Talking Heads found a way to open up the dense textures of the music they had developed with Brian Eno on their two previous studio albums for Speaking in Tongues, and were rewarded with their most popular album yet. Ten backup singers and musicians accompanied the original quartet, but somehow the sound was more spacious, and the music admitted aspects of gospel, notably in the call-and-response of "Slippery People," and John Lee Hooker-style lues, on "Swamp." As usual, David Byrne determinedly sang and chanted impressionistic, nonlinear lyrics, sometimes by mix-and-matching clichés ("No visible means of support and you have not seen nothin' yet," he declared on "Burning Down the House," the Heads' first Top Ten hit), and the songs' very lack of clear meaning was itself a lyrical subject. "Still don't make no sense," Byrne admitted in "Making Flippy Floppy," but by the next song, "Girlfriend Is Better," that had become an order -- "Stop making sense," he chanted over and over. Some of his charming goofiness had returned since the overly serious Remain in Light and Fear of Music, however, and the accompanying music, filled with odd percussive and synthesizer sounds, could be unusually light and bouncy. The album closer, "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)," even sounded hopeful. Well, sort of. Despite their formal power, Talking Heads' preceding two albums seemed to have painted them into a corner, which may be why it took them three years to craft a follow-up, but on Speaking in Tongues, they found an open window and flew out of it.
ive watched the talking heads dvd 'stop making sense' probablalbalably 5 times in the past week. its just that good. with an ever-growing stage and energetic david byrne, the concert delivers hit after hit like some lunatic tai boxer. however, since it was filmed in 1984, no 'road to nowhere'... insert sad face here. but i cant complain. as by watching this, i realized that live versions of son...
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The end of the year draws near...time for reflection...and sometimes melancholy. I wasn't on Mog when the fateful day came, but I've been thinking about the demise of CBGB last October. (They weren't saved, were they?) I'm an infrequent visitor to New York, so I haven't been to that many live music venues there. But I REALLY regret never going to a show at CBGB. I've been to the Knitting F...
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Note: the following is the first of what may be a new series of posts, depending on how much I feel like continuing, wherein I chronicle how my life in some way relates to the various lyrics laid down by David Byrne in his various incarnations.I don't want to brag, but I consider myself a pretty educated guy. And yet for some reason I can not, for the life of me, figure out the burners on our ...
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ive watched the talking heads dvd 'stop making sense' probablalbalably 5 times in the past week. its just that good. with an ever-growing stage and energetic david byrne, the concert delivers hit after hit like some lunatic tai boxer. however, since it was filmed in 1984, no 'road to nowhere'... insert sad face here. but i cant complain. as by watching this, i realized that live versions of son...
More >
Here is the video for "burning down the house" by TALKING HEADS. This song was released on single, and on the album "Speaking In Tongues".T A L K I N G H E A D S
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This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) is probably my favorite Talking Heads song (has something to do with basements in college I think). After hearing "String Cheese Incident":http://mog.com/music/String_Cheese_Incident cover it at a show once I realized there are probably some amazing covers out there on Youtube. Found some good ones - including a really cool acoustic version by a girl know...
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This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)
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The end of the year draws near...time for reflection...and sometimes melancholy. I wasn't on Mog when the fateful day came, but I've been thinking about the demise of CBGB last October. (They weren't saved, were they?) I'm an infrequent visitor to New York, so I haven't been to that many live music venues there. But I REALLY regret never going to a show at CBGB. I've been to the Knitting F...
More >
| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Burning Down the House |
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| 2 Making Flippy Floppy |
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| 3 Girlfriend Is Better |
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| 4 Slippery People |
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| 5 I Get Wild/Wild Gravity |
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| 6 Swamp |
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| 7 Moon Rocks |
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| 8 Pull up the Roots |
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| 9 This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) |
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Click to purchase…
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 "Speaking in Tongues")
