5. Talking Heads - Burning Down the House
I’ve been crazy about Talking Heads since high school, 20+ years now of different favorite songs, favorite albums, favorite eras of Byrne clothing choices. Remain in Light was my high school favorite, the video for Once in a Lifetime making my friends and I laugh—we’d incorporate the hand movements into our own moves at Rock the Block while we flailed around like crazy people, uncaring what anyone thought. I’ve had Born Under Punches and Crosseyed and Painless on my running playlists since high school (remember Grooveshark?).
Jumping ahead to 2016, my wife and I danced our first song at our wedding to Naive Melody. We weren’t one of those couples to rehearse a dance before hand, just sorta hippie flailed and enjoyed ourselves while all our closest people circled us and smiled. It’s really a perfect song for something like entering a marriage, there’s a little wink behind the euphoria of the lyrics, maybe you’re being naive but for now everything is just right. Just an animal looking for a home, to share the same space for a minute or two, and you’ll love me til my heart stops, love me til I’m dead. Might as well be vows. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also say I think it was at one point
@wakephan09 ’s fav song ever, great choice. We are all the sum of our collective influences and feelings.
I was also fortunate enough to see David Byrne warming up for the American Utopia tour at the XPN Festival outside Philly around the same era, and it is without question the finest concert I’ve ever been to. Every second is choreographed, every song is perfection. They closed with Janelle Monae’s Hell You Talmbout, a perfect theme for the winking American Utopia idea. I have never danced so hard in my life as I did at that concert, it’s just what Talking Heads is about, no matter if it’s the weird art rock period, more electronic, more world music or more straight pop, the through line is that you can get the absolute utter fuck down on the beat and go to town.
I’m sure I’ve told my Burning Down the House anecdote before, but maybe my favorite Talking Heads memory is associated with college. Over the summer I pinged back and forth between a house off Coliseum and two houses on Polo a lot, my friend groups split between the weed smoking hippies, the frat bros, and Team Friendship. My pals at Sigma Nu always had a couch to crash on, always had a spot to play golf or an invite to a party, they were a great group of friends. One afternoon we were in the car on the way to go play 9 at Reynolds Park, to drink a stupid amount of beers, and to get some freshmen to drive us back to campus, and Burning Down the House came on the shuffle. It became the inspiration for a house party that night where it was played on repeat for hours and somehow nobody got sick of it or managed a single complaint. Your random sorority sister after the tenth time of listening would come shout in your face “Ahhhhhh WATCH OUT,” and the night culminated with a backyard bonfire that just about left the house in tact, safe from burning down.
There will always be more Talking Heads to love, just an incredibly giving band, one who evolved a lot and rarely got stale. I can mark time in my life by their music, there are at least ten more such touchstones I can think of that are as meaningful as the ones I’ve already mentioned. When a band makes an impression like that on you it’s hard to pick a favorite, it points at the silliness of a project like this, but let’s just go with it and rock out.