Who is Harry Manback?

[fretforyourfigure462]

Yeah.....who's Harry Manback?

[Forever In Debt]

"Harry Manback is a recording of the words of an uninvited
Italian guest who came to Maynard's house one day. A so-called friend
of a friend of a friend of Harry's .... Before we finally managed to
figure out that nobody really knew him, he had already emptied the fridge
and run up a huge phone bill." This is what Danny said in an interview.

[mjkajdcjc]

"Harry Manback is a recording of the words of an uninvited
Italian guest who came to Maynard's house one day. A so-called friend
of a friend of a friend of Harry's .... Before we finally managed to
figure out that nobody really knew him, he had already emptied the fridge
and run up a huge phone bill." This is what Danny said in an interview.

...And that's all she wrote.

[fretforyourfigure462]

Aha.
Sounds like a prick to me.
So in essence that song is literally a "message to harry manback?"

[opiated]

More like a message from and directed to someone else. (Wink, wink.)

I know some of the details, but some of them are sketchy, so I won't bother going into it any further or I may just end up falling flat on my face.

[ajp1982]

I read somewhere the song is a recording Manback left on Maynards answering machine after they booted him out...

[opiated]

It's something like that.

From what I've heard, Maynard was a roommate with (now here's where my memory gets a little shaky) Hotsy Menshot of Green Jelly at some point in the early or mid Nineties. Hotsy had a friend (whose name was Fransisco or Fernando or some shit like that) that was also staying with him for a brief period of time and since he was acting like an asshole, Hotsy kicked him out of the house. Over the next day or so, he left two messages on his answering machine which Maynard would hear later and use as "Message to Harry Manback" and "Message to Harry Manback II." Harry Manback is a pseudonym for Hotsy.

Like I said, I've probably got a few details mixed up there.

[AlltheteainChina]

Sounds about the same as what I've read over the years...but damn...he sounds like less of an annoying asshole of a roomate, and more like a psychopath. Or sociopath. Some sort of path. I love this track.

[Forever In Debt]

Some sort of path.

Hahahahaha. I'm not sure this IS the ACTUAL recording, maybe somthing similar...

[opiated]

Hahahahaha. I'm not sure this IS the ACTUAL recording, maybe something similar...

Yeah. The actual recording doesn't have the music being played in the background. To paraphrase the FAQ, it was put there to make the track more like a love song and add a sarcastic touch. It's the perfect precursor for "Hooker with a Penis."

There. Just threw you the obvious.

[jim39n]

Yeah. The actual recording doesn't have the music being played in the background. To paraphrase the FAQ, it was put there to make the track more like a love song and add a sarcastic touch. It's the perfect precursor for "Hooker with a Penis."

There. Just threw you the obvious.

ouch....i've heard badly set up references before...but jeez



edit: the song is stuck in my head now...lol

[fretforyourfigure462]

I want to drive down to downtown Kansas City and play this song as loud as possible and see the reaction to all the ghetto people down there.

ha.
ha.
ha.

[opiated]

ouch....i've heard badly set up references before...but jeez

What the hell are you talking about?

[Cooly]

Official Explanation

"The song "Message To Harry Manback" on Tool's Ænima album is an actual message left on Gary Helsinger's (Hotsy Menshot) answering machine by a former friend from Italy, who Gary had just kicked out of his apartment for stealing his roommate's belongings. "Harry Manback" is a reference to routine from the late comedian Bill Hicks. Maynard James Keenan and Danny Carey were both roommates of Bill Manspeaker during Green Jello, and Gary was later roommates with Maynard as well as Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Jelly

So could it possibly be a Green Jello/Bill hicks tribute all rolled into one?

I thought that this was common knowledge.

[mr. nikki jensen]

"Harry Manback is a recording of the words of an uninvited
Italian guest who came to Maynard's house one day. A so-called friend
of a friend of a friend of Harry's .... Before we finally managed to
figure out that nobody really knew him, he had already emptied the fridge
and run up a huge phone bill." This is what Danny said in an interview.

.

[McButterpants]

OK, for me, this track seems to be saying that we are all going to die of cancer very soon unless we follow the Mediterrannean lifestyle of the Italians and eat everything with olive oil.

[Forever In Debt]

Yeah. The actual recording doesn't have the music being played in the background. To paraphrase the FAQ, it was put there to make the track more like a love song and add a sarcastic touch. It's the perfect precursor for "Hooker with a Penis."

There. Just threw you the obvious.


I was never saying that they actually just played the recording and then threw it on the album. I'm not that stupid. I'm just saying that those wern't the real words because I've heard people say that that's really what he said but I disagree.

[jevons]

OK, for me, this track seems to be saying that we are all going to die of cancer very soon unless we follow the Mediterrannean lifestyle of the Italians and eat everything with olive oil.

ahaaahaaaahahahahahaha.

[chibiakurei]

Harry Manback is also a racial slang for Italians. So they might have just named it that to add insult to injury.

[cerebus]

"Harry Manback is a recording of the words of an uninvited
Italian guest who came to Maynard's house one day. A so-called friend
of a friend of a friend of Harry's .... Before we finally managed to
figure out that nobody really knew him, he had already emptied the fridge
and run up a huge phone bill." This is what Danny said in an interview.

If what you claim about Danny saying this in an interview is fact, then I guessed it right the first time. I didn't have the balls to post such a notion because I had no proof. But thanx for the info, cuz now i know.

[justify_denials]

man, this album is filled with so much humor just like maynard. Quite simply Harry Manback is literal humor. Harry Manback sounded cool so works. Like a mans back is hairy. You know the classic phone pranks Bart Simpson style:

caller to bar: hello. Is jack Meoff there?
Bartender yells to everyone in bar: Is Jack Meoff here?!
everyone in bar: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

get it? Jack Meoff?!?!
Jack me off!
HAHAHA
like HARRY MANBACK
his Man back is hairy.
Play on words and its hilarious. Or it could be racial, but it is still funny sounding!

[EyE03]

Message to Harry Mannback is the intro track to Hooker w a penis.
So.

With the kind of spellwork that went into Ænima, i imagine someone in particular would get really mad at what they have done this far into the album. I think the Green jello / Hotsy tale could possibly be true.

I just think that the audio clip sounded so funny that they put it in for Hooker. Its like someone grows up or experiences from something, and you guys made a cd about it? "Fuk you, you know there is 1 in 4 Americans die of cancer. You gunna be one of those. "
This track is so hysterical! This guy sounds like his balls get knocked more often than Baseballs. I mean " Big Pain! No one did what it did to me!" That shits fucking funny.
Weaponized threats with black magick to statistics on Cancer?!
And the whole coming back and saying messages of insult to Tool, coincideds Hooker right there.

Isn't he speaking spanish?

Excelently prescribed