According to David Byrne, the inspiration for the song was a girl he used to know who used to go out to a field located next to the Yoo-Hoo drink factory in Baltimore to take LSD (so, yeah, just a bit stronger than Mary Jane :-D ), and it was the incongruous juxtaposition of this girl tripping her brains out right next to a junk-food factory that influenced some of the lyrics and the imagery in the video.
I had never heard the David Byrne explanation--and obviously he knows what the song's about--so I have to defer to him. But I had always interpreted the song to be about death.
"I used to know a blissed-out hippie-chick in Baltimore," recalled Byrne in the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads. "She once told me that she used to do acid (the drug, not music) and lay down on the field by the Yoo-hoo chocolate soda factory. Flying out of her body, etc etc. It seemed like such a tacky kind of transcendence… but it was real! A new kind of religion being born out of heaps of rusted cars and fast food joints. And this girl was flying above it all, but in it too."
@@j.h.3777 Let's be honest here, most songwriters will make up some kind of deeper meaning when they write a song like this, "Oh it's about a spiritual journey", "Oh it's based on a drawing my kid did", "Drugs? We don't know anyone who did drugs!" David Byrne just comes right out and says it, he knew a girl who would do LSD
Glad to see someone else mention The Hooters. All You Zombies, And We Danced, Day By Day, Hanging on a Heartbeat...so many to choose from. Also, Come Dancing is my favorite song by The Kinks!
. In 2002, Talking Heads was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Four of the band's albums appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and three of their songs ("Psycho Killer", "Life During Wartime", and "Once in a Lifetime") were included among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. Talking Heads were also number 64 on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In the 2011 update of Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", the band was ranked at number 100.
You've done a few Talking Heads but haven't done one of their best - Life During Wartime. Should check it out (select the live version form the movie Stop Making Sense!)
Delaney & Bonnie - “lay down my burden” “wade in the river of Jordan” They have many others, but if you want to go to church you need to check these out!!
For a some Talking Heads with more lead guitar, see the material recorded on tour with Adrian Belew on guitar, and female backup singers. The album is called The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads. Some songs to check out are "Houses In Motion", "Crosseyed And Painless", and "The Great Curve".
I love talking heads so much. Perhaps unfairly I've generally associated alternative/indie music with the Brits but the likes of TH & REM are every bit as good (if not better) than anything that came from the UK in the same time period.
It is blocked for me in Brazil but I watched it over on the other place so it's all good! This álbum/CD was one of my main soundtracks back in the 80s! Love that you are doing their songs!!
This song always made me think of Arthur Dent and Fenchurch from The Hitchiker’s Guilde to the Galaxy. Fenchurch was always floating just -slightly- off the ground after she realized she could fly by just simply not hitting the ground. The trick was that you distract yourself just before you hit the ground and so you don’t. She taught the trick to Arthur and they got up to a bit of aerial mischief...
You seem to be going right down my Hit List, Jamel - and I'm lovin' every minute of it! (A while back you got hurt at the gym and couldn't dance. Well, I screwed up my abdominals somehow and and in the middle of a 5-day PainFest, so I have so much empathy!)
I grew up listening to Talking Heads thanks to my dad. Little Creatures was an album that was played inside and out so every track is a memory of childhood and my dad. In all these years it never occured to me that maybe the song was about an experience on drugs. I always interpreted it as literal, given how Talking Heads had a thing for surrealism and quirkiness. Some great tracks have been recommended already, personally I'd listen to "This Must Be The Place" "Nothing But Flowers" and "Heaven". Also if you ever get time, check out their live performance "Stop Making Sense".
Great song. A friend of mine couldn't listen to the album anymore because that wood block sound turns up on a few other songs and once you notice it , it drove him crazy.
Mely Mel.....you really need to do the live version of "Life During Wartime". You'll get a greater appreciation for the band and see a lot of diversity!
my man, you gotta see this band live. "Life During Wartime" live from "Stop Making Sense" and I'm sure it won't get blocked because others have already reacted
As you noticed, the Talking Heads were always pushing the boundary, trying to do something new. They were one of the best bands at balancing the world of high art and popular culture, much like Andy Warhol and others who were active in NYC in the 1970s and 80s.
According to David Byrne, who is the only writer credited on the track, this was written about a girl he knew who used to take LSD in a field next to the Yoo-Hoo drink factory in Baltimore. ~ Songfacts
Years ago when I was still doing stained glass windows, I made a piece inspired by this song. I drew her floating far above the earth, nude, her arms flung open to the stars. I used blue/white flash glass and sandblasted through the blue into the white to form the picture, then used acid etch on the untouched blue to add details. Still have it; pretty proud of how it came out. :)
I know I'm late to the party, but I love your videos, brother. Please please PLEASE give your reaction to Two Talking Soldiers by Elton John. That song hits a certain type of way!
I haven't heard or seen that video in ages. Thanks for the reminder. The lead singer did the soundtrack for Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. There are some great stuff with the extras of the dvd.
I have a David Byrne live solo cassette where he explains this song as a day of taking LSD and frolicking in the park near his home at that time, which had a grassy field with a few mills in the background.
I would hope we could realize that a lot of this music is not about drugs. The drug is the paradigm. So powerful that people get suckered into the worst humanity offers, most of us can come together realizing that all humans and life deserve respect.
I tried searching on your channel and found you haven't done any Billy Ocean songs. Caribbean Queen, Suddenly, and Nights (Feel Like Gettin' Down) are must-dos!! I hope this comment doesn't get buried like I think my others do and you add him to your list. Thank you so much!
In this video it show allot of Tina Weymouth. Tina Weymouth was and still married to the Talking Heads drummer. Tina Weymouth is the Talking Heads bassist, a very influential artist still relevant until this day.
Hey Jamel this is what he said "I used to know a blissed-out hippie-chick in Baltimore," recalled Byrne in the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads. "She once told me that she used to do acid (the drug, not music) and lay down on the field by the Yoo-hoo chocolate soda factory.
Very good Jamel, color me impressed. Back when it came out, we knew (myself and friends), but we were tripping. No, not all the time. It was right around the time we discovered the wonders of The Dead, and we experimented. So this song emerged, and we just knew. I didn't think many straights would get it, but you sure did.
This isn't about drugs at all. It's easy to make that connection if you start from that expectation, but in reality this is more innocent. Laying in the grass, close your eyes, see the world all around you, breathing slowly feeling every little thing. Projecting your mind outside of your body, floating above it, seeing the world from another point of view and place from that of your own. Its a meditation of sorts. (The world was moving and she was right there with it and she was) She is in touch with herself and the greater world around her! Looking within yourself and reaching outside of yourself! A song you should really be checking out, well two songs you should listen to are The Beatles Within you Without you Supertramp Babaji
Please check out "Making Flippy Floppy" by the Talking Heads! One of their most rhythmic, sexy jams! Thanks for your positivity and Good Vibes! Peace, and Be Safe!
Not 'tripping'.... *orgasming*!! Re-listen, and re-watch the video! [Note the vacuum cleaner hose reaching out to attack you at one point!!] It is an ode to how many ways a woman will find to do without a man! BB&P!
Wow! I just went on a trip. Just from the title I said too myself: "isn't this a 'Smashing Pumpkins song?'" It isn't -- at all, but the title did remind me of one of they're song: Smashing Pumpkins - "Rhinoceros" great song, maybe you should give them some time if you get a chance. Still waiting on Aretha Franklin & Duane Allman "The Weight" it's church music!
Great band! Great Music! I think you should do "Stay Up Late" off of Little Creatures and I definitely think "Take Me to the River" off of Stop Making Sense would absolutely be in your lane! =)
