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I worship David Byrne, the lanky Scot frontman of Talking Heads. He’s a sort of lyrical god to me. If he told me to do something, you know what? I’d do it. So when I tried to think of a topic for my first Late Movies installment, I had to go Byrne. Here are some favorite tunes from Talking Heads, courtesy of YouTube. Get ‘em now while they’re extremely hot.
“This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)” – 1984
In this performance from Stop Making Sense, Byrne dances with a lamp. It’s catchy and smart and just awesome. (Also notice right after the five-minute mark, he doesn’t quite make it back to the mic in time; what’s up with that?)
“Psycho Killer” – 1978
According to Wikipedia, Byrne has said of this song: “When I started writing this (I got help later), I imagined Alice Cooper doing a Randy Newman-type ballad. Both the Joker and Hannibal Lecter were much more fascinating than the good guys. Everybody sort of roots for the bad guys in movies.” This live performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test (a BBC music show) dates from 1978.
“Take Me To The River” – 1980
Live in Rome, featuring Adrian Belew from King Crimson. Dude.
“Burning Down the House” – Circa 1983/1984
The provenance of this clip is unknown. According to Wikipedia:
Once the whole band had reworked the groove into something resembling the final recording, Byrne began chanting and singing nonsense syllables over the music until he had arrived at phrasing that fit with the rhythms– a technique influenced by former Talking Heads producer Brian Eno– “and then I [would] just write words to fit that phrasing… I’d have loads and loads of phrases collected that I thought thematically had something to do with one another, and I’d pick from those.” [Byrne said.]
“Dream Operator” – 1986
So if you haven’t seen Byrne’s film True Stories, you’re really missing out. It’s weird, fun, and…well, weird again. Here’s the infamous “fashion show” sequence from the movie:
Bonus Video: MGMT Performing “This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)”
Shot on April 20, 2003 at Wesleyan, this is one of the earliest public performances by MGMT. Watch as they have a good time with this Talking Heads number.
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I love this man and pretty much anything he has ever done. I didn’t know about ‘true stories’ but it looks like something I want to see for sure!
If you havn’t already seen it, check out his book “arboretum” – it is also “weird, fun and… well, weird”
posted by marc on 6-3-2009 at 10:44 pm
Perhaps my only claim to fame (at least until my first book comes out later this year) is that I have not only met David Byrne, but I gave him a piece of jewelry. After a _Rei Momo_ show in Tampa, Florida, he and the band came in to the same restaurant we had gone to eat. We’d had tenth-row seats, so we were in the spillover light from the spots and they had seen me dancing throughout the whole show. One of the backup singers told me I was a really good dancer, and I gave Byrne a necklace I’d been wearing, which was a bronze handmade art piece (made by a student at Ringling School of Art in Sarasota) of a skeleton crucified on a cross made of two bones. He was shy, polite, and genuinely seemed to dig the bone crucifix.
posted by Southern Buddhist on 6-3-2009 at 11:29 pm
On This Must be the Place, the reason he is still singing even though he doesn’t get back to the mic in time is that the performance was actually recorded over two days. The audio from that clip is from one of the days, and that specific shot is probably from the other. Stop Making Sense was recorded like this to keep the viewer from seeing cameras and operators. One night, the left side of the stage was filmed, and on the other, the right.
posted by Marty on 6-3-2009 at 11:45 pm
i’ve been a talking heads fan for a long time. when we bought rock band 2, my two boys (ages 5 and 2) really dug psycho killer. both know most of the words now and while it might be unnerving to some to hear a toddler saying (rather angrily at times too) “psycho killer qu’est-ce que c’est? fa fa fa fa fafafa fa fa”, it brings nothing but joy to this dad’s heart.
posted by grant on 6-4-2009 at 8:21 am
Taking a moment here with my fellow David Byrne fans and Talking Heads fans too! True Stroies is one of the most brilliant pieces – i have drawn a lot of inspiration from it over the years. Can’t wait to help plan a sesquasentenial for my town to celebrate special-ness!
posted by Jen on 6-4-2009 at 9:15 am
Best Late Movies entry yet! True Stories is one of the greatest things ever and, oh, David Byrne! How glorious is he? Thanks for this entry. It’s definitely appreciated!
posted by nikki on 6-4-2009 at 11:07 am