Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Singing Talking

At The New Yorker website James Verini discusses Jonathan Lethem's new book on the Talking Heads, Fear Of Music.  Maybe I'll check out the book later, but Verini makes an odd claim:

...Talking Heads live on principally in one track: the sad, sweet “love song” titled “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody).” [....] chances are good you’ve heard “This Must Be The Place” very recently, whether you knew it or not.

Could this possibly be true?  I don't deny the song has been covered and used in movie soundtracks, but is it what the Heads are known for today? What about, oh, "Burning Down The House," "Life During Wartime," "Once In A Lifetime," "Psycho Killer" and "Take Me To The River" to name just a few.

I checked IMDb and all these songs have been used more than once in movies and TV over the past couple decades.  During that same period you might also have heard "Road To Nowhere," "Thank You For Sending Me An Angel," "Wild Wild Life," "Stay Up Late," "The Great Curve," "Memories Can't Wait," "Slippery People" "Nothing But Flowers," "And She Was," "Uh-Oh Love Comes To Town" and "Crosseyed And Painless"

I love "This Must Be The Place." The first time I heard it I thought it was beautiful and striking--the best song on Speaking In Tongues.  But it's only one fine (and unusual) song from a great band.  If they're remembered, and I think they are, it's hardly for that one alone.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great chance to remmember great THeads tunes. To your good list I would add

Swamp.

Tentative Decisions

and how could you forget (on this blog) "Don't Worry About the Government" paired with "No Compassion"

7:18 AM, July 18, 2012  
Blogger LAGuy said...

There are many great Talking Heads songs that I left out. Their albums (especially their first three) were one great song after another. I was only trying to pick ones that were heard in movies or TV shows to explain that they're hardly a one-song band.

9:45 AM, July 18, 2012  

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