The album is a collaboration by Laurie Anderson, John Giorno and William S. Burroughs, recorded during their "Red Night" spoken word tour of 1981.

Most of Anderson's material came from her performance piece, United States, and live versions of some tracks, such as "It Was Up in the Mountains", would also be included in her later 4-LP release, United States Live.

Depending on where the needle lands on the record, one of the following will play: You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With was also released on cassette and featured the full 18:33 version of "Put Your Ear to Stone & Open Your Heart to the Sky" alongside the two additional songs on Side 4 of the vinyl.

A CD version was later released through Minneapolis-based label East Side Digital, which acquired the Giorno Poetry Systems catalog in 1993.

[1] The CD featured the following track list: Two tracks from the original 2-LP set were not included on the CD: William S. Burroughs' "The Do Rights" (later included on Mouth Almighty's 1998 compilation box set The Best of William S. Burroughs from Giorno Poetry Systems) and John Giorno's "excerpt from Put Your Ear to Stone & Open Your Heart to the Sky," which is not included in any later release.