It is named for the opening tape loop of a single female voice, repeating these phrases, which are then imitated by layered guitars: Johnson's early works were created long before the advent of digital music editing.
Johnson's technique of transcribing speech melodies for use in instrumental scores has since been used by a number of composers, including Jacob Ter Veldhuis, Robert Davidson, Florent Ghys, and Steve Reich.
[4][5][6][7] Johnson listed three influences for his invention of this technique: Messiaen's transcription of bird songs, call and response in American blues, and the early speech tape loop works of Steve Reich, It's Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966).
During the same years that John Somebody was being written, Johnson composed Five Movements, a 30 minute work for solo electric guitar and live electronic processing, using the pitch-shifting capabilities of an Eventide Harmonizer.
During the 1980s Johnson also received his first commission from the Kronos Quartet, and wrote the music for director Paul Schrader's 1988 film Patty Hearst.
These include Americans, a speech sampling work based on the voices of immigrants to the United States, and scored for a septet that resembles an extended rock band.
Other commissioned works include The Illusion of Guidance for the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Last Time Told for the Cygnus Ensemble, and Stalking Horse, for the American Composer's Orchestra.
As with How it Happens and Americans, it engages directly with social and political issues, placing a reality-based text within an expressive musical setting that is ultimately derived from the melodies of the speaker's recorded voice.
He gave talks on this aspect of his work at major universities and conservatories, and his extended essay The Counterpoint of Species looks at the evolution of musical styles through the lens of Darwinian principles.