My Favourite Lyric On Every Talking Heads Song

Talking Heads, especially its frontman David Byrne, are one of the most eccentric bands of all time. You don’t need me to tell you their lyrics are unique.

Like how I went through David Bowie’s discography, I’m going to look at each Talking Heads song and pick my favourite lyric from each. It’ll be interesting to see if some albums and eras have better lyrics than others!

Before we begin, you can check out some of my related blog posts below:

Talking Heads ’77

“I’ve met the people that you read about in books” (Uh-Oh Love Comes To Town)

“I wish I could meet everyone, meet them all over again” (New Feeling)

“It’s a hard logic, I know” (Tentative Decisions)

“It cost a little bit to love you but a heart can’t stop” (Happy Day)

“What is it? Oh, baby, it’s you!” (Who Is It?)

“Other people’s problems, they overwhelm my mind. They say compassion is a virtue, but I don’t have the time” (No Compassion)

“I feel wonderful, I’m tipping over backwards” (The Book I Read)

“Don’t you worry ’bout me, I wouldn’t worry about me” (Don’t Worry About the Government)

“Every sentence I use refer to women and their names” (First Week / Last Week … Carefree)

“I’m tense and nervous and I can’t relax” (Psycho Killer)

“I cast a shadow on the living room wall, dark and savage with a a profile so sharp” (Pulled Up)

“I can’t define love when it’s not love” (Love –> Building on Fire)

Honourable mention to “[David Byrne making noises]” after the second chorus.

“I’ve told lies without hint of regret” (I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That)

“What will be the point of being a fool like them?” (I Feel It in My Heart)

“Sweet, sweet, lover, lover” (Sugar on My Tongue)

More Songs About Buildings And Food

“You can walk, you can talk just like me” (Thank You for Sending Me an Angel)

“I look out the window, and I call that education” (With Our Love)

“In my mind the weather never changes” (The Good Thing)

“Warning sign, warning sign, I hear it but I pay it no mind” (Warning Sign)

“There’s just no love when there’s boys and girls” (The Girls Want to Be with the Girls)

“People fighting over little things and wasting precious time” (Found a Job)

“You can’t see it ’til it’s finished” (Artists Only)

“I believe someday we’ll live in a world without love” (I’m Not in Love)

“Ooh, girl, you can initiate an impulse of love”(Stay Hungry)

“I haven’t seen the worst of it yet” (Take Me to the River)

“I wouldn’t live there if you paid me” (The Big Country)

Fear Of Music

“E glassala tuffm i zimbra” (I Zimbra)

“You’re not even listening to me” (Mind)

“Had a love affair, but it was only paper” (Paper)

“But it all works out, you know I’m a little freaked out” (Cities)

“I changed my hairstyle so many times now, I don’t know what I look like” (Life During Wartime)

“It isn’t what you hoped for, is it?” (Memories Can’t Wait)

“What is happening to my skin? Where is that protection that I needed?” (Air)

“Heaven is a place, a place where nothing, nothing ever happens” (Heaven)

“Always let you down, down, down, down”(Animals)

“I thought I’d perjure myself right in front of the jury” (Electric Guitar)

“I’m charged up, I’m kinda wooden, I’m barely moving, I study motion” (Drugs)

Remain in Light

“Take a look at these hands” (Born Under Punches [The Heat Goes On])

“Facts all come with points of view, facts don’t do what I want them to” (Crosseyed and Painless)

“The world is near, but it’s out of reach. Some people touch it, but they can’t hold on” (The Great Curve)

“And you may ask yourself, ‘Well, how did I get here?'” (Once in a Lifetime)

“She has closed her eyes, she has give up hope” (Houses in Motion)

“They had also molded their faces according to some ideal” (Seen and Not Seen)

“Mojique thinks of days before Americans came” (Listening Wind)

“A gentle collapsing, the removal of the insides” (The Overload)

Speaking in Tongues

“Three hundred sixty-five degrees” (Burning Down the House)

“Everything looks impressive, do not be deceived” (Making Flippy Floppy)

“Stop making sense” (Girlfriend Is Better)

“Turn like a wheel inside a wheel” (Slippery People)

“The sound of a cigarette burning, a place where everything spins” (I Get Wild/Wild Gravity)

“Now when your hands get dirty, nobody knows you at all. Don’t have a window to slip out of. Lights on, nobody home” (Swamp)

“Moon in the rock, rock in the moon, there’s a moon in my throat” (Moon Rocks)

“And I can see everyone else is like me” (Pull Up the Roots)

“Out of all those kinds of people, you got a face with a view. I’m just an animal looking for a home and, share the same space for a minute or two” (This Must Be The Place [Naive Melody])

Little Creatures

“She was moving very slowly, rising up above the earth” (And She Was)

“Names make all the difference in the world” (Give Me Back My Name)

“I’ve seen sex and I think it’s okay” (Creatures of Love)

“She just turns her head and disappears and I kinda like that style” (The Lady Don’t Mind)

“Doesn’t everybody here believe in the things that we do?” (Perfect World)

“He’s just a little plaything, why not wake him up?” (Stay Up Late)

“I can laugh, but I should cry, when love and understanding are the ultimate crimes” (Walk It Down)

“The world crashing in, into my living room, television made me what I am” (Television Man)

“We know where we’re goin’, but we don’t know where we’ve been” (Road to Nowhere)

True Stories

“Guess I grew up too fast and I forgot my name” (Love for Sale)

“You got what you wanted and lost what you had” (Puzzlin’ Evidence)

“I am the king of the world” (Hey Now)

“Rompiendo la monotonia del tiempo” (Papa Legba)

“Like sitting on pins and needles, things fall apart, it’s scientific” (Wild Wild Life)

“Your mind is a radio, got a receiver inside my head. Baby, I’m tuned to your wavelength, let me tell you what it says” (Radio Head)

“Every dream has a name” (Dream Operator)

“We don’t want freedom, we don’t want justice, we just want someone to love” (People Like Us)

“Should we awake and find it gone, remember this, our favourite town” (City of Dreams)

Naked

“No sense of harmony, no sense of time. Don’t mention harmony, say ‘What is it? What is it? What is it?'”(Blind)

“Now his pants are falling down” (Mr. Jones)

“I’m a little fish and you’re the river” (Totally Nude)

“Now they’ve thrown the fox amongst the chickens” (Ruby Dear)

“If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower” ([Nothing But] Flowers)

“When the ringmaster calls our names, we’ll be the first ones to go” (The Democratic Circus)

“Love is a machine without a driver” (The Facts of Life)

“I’m wearing my grandfather’s clothes” (Mommy Daddy You and I)

“Mesmerized like horny toads by shiny things like jewels and gold” (Big Daddy)

“We are not alone” (Bill)

“Tangled in hair, tied to earth with skin and glue” (Cool Water)

“Love so deep, kills you in your sleep” (Sax and Violins)

So there you have it. I think David Byrne’s lyricism peaked on “Remain in Light” and “Speaking in Tongues”, where his metaphors and insane ramblings actually lined up with the music. His lyrics felt quite awkward and intense before that, and the stuff in the late 80’s becomes very pretentious and over-thought.

Aaaaand that’s my list! You can check out some of my latest blog posts below: