Tag Archives: talking heads: 77

#1441: Talking Heads – Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town

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Looks like I gave the whole spiel as to what other songs from Talking Heads: 77 would have their own posts here when I last wrote about another song from that album a few years back. Normally I reserve that whole bit for when I’m writing about the last representative from a specific LP. But I guess I couldn’t hold it in. What I’ve found out is that I listened to …77 in full for the first time in March 2014. I thought it was much later in the year. I have a memory that fueled that feeling, I’ll maybe note it in the final paragraph. But let’s see, March 2014. I was hosting a show on my uni’s radio station. I was stuffing my iTunes library with as much music as I could. I had ‘Tentative Decisions’ by itself in there. I’d heard it on an internet radio service in 2012 or so. I’m guessing I must have just thought, “May as well get the rest of the album in too.” It was a well-respected piece of work, according to Wikipedia. I had nothing to lose.

‘Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town’ is the first song on Talking Heads: 77. The one introducing the band to the masses, with …77 being their debut album and all. It begins with a crashing, ascending four-chord progression before falling straight into that shoulder-shimmying groove. The guitar line skips along, in unison with the bass guitar, and then David Byrne enters on the vocals for all to hear with that shrill but perky delivery of his. Steel drums enter the frame along the way, all a very upbeat affair. Guess it’s safe to say, ‘Uh-Oh…’ is a song about love. In the tune, David Byrne sings from the perspective of a self-proclaimed “know-it-all” who’s got his partner. They get along very well. But the song’s not so much about the couple. It’s more about the notion that being in love can make you do stupid things, make the world go topsy-turvy. Byrne sings about calling in sick to his workplace to be with the one [he] loves, even though he knows he’ll get in trouble for it. He’s misplaced his common sense. He goes out of his mind when his loved one’s around. Stockbrokers are making bad investments, jet pilots are losing control of their vehicles. And why? Because love has come to town. And the song ends as it begins, with that four-chord progression with Byrne wailing “Uh-oh” over the top of it. A strong album opener. A strong discography opener.

Why I thought I heard Talking Heads: 77 later in 2014 is because I once went to Manchester for a weekend or something in November that year, an event was going on. Warehouse Project, people out there will know. I returned to my uni house and found that I could no longer reach those high notes as David Byrne does at the end of ‘Uh-Oh…’ when I tried to sing the song like I had before that weekend happened. I honestly thought that was it, my voice was gone, my angelic tones were no more. Cut to a few weeks later, voice was fine. A lot of that weekend was spent talking loudly, obviously some cords were strained and they got better over time. But I got worried there. So the point was, I thought I had listened to …77 initially around November time of 2014. It was months earlier. But maybe it was during November time that I revisited it and officially got into ‘Uh-Oh’… I’m rambling on a bit, just some thought processes going on here. Whatever may be the case, I enjoy this song and its parent album a lot. I prefer it to More Buildings and Food. I would probably be more inclined to go through …77 on a whim than Remain in Light too. In my view, just the run from ‘The Book I Read’ to ‘Pulled Up’ might be one of my favourites on any album ever. And that does includes ‘First Week/Last Week…Carefree’ because that song is a jam.

#1071: Talking Heads – Pulled Up

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A lot of Talking Heads songs I’ve written about on here tend to come from Fear of Music. There’s one other one post on here for a track from Remain in Light. There would be so many more songs on here, had the timing been different. Like in the case of tracks from the band’s debut album Talking Heads:77, I’ll only be able to cover ‘Uh-Oh Love Comes to Town’ and the closer ‘Pulled Up’. I’m a huge advocate for ‘The Book I Read’, ‘Don’t Worry About the Government’ and ‘First Week/Last Week… Carefree’. Alas, there time wasn’t ever to come on here. That might leave you asking, “Well, where’s the post for ‘Psycho Killer’, eh?” And the answer is, I rather prefer this live version to the one that you can listen to all the time on say, Spotify, for example.

But speaking of ‘Psycho Killer’, it comes before ‘Pulled Up’ on the record and, as a result, provides probably the most notable mood whiplash in the band’s discography. After a creepy-creep song with French lyrics and hectic breakdown ending about comes this great mood boosting, uplifting track about a person who’s been feeling low and down but has now gained a new lease of life via the help of an undisclosed presence. David Byrne sings from the perspective of a man, could even be himself – I don’t see why not, who’s now living a life of success and basically wants everyone to know how good he’s feeling. With a little help from friends/family/unrevealed sources, he’s found the strength to overcome his adversities and come out the other side with a brighter outlook on life. Seems too good to be true if we’re discussing a Talking Heads song here, but I think the track’s as genuine as it gets.

Tracks filled with those usual Talking Heads quirks. Byrne is as eccentric as ever in his vocal delivery, covering a range from restrained yelping melodies to wild, barbaric howls. He’s anything but inhibited when it comes to recording vocal takes. He even chuckles a little on the “There’s really no hurry, I’ll eat in a while” lyric, something which I always thought was because it doesn’t even attempt to rhyme with the line that comes before it. Only he’ll know what’s so funny about it, I guess. But in general, the whole track from its music to the tempo to all the ascending scales (a typical characteristic of songs about going up) make for such a relieving burst of energy, something that builds and builds until it finally releases with the strike of the song’s final chord and thus the album’s. Talking Heads album endings never disappointed, and they set the bar high on the first go.