John F. Kennedy | Pope John Paul II | Elton John | John | John Lennon | John Wayne | John McCain | John Kerry | John Cage | Olivia Newton-John | John Williams | John Peel | John Adams | John Steinbeck | John Travolta | John Milton | John Zorn | John Marshall | John Howard | John Singer Sargent | John Ruskin | John Updike | John Maynard Keynes | John Coltrane | John Cleese | St. John's | John Waters | John Lee Hooker | John Huston | John Ford |
The track "Better Days" features an extended fade-out with voice-overs by the four key players in the 1984 Presidential Campaign: quotes spoken by Geraldine Ferraro and Walter Mondale sounding from the left audio channel and those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan on the right, mixed with John Helliwell's extended saxophone solo.
During the music explosion/Jerusalem section of the piece, when performed live from 1977 to 1983, John Helliwell would play a different saxophone solo each performance with some ranging from "The Star Spangled Banner" to "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" to just a plain saxophone doodle.
Guests on the album include drummer Pete Cater, guitarist John Etheridge (formerly of Soft Machine), arranger and trombonist Mike Gibbs (who has worked with Jan Akkerman, Peter Gabriel, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Jaco Pastorius), saxophonist John Helliwell (Supertramp), cellist Hugh McDowell (formerly of Electric Light Orchestra), and flautist Rowland Sutherland.
In live versions on the accompanying Famous Last Words tour, John Helliwell and Scott Page sang the lower harmonies on stage while Hodgson sang higher parts.