Song · Pablo Honey era (1992–93)
How Do You?
A short song about a bigot and a bully, 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. Thom 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, of a spoiled child grown into a powerful, bigoted man who cheats and bullies his way up, with a chorus that is nothing but the title, asked again and again. Annie Zaleski in Salon heard a gleeful, full-body thrash, with chaotic piano under the guitars.
1993
the reviews
John Harris gave Pablo Honey a warm review in NME but thought this track broke its momentum “horribly”. Others liked it more. 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.
1992–94
in the set until mexico
It came into the set at The Wheatsheaf in Stoke-on-Trent on 21 October 1992 and was busiest in 1993, with 21 nights. At the University of Glamorgan on 5 March that year a fan reviewer named it among the faster, head-banging songs. It opened the night once and closed it once, and after the Teatro de San Francisco in Pachuca, Mexico, on 30 October 1994, it was dropped.
2016
a week on pandora
When A Moon Shaped Pool arrived on Pandora in May 2016, Hypebot published the service's figures: the new record had taken the band past a billion plays there and sent listeners back to the old songs. Plays of “How Do You?” had risen by 390 per cent in a week, ahead of “Motion Picture Soundtrack” at 250.
on stage
Live at The Chicago Metro 1993.· Nero Liveswatch on youtube →
the record(1)
on stage(1)
Live history
| Times played | 33 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)
sources9
- Wikipedia, “Pablo Honey”, for the sample, the title and Harris's review (citing Jordan Runtagh, Rolling Stone, 22 February 2018; John Harris, NME, 1993).
- 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.
- Hypebot, 19 May 2016, for Pandora's figures.