David Byrne: “Burning Down the House” wasn't a song about arson. When I wrote the lyrics in 1982, the title phrase was a metaphor for destroying something safe that entrapped you. I envisioned the song as an expression of liberation, to break free from whatever was holding you back.
Couldn't agree more! One of the greatest (and unusual) live concerts ever. Starting off with one man on the stage and gradually bringing in the whole band. Classic!!
I love watching Brad trying to make sense of this. These guys made up their words by skatting to their own music and then piecing together words from those basically random sounds. This is musical Dadaism (they were art students, originally). Lex pretty much gets it on this one
STOP MAKING SENSE It's kinda fun watching him trying to figure out lyrics that are somewhat abstract, especially when the real meaning comes through the music itself. ...have they done The Beatles' Come Together?
guys, this song is one of the true legendary songs of the 80's - when we used to listen to it we ignored MOST of the lyrics, all we sang was the chorus line; "burning down the house" the whole point of this song at the clubs, on your home stereo or in your car was just to bop along to the awesome beat and cray out, "burning down the house"....nothing more. You could read into it that they were saying that your going to leave behind your old life or what problem and issues you have, pack your bags, burn down the house, and just leave....but even that is a stretch. Just bop to the beat and sing the chorus. For me 40 years later when this song comes on my car radio you have no idea how happy it makes me feel, the memories of my friends back then and the fun we had.
The axiom that there are questions that we just can't answer is a big theme in their music too. I think that "Road To Nowhere" is their strongest statement on the idea because it says that there are questions that we'll never answer, and that's OK. Talking Heads music is comforting to a worrier like me. And also funky lol.
Talking Heads is most definitely an art/experimental type band. sometimes lyrics are just lyrics and aren’t that deep lex is right here. Great band to expand upon and listen to more of
I love the percussion and tempo. Very clever structure. I think David is saying, in order to "get out of" an uncomfortable situation, you've got to Burn.Down.the.House. Raze it and rebuild.
Good pick. These guys have a very good catalogue. "Life During Wartime" is a must. And "This Must Be the Place". It's good that you bring up Beck. The Talking Heads were huge a huge influence on Beck. You can hear them loud and clear in just about every one of his albums. They are there (along with The Pixies) in every Modest Mouse album as well. Your education in "alternative rock" is coming along nicely lol.
Like KISS, this is a band where the visual of them performing really helps to contextualize how to 'take' their songs. Even if they don't show it to us, they would likely find the band a little less mysterious if they saw how they approach doing something like 'Life During Wartime,' live.
@@TheTussman oh he definitely makes his own music. You can hear the Talking Heads influence in his work though, which is not taking away from Beck, but acknowledging a lineage so to speak.
seymour stein would hang around the exits of downtown clubs in new york after the talking heads gigs to catch the band before they headed back to their dorms at risd and offer them a deal on his punk/new wave label sire records ...it took nearly a year of weekly rejections until seymour's tenacity paid off and he finally heard the band say yes... he brokered a deal with warner bros for distribution and well soon enough the talking heads debut was available on vinyl at local record stores across the u.s...along with the ramones, the dead boys, the undertones and as the 70s faded into the 80s soft cell, the cure, the smiths, depeche mode, echo & the bunnyman, the pretenders, madonna....seymour knew what was up before it was up
logic? i think he just dont get it ... most of the time he s confused because he cant make a interpratation of the lyrics ......... not much about the music ........ lex is more on the tract
Brad & Lex, I'd recommend their "Life During Wartime" and "Take Me To The River" next. This band has some of the more creative videos out there. They started in the 70's and were big in the 80s
I've never verified whether this is true - but my understanding of Talking Heads is that they all met while they were art students in college in the 1970s and decided to form a musical band. They were on the forefront of the new wave movement. If you keep in mind their "artsy" beginning - then their music makes a little more sense. But I could be wrong. THanks for your reactions.
Funny story...trying to get sober in the mid 90s, staying at a halfway house in Phoenix Arizona. Small apartment style recovery house. 14 apartments surrounding a swimming pool. 4 to a apartment. My 3rd day, came home from work round 2:30pm and eating in the cafeteria/mtg room when the fire alarm went off. Counselors gathered us and walked us out the complex. I could see smoke coming from my apt. As we passed an open door on our way out, this song was playing. Come to find out, one of my roommates had pushed their bed up against a wall receptacle and a plug from a clock/radio was exposed and lit his mattress on fire. Even Alzheimer's won't take that memory away....whenever I hear this song, it always takes me back. ☮️🔥
Ordinary guy have happiness and hey just wait for weather change. Then you watch tv with wrong person in your side while dream walking outside in daylight 360 degrees. You have to stay and extinguish fire with fire or burn down the house. Sense of humor. It’s completely ordinary, water is everywhere just put the raincoat. You have leaving ticket out of the situation just burn down the house.😂 Amazing song
To give you a clue, the Talking Heads did an album and a documentary film in 1984 called "Stop Making Sense." They were successful at marrying new wave rock with funk in the '80s. It's all about the sound and feel of the songs.
A good follow up to Talking Heads is their side project Tom Tom Club, made up of their drummer and his wife their bassist, and their mega dance hit "Genius Of Love" which is one of the most sampled songs from the 1980's.
"You like Weezer and Cake!" Damn, Lex is throwing back at Brad in this one! Poor Brad's face when he paused to figure out the song...I can't stop laughing!
Christmas 1977, I was 10, my brother got Talking Heads 77. We shared a bedroom and Talking Heads became part of the soundtrack of our lives. I didn’t care what any of it meant, it was just a joy to listen to. Made me a fan for life.
Talking Heads were one of the bands that nerds/geeks liked a whole lot back in the day. As far as "random", you should listen to "Once In A Lifetime", "And She Was", and "Wild Wild Life". :)
"The psychologist Carl Jung said that fire represents the process of psychological transformation so burning down the house is destroying one personality and creating another one, As you can see in the video one person takes over another. David Byrne said the song was about this in an interview for the BBC (but he looked high at the time)." -mbhvisbyon October 07, 2011
That was the entire point of the lyrics to the entire Speaking In Tongues album...Byrne put together a bunch of couplets that worked with each other and then randomly threw them together for each song. This band was comprised of 4 visual arts students who just came at music from an entirely different perspective and to me and many others it was brilliant. And they grooved liked no one's business too. Definitely one of my very favorite bands of all-time.
My dad took me to Mexico as a high school graduation present in 1991 and in this little diving town we stopped at, "Burning Down the House" was playing at the bar and the Mexican bartenders were singing along to it. I don't even remember it, but my dad would remind me of it every now and then. He must've thought Mexican bartenders singing Talking Heads in the middle of nowhere was pretty random.
Lex you are so cerebral with music. Anyone can be cerebral with the lyrics but you are with the music itself. At times when I first started watching you I thought you were over thinking the music. Now I realize I was just not getting the music on the level you do. You should have been a musical interpreter teacher. You are ahead of us all.
The overwhelming theme of most of Talking Heads' work is feeling out of place and disconnected from modern society. You see it in "Life During Wartime", "Once in a Lifetime" and "And She Was", as well as this song. (All of those are awesome, btw.)
When I first heard this song I ran out and bought the 45'. It has been a favorite of mine ever since. Then I saw the video. At the time this was a favorite video. When MTV actually played videos. The video is awesome; at least for 1980's standards.
Also someone you can count on to take any mundane thing and give you a perspective on it that makes it almost unrecognizable. If you're ever having a day that's just too ordinary, David Byrne can fix that, sharpish.
It made sense for the time frame. Lots of phrases used or in movie, commercial or TV. Random things leave ppl today clueless. It's like..if ya knw ya knw. Lol Kool beat that stuck in your head.
I'm not sure about the rest of the band, but David Byrne was an art student at RISD. Completely original, no one else like them group and music. Byrne still tours and performs and, when I saw him about a dozen years ago, his band (different members from Talking Heads, who had long since disbanded) and him put on an amazing show. Oddball genius at its finest.
Talking heads had some concert filmed and turned into a concert movie. Yes, shown in movie theaters. For these concerts they added some extra band members, like from the The Brothers Johnson band. That really injected some Funk & Soul into their songs. A must whatch..
Remember Tom Tom Club’s “Genius Of Love”? Covered and sampled my MANY wrappers and even Maria Carey. The Bass player (Tina W.) and others are from this band. Great bass/ rhythm section on this one!!!
Every time Brad & Lex do a lyric video of a song I know, the music video plays in my head. I’m definitely Gen X and old 😂. Most interesting couple on TH-cam, love their content 💜.
Quirkiness and randomness were part of the aesthetic of New Wave music. It was kind of a reaction to the “we can make the world better” message of 60s-70s music. It’s like accepting that life can seem random and lack sense.
Brad used his scrunch face in the thumbnail. Funny. Being 1983, when MTV was the new fire, videos were essential, and many saw them just as important as the song. If you view it, the song would probably make more sense. "Once in a Lifetime" and "Take Me to the River" are quintessential Talking Heads.
HaHa...I feel like you guys are the perfect counter balance for the other. You both look at music from completely different places but it works. She brings him more out of the box and he pulls her more in. Y'all work and I love it!
'Burn down the house!' was something Pariament/Funkadelic used to shout (You should react to them if you can find live footage). Chris Frantz, the drummer, went to a Parliament gig & during the next rehearsal, he would randomly shout 'Burn down the house!'. David Byrne liked it & the band wrote this song. I would suggest Life During Wartime if you want to react to more Talking Heads (& why wouldn't you?), especially a live version.
You need to check out the Talking Heads doing this song, or any of their songs, live. They are incredible. You're right to kind of lump them in with the B-52's for several reasons.
On the commentary for the Stop Making Sense DVD, David Byrne mentions how the lyrics to this particular song make absolutely no sense at all. The individual couplets alone make sense, but they have nothing to do with the lyrics before or after them.
Interestingly lex kept mentioning the B52s, both talking heads and the B52s were both quirky, and both played early on during the early Punk, new wave scene in New York (CBGBs and Maxs Kansas City) along with The Ramones, television, Blondie, Devo, the dictators etc.
Brad, Bad, Brad. Music like any other art form does not necessarily follow logic or lend itself to analytical scrutiny. Trying to force music to make "sense" can be an exercise in futility. Just sit back my friend and enjoy the sounds, patterns, rhymes, and mood. Love watching you guy's discover this great music. Keep it up!
I’m often finding Lex’s interpretations as unusually concise and profound. Good one ya’ll. I couldn’t describe Talking Head’s music any better. This Band was mainly a husband and wife team that brought in David to Sing. I enjoy your comments too Brad, you know how she’s just good at verbalizing the intangible sometimes.
From what I read the lyrics were never meant to have any specific meaning...they were inspired by a Parliament/Funkadelic concert, and felt that with funk the lyrics were never meant to get in the way of a great groove. So they sang lyrics that weren't really connected to each other but fit the beat and groove perfectly. That's why you get an out-of-the-blue lyric like "Six-Hun-Dred-Six-Ty-Five-De-Grees!"--it fit perfectly into the rhythm and beat of the groove without needing to mean anything.
"Once In Lifetime", "Take Me To The River", "Life During Wartime", "Burning Down The House", "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)", "Girlfriend Is Better", "Pulled Up", "Crosseyed and Painless", "Nothing But Flowers" are the names of some of Talking Heads better known songs. Check them out when you're ready for more from them. Also check out Tom Tom Club "Genius of Love", the hit Talking Head's bass player Tina Weymouth scored with the side group she formed with her husband Talking Head's drummer Chris Frantz. Listen to the 7 minute long dance hall version of that when you can. I think you'll dig it.
String sentences together and let the audience endlessly decipher the meaning. It's a winning formula for thousands of hits. Amazing production on this track.
Take me to the river is a great one - my dad used to be a drummer in a band and whenever I hear it, it takes me back to being a little girl dancing while they play. Love the talking heads ♥️
The video to this song is recommended to understand it. With the birth of Mtv in the 1980s, songs had a video that went with them, to give the audience an idea of what the artist was trying to get across in the song. Watch the video.
David Byrne: “Burning Down the House” wasn't a song about arson. When I wrote the lyrics in 1982, the title phrase was a metaphor for destroying something safe that entrapped you. I envisioned the song as an expression of liberation, to break free from whatever was holding you back.
The song was inspired by listening to Parliament Funkadelic. Even the line "burnin' down the house".
Yes! Brad & Lex, read some poetry. You don’t have to understand it first listen. It’s not random.
I had to take my like away from this comment, so it would stay at 69 ... Nice
I used to play this lp on the regular as a teen!💕
Beautiful metaphor
Their whole Stop Making Sense concert is gold, would highly recommend watching it!
Fire 🔥 stuff …. Brad couldn’t handle it
Awesome concert movie directed by Oscar winner Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs). How the band exercizes to an entire song leaves me winded!
Sir, truer words have never been said
Couldn't agree more! One of the greatest (and unusual) live concerts ever. Starting off with one man on the stage and gradually bringing in the whole band. Classic!!
True true true! Might help Brad's lack of imagination w good video illustrating! 😊❤
I love the look of disgust on Brad’s face!
I love watching Brad trying to make sense of this. These guys made up their words by skatting to their own music and then piecing together words from those basically random sounds. This is musical Dadaism (they were art students, originally). Lex pretty much gets it on this one
I believe that David wrote the lyrics and the music is credited to all four of them.
(He should just) STOP (tryin') MAKING SENSE (instead) !
STOP MAKING SENSE
It's kinda fun watching him trying to figure out
lyrics that are somewhat abstract,
especially when the real meaning comes
through the music itself.
...have they done The Beatles' Come Together?
Brad ALWAYS looks like he's trying to make sense of what he's made to listen to.
Brad trying to understand lyrics is why I want him to tackle Frank Zappa and the Mothers.
guys, this song is one of the true legendary songs of the 80's - when we used to listen to it we ignored MOST of the lyrics, all we sang was the chorus line; "burning down the house" the whole point of this song at the clubs, on your home stereo or in your car was just to bop along to the awesome beat and cray out, "burning down the house"....nothing more. You could read into it that they were saying that your going to leave behind your old life or what problem and issues you have, pack your bags, burn down the house, and just leave....but even that is a stretch. Just bop to the beat and sing the chorus. For me 40 years later when this song comes on my car radio you have no idea how happy it makes me feel, the memories of my friends back then and the fun we had.
i couldn't help but toke to it.
The Talking heads "Facts Of Life"! Love it!
Lex said "Stop thinking so much" Interestingly, one of Talking Heads albums is called "Stop Making Sense" nice one, Lex! ;-)
The axiom that there are questions that we just can't answer is a big theme in their music too. I think that "Road To Nowhere" is their strongest statement on the idea because it says that there are questions that we'll never answer, and that's OK. Talking Heads music is comforting to a worrier like me. And also funky lol.
To me the tribal drums and saying stop attaching yourself to the TV set, and just stop and listen, don't start "a fire with fire"
@@dorian822 Maybe their best song ? 🤔
@@bminturn road to nowhere is my top songs in life ❤️
@@dankelly5150 that or "This Must Be the Place" in my book.
Talking Heads is most definitely an art/experimental type band. sometimes lyrics are just lyrics and aren’t that deep lex is right here. Great band to expand upon and listen to more of
Some "lyric" is just sounds. "a rose is a rose is a rose..... " what does that "really" mean ???
Violent Femmes, They Might Be Giants, Ween, Cake, Soul Coughing, all kinda fall into this category of nerdy rock often deceptively smart.
One of the most original bands ever! Watch LIFE IN WARTIME from their live concert epic concert STOP MAKING SENSE for the full experience.
One of the few bands that were better live than in studio in my opinion
Stop Making Sense changed my LIFE!! It's def in my top 5 EVER!!
Life During Wartime. Forgive me. I am a fanatic. 🎶
@@MrUndersolo duh. What was I thinking?
@@themadcow71 You...stopped making sense!?😗
I love the percussion and tempo. Very clever structure. I think David is saying, in order to "get out of" an uncomfortable situation, you've got to Burn.Down.the.House. Raze it and rebuild.
This was from the 1st New Wave stream yall did last year (Jan/Feb 2022). Need to do more new wave streams.
The Great Bernie Worrell from Parliament Funkadelic on the keyboards!!!
Good pick. These guys have a very good catalogue. "Life During Wartime" is a must. And "This Must Be the Place". It's good that you bring up Beck. The Talking Heads were huge a huge influence on Beck. You can hear them loud and clear in just about every one of his albums. They are there (along with The Pixies) in every Modest Mouse album as well. Your education in "alternative rock" is coming along nicely lol.
Agree about Beck. Favorite artist of this 66 yr old dude. TH undertones, but Beck creates a real landscape of sounds, beats and grooves.
Like KISS, this is a band where the visual of them performing really helps to contextualize how to 'take' their songs. Even if they don't show it to us, they would likely find the band a little less mysterious if they saw how they approach doing something like 'Life During Wartime,' live.
@@TheTussman oh he definitely makes his own music. You can hear the Talking Heads influence in his work though, which is not taking away from Beck, but acknowledging a lineage so to speak.
Life During Wartime live 100%
@@CaptainAmercia From the "Stop Making Sense" film.
seymour stein would hang around the exits of downtown clubs in new york after the talking heads gigs to catch the band before they headed back to their dorms at risd and offer them a deal on his punk/new wave label sire records ...it took nearly a year of weekly rejections until seymour's tenacity paid off and he finally heard the band say yes... he brokered a deal with warner bros for distribution and well soon enough the talking heads debut was available on vinyl at local record stores across the u.s...along with the ramones, the dead boys, the undertones and as the 70s faded into the 80s soft cell, the cure, the smiths, depeche mode, echo & the bunnyman, the pretenders, madonna....seymour knew what was up before it was up
I saw David Byrne play a solo show at a small club in Indy about 20 years ago. It was fantastic. He even wore the pink fur suit.
Lucky! That must’ve been amazing! I want to see him live so bad
Brad is like a Vulcan, very logical. Lex is human, enjoys the sound.
logic? i think he just dont get it ... most of the time he s confused because he cant make a interpratation of the lyrics ......... not much about the music ........ lex is more on the tract
I'm soo glad you picked Talking Heads, finally!
They have a famous concert movie called "Stop making Sense" Great advice for Brad! Lol
"Take me to the river" live is some epic Talking Heads
I was waitin on Brads head to explode LOL and Lex's impersonation was spot on !!!
Talking Heads are soooooo funky.
Brad & Lex, I'd recommend their "Life During Wartime" and "Take Me To The River" next. This band has some of the more creative videos out there. They started in the 70's and were big in the 80s
Born Under Punches live in Rome 1980. Hypnotic performance.
Take me to the river for sure
The original Al Green version of take me to the river? Or the Foghat version?
No wrong rub your nose in that
Both of those are fantastic. I also recommend I Zimbra, to see that sort of random song that still feels like it has a secret meaning.
Brad..."I'm confused."
Lex..."That's the point."
Me...😂😂😂
Once in a Lifetime is one of my favorite songs
I've never verified whether this is true - but my understanding of Talking Heads is that they all met while they were art students in college in the 1970s and decided to form a musical band. They were on the forefront of the new wave movement. If you keep in mind their "artsy" beginning - then their music makes a little more sense. But I could be wrong. THanks for your reactions.
Funny story...trying to get sober in the mid 90s, staying at a halfway house in Phoenix Arizona. Small apartment style recovery house. 14 apartments surrounding a swimming pool. 4 to a apartment. My 3rd day, came home from work round 2:30pm and eating in the cafeteria/mtg room when the fire alarm went off. Counselors gathered us and walked us out the complex. I could see smoke coming from my apt. As we passed an open door on our way out, this song was playing. Come to find out, one of my roommates had pushed their bed up against a wall receptacle and a plug from a clock/radio was exposed and lit his mattress on fire. Even Alzheimer's won't take that memory away....whenever I hear this song, it always takes me back. ☮️🔥
A truly visionary band. They were something completely new and original.
Music video to this one was excellent, too. Big ass early radio/MTV hit. Tons of airplay.
Ordinary guy have happiness and hey just wait for weather change. Then you watch tv with wrong person in your side while dream walking outside in daylight 360 degrees. You have to stay and extinguish fire with fire or burn down the house. Sense of humor. It’s completely ordinary, water is everywhere just put the raincoat. You have leaving ticket out of the situation just burn down the house.😂 Amazing song
To give you a clue, the Talking Heads did an album and a documentary film in 1984 called "Stop Making Sense." They were successful at marrying new wave rock with funk in the '80s. It's all about the sound and feel of the songs.
A good follow up to Talking Heads is their side project Tom Tom Club, made up of their drummer and his wife their bassist, and their mega dance hit "Genius Of Love" which is one of the most sampled songs from the 1980's.
You like it,,,I love it. Brad is a VERY smart man. 👍😎
Lol Lex gets David Byrne on a molecular level, and I’m very happy about it.
0:35 THE EXUBERANCE OF A YOUNG CHILD! LEX IS PERFECT! LUCKY BRAD!
This is great higher volume song from Talking Heads. I turn this up, every time.
Magic - B52s were around at the same time - the dancefloors were crazy! Lex would have loved it!!!
"You like Weezer and Cake!" Damn, Lex is throwing back at Brad in this one! Poor Brad's face when he paused to figure out the song...I can't stop laughing!
Go lex love watching you're reaction
Yes check out the talking heads “stop making sense”
Brad 😍
Christmas 1977, I was 10, my brother got Talking Heads 77. We shared a bedroom and Talking Heads became part of the soundtrack of our lives. I didn’t care what any of it meant, it was just a joy to listen to. Made me a fan for life.
Talking Heads were one of the bands that nerds/geeks liked a whole lot back in the day. As far as "random", you should listen to "Once In A Lifetime", "And She Was", and "Wild Wild Life". :)
Girlfriend is Better
Can't hear this song without thinking of "Revenge of the Nerds." Great movie.
"The psychologist Carl Jung said that fire represents the process of psychological transformation so burning down the house is destroying one personality and creating another one, As you can see in the video one person takes over another. David Byrne said the song was about this in an interview for the BBC (but he looked high at the time)."
-mbhvisbyon October 07, 2011
A Phoenix
That was the entire point of the lyrics to the entire Speaking In Tongues album...Byrne put together a bunch of couplets that worked with each other and then randomly threw them together for each song.
This band was comprised of 4 visual arts students who just came at music from an entirely different perspective and to me and many others it was brilliant. And they grooved liked no one's business too. Definitely one of my very favorite bands of all-time.
Talking Heads is one of the best New Wave bands.
My dad took me to Mexico as a high school graduation present in 1991 and in this little diving town we stopped at, "Burning Down the House" was playing at the bar and the Mexican bartenders were singing along to it. I don't even remember it, but my dad would remind me of it every now and then. He must've thought Mexican bartenders singing Talking Heads in the middle of nowhere was pretty random.
Lex you are so cerebral with music. Anyone can be cerebral with the lyrics but you are with the music itself. At times when I first started watching you I thought you were over thinking the music. Now I realize I was just not getting the music on the level you do. You should have been a musical interpreter teacher. You are ahead of us all.
Someone in high school made me laugh my ass off when he sang this song. He made up the lyrics as he went along & it was different every time...
Rather than random, it's more like organized chaos.
The overwhelming theme of most of Talking Heads' work is feeling out of place and disconnected from modern society. You see it in "Life During Wartime", "Once in a Lifetime" and "And She Was", as well as this song. (All of those are awesome, btw.)
Add Psycho Killer and you've got my list of must listens.
And she was about acid, though lol. Easy to understand.
The thumbnail got the song stuck in my head. Lmao I only every knew the chorus 😆 🤣 😂
When I first heard this song I ran out and bought the 45'. It has been a favorite of mine ever since. Then I saw the video. At the time this was a favorite video. When MTV actually played videos. The video is awesome; at least for 1980's standards.
🤠 David Byrne is a musical genius! 🕺
Also someone you can count on to take any mundane thing and give you a perspective on it that makes it almost unrecognizable.
If you're ever having a day that's just too ordinary, David Byrne can fix that, sharpish.
Thats what I was about to say John
I would strongly recommend watching the movie Stop Making Sense. Pure joy. Pure joy.
It made sense for the time frame. Lots of phrases used or in movie, commercial or TV. Random things leave ppl today clueless. It's like..if ya knw ya knw. Lol Kool beat that stuck in your head.
The lyrics remind me of Once in a Lifetime. A guy disappointed with his reality and wanting to get out. In this case it was to burn his "house" down.
I'm not sure about the rest of the band, but David Byrne was an art student at RISD. Completely original, no one else like them group and music. Byrne still tours and performs and, when I saw him about a dozen years ago, his band (different members from Talking Heads, who had long since disbanded) and him put on an amazing show. Oddball genius at its finest.
Talking heads had some concert filmed and turned into a concert movie. Yes, shown in movie theaters. For these concerts they added some extra band members, like from the The Brothers Johnson band. That really injected some Funk & Soul into their songs. A must whatch..
It's about seeing a Parliament Funkadelic concert.
Remember Tom Tom Club’s “Genius Of Love”? Covered and sampled my MANY wrappers and even Maria Carey. The Bass player (Tina W.) and others are from this band. Great bass/ rhythm section on this one!!!
Every time Brad & Lex do a lyric video of a song I know, the music video plays in my head. I’m definitely Gen X and old 😂. Most interesting couple on TH-cam, love their content 💜.
same here. LOL!
Nice. I love the lady on the 🎸
This and other songs from this album were played in clubs and LOTS OF MOVIES
Love me some Talking Heads, 'Road to Nowhere' or 'She Was'...really good stuff.
Love this song! Those drums!!
First time I saw the lyrics was tonight. Love the song because its The Talking heads...guess you had to be there.
Quirkiness and randomness were part of the aesthetic of New Wave music. It was kind of a reaction to the “we can make the world better” message of 60s-70s music. It’s like accepting that life can seem random and lack sense.
👍
Love "Life During Wartime."
Bringing up B 52's during a Talking Heads reaction. 🙏 Respect
I think it was about liberation from the norms//// A tune of randomness opposed to extreme structures and meanings..
Stop Making Sense! It’s life changing...incredible live band!
Brad used his scrunch face in the thumbnail. Funny. Being 1983, when MTV was the new fire, videos were essential, and many saw them just as important as the song. If you view it, the song would probably make more sense. "Once in a Lifetime" and "Take Me to the River" are quintessential Talking Heads.
This is one of my favorite songs. Great piece of music
I was just watching Brad's brain short out🤣
Got to love the drums!!
HaHa...I feel like you guys are the perfect counter balance for the other. You both look at music from completely different places but it works. She brings him more out of the box and he pulls her more in. Y'all work and I love it!
Love love love Talking Heads. Even during my all hip-hop all the time days I was loving them.
These 2 couldn’t be more opposite. 😆 must work for them. 👍
Talking Heads "Life during wartime". Live version is crazy.
i love Lex's reactions, she totally gets it!!
It's amazing thinking of all the bands that came out of CBGB's. Talking Heads, New York Dolls, Ramones, Blondie. just amazing birthplace of music.
'Burn down the house!' was something Pariament/Funkadelic used to shout (You should react to them if you can find live footage). Chris Frantz, the drummer, went to a Parliament gig & during the next rehearsal, he would randomly shout 'Burn down the house!'. David Byrne liked it & the band wrote this song. I would suggest Life During Wartime if you want to react to more Talking Heads (& why wouldn't you?), especially a live version.
P-Funk legend Bernie Worrell plays synth on Stop Making Sense.
You need to check out the Talking Heads doing this song, or any of their songs, live. They are incredible. You're right to kind of lump them in with the B-52's for several reasons.
I agree! When you see them perform, its a whole different experience compared to just audio. ✌❤
Always trust your resonations 🤘
On the commentary for the Stop Making Sense DVD, David Byrne mentions how the lyrics to this particular song make absolutely no sense at all. The individual couplets alone make sense, but they have nothing to do with the lyrics before or after them.
Interestingly lex kept mentioning the B52s, both talking heads and the B52s were both quirky, and both played early on during the early Punk, new wave scene in New York (CBGBs and Maxs Kansas City) along with The Ramones, television, Blondie, Devo, the dictators etc.
David Byrne 's writing style is putting phrases together based on how they sound rather than what they mean
I 100% recommend the "Stop Making Sense" movie/concert, they're amazing live, and seeing the entire band perform some of their best songs is amazing.
Brad, Bad, Brad. Music like any other art form does not necessarily follow logic or lend itself to analytical scrutiny. Trying to force music to make "sense" can be an exercise in futility. Just sit back my friend and enjoy the sounds, patterns, rhymes, and mood. Love watching you guy's discover this great music. Keep it up!
Brilliant insight from Lex
I always felt like letting the days go by was about L.A. and Burning Down the House was about NYC.
But maybe they were both about L.A.
I’m often finding Lex’s interpretations as unusually concise and profound. Good one ya’ll. I couldn’t describe Talking Head’s music any better.
This Band was mainly a husband and wife team that brought in David to Sing.
I enjoy your comments too Brad, you know how she’s just good at verbalizing the intangible sometimes.
From what I read the lyrics were never meant to have any specific meaning...they were inspired by a Parliament/Funkadelic concert, and felt that with funk the lyrics were never meant to get in the way of a great groove. So they sang lyrics that weren't really connected to each other but fit the beat and groove perfectly. That's why you get an out-of-the-blue lyric like "Six-Hun-Dred-Six-Ty-Five-De-Grees!"--it fit perfectly into the rhythm and beat of the groove without needing to mean anything.
"Once In Lifetime", "Take Me To The River", "Life During Wartime", "Burning Down The House", "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)", "Girlfriend Is Better", "Pulled Up", "Crosseyed and Painless", "Nothing But Flowers" are the names of some of Talking Heads better known songs. Check them out when you're ready for more from them. Also check out Tom Tom Club "Genius of Love", the hit Talking Head's bass player Tina Weymouth scored with the side group she formed with her husband Talking Head's drummer Chris Frantz. Listen to the 7 minute long dance hall version of that when you can. I think you'll dig it.
String sentences together and let the audience endlessly decipher the meaning. It's a winning formula for thousands of hits. Amazing production on this track.
Take me to the river is a great one - my dad used to be a drummer in a band and whenever I hear it, it takes me back to being a little girl dancing while they play. Love the talking heads ♥️
“Girlfriend is better” “life during wartime”
I hope you guys do more Talking Heads. They are capable of doing songs with meaning. You might try "(Nothing But) Flowers".
Songs with meaning... You mean, like this one? Because it definitely has meaning.
The video to this song is recommended to understand it. With the birth of Mtv in the 1980s, songs had a video that went with them, to give the audience an idea of what the artist was trying to get across in the song. Watch the video.
Talking Heads! Brilliant. Lyrics in songs like this are almost metaphorical.