broke its momentum “horribly”. Others liked it better at the time. Pippa Lang heard Bono in Yorke's singing on it in Metal Hammer in April 1993, and Rob Haneisen, writing in the Fitchburg State student paper The Strobe that November, compared it to the Sex Pistols meeting the Rolling Stones. Reviewing the 2009 reissue for Pitchfork, Scott Plagenhoef put it with “I Can't”, “Ripcord” and “Vegetable” as “run of the mill at best”.
1992–94
on stage
The archive has 32 nights. The first is The Wheatsheaf in Stoke-on-Trent on 21 October 1992; twenty came in 1993, including the University of Glamorgan on 5 March, where a fan reviewer named it first among the songs played. The last is the Teatro de San Francisco in Pachuca, Mexico, on 30 October 1994. It opened the night once and closed it once.
on stage
Live at The Chicago Metro 1993.· Nero Liveswatch on youtube →
Live history
| Times played | 32 shows |
|---|---|
| Live debut | Wednesday 21 October 1992 · Stoke-on-Trent |
| Last played | Sunday 30 October 1994 · Pachuca |
Nights played include broadcasts; opened and closed count gigs only. A cancelled night has no setlist. All setlist stats →
Tabs (1)
sources8
- Wikipedia, “Pablo Honey”, for the sample, the title, Harris's review and Plagenhoef's verdict (citing Jordan Runtagh, Rolling Stone, 22 February 2018; John Harris, NME, 1993; Scott Plagenhoef, Pitchfork, 16 April 2009).
- Jordan Runtagh, “Radiohead's ‘Pablo Honey’: 10 Things You Didn't Know”, Rolling Stone, 22 February 2018, for the Chapterhouse tape and The Jerky Boys 2.
- Wikipedia, “The Jerky Boys” and “The Jerky Boys 2”, for the duo, the sketch and the album's date.
- The 2003 treefingers.com note on the song, for the bootleg tape.
- Annie Zaleski, “Pablo Honey: Beyond ‘Creep’”, Salon, 23 February 2018.
- Pippa Lang, review of Pablo Honey, Metal Hammer, April 1993.
- Rob Haneisen, review of Pablo Honey, The Strobe, Fitchburg State College, 17 November 1993.
- Pop Is Dead fanzine, July 1993, for the Glamorgan review.