Once in a Lifetime

I got the pleasure of meeting David Byrne and having a lunch with him at Affrah Mediterranean in Richardson, TX in the late 2000s. It was near the end of my stint at Hanson Robotics for the exhibition "Souls & Machines" at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, Spain. He voiced one of our robots singing. He was, without a question, the most down to earth celebrity I have met to this day. I left that lunch struck how genuinely kind and encouraging he was, even to me as a lowly intern early in my career. I try to channel a bit of him at that lunch anytime I’m working with anyone cutting their teeth on anything new. We all need a little bit of kindness and encouragement at that stage.

Happy to see another Talking Heads (TH) fanatic.

Pull Up The Roots has been the most impactful TH song for me so far. I was obsessed with it for about 6 months. I literally listened to it probably 2-3 times a day for those 6 months. I was in a point of my life where I felt like I needed radical change so "pull up the roots" was a powerful message for me. Also I love how weird and chaotic the message is and the song is just downright catchy to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQS6XfuH2wE

That whole Speaking In Tongues album is quite good. Definitely my favorite TH album. Great name for an album and very attractive cover art.

True Stories is also a very fun peak into the 80s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Stories_(film)

I remember when NPR did the whole 100 most important albums thing ~20 years ago and loved the segment on this song that they mention in the post too: https://www.npr.org/2000/03/27/1072131/once-in-a-lifetime It highlighted for me that Byrne and Eno wanted to do something evoking a southern baptist church singing where the pastor makes a call and the audience responds. Once you realize that basic structure of call and response you'll hear it in so much modern and popular music today.

The entire NPR 100 series is solid gold and introduced me to so many albums and musicians that became favorites to this day. If you want some great stuff to listen to check it all out: https://www.npr.org/series/18955124/the-npr-100

I was at that 1983 LA Concert! Attending UCLA at the time and getting into what they called at the time "world music". The Talking Head's mix of rock riffs and African beats on this album won me over. The cover art was the first time I had seen digital pixelation.

When I saw that somewhat ambiguous title, I was hoping it was about that song. Now I have to watch all those videos!

Stop Making Sense is one of the all-time great music movies (and I try to watch 'em all).

Once in a Lifetime is a song where you just have to ask "where the hell did that come from?"

This Talking Heads Show from 11/4/80 has a great take of Once in a Lifetime too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFvgWguaC9g&t=1763s

I make it a semi-annual tradition to watch all of Stop Making Sense. Never disappoints.

> That bassline might be simple and repetitive, just the notes F-sharp and A, but there is nothing dumb about it. For one thing, it’s the third and fifth of the droning D7 chord.

If this is referring to the original, it sounds like a Dsus4 atop the F-sharp/A ostinato in the bass. AFAICT the pitch class c doesn't show up until the guitar riff at the very end.

And that addition of c in that repeated guitar riff at the end is such a nice change. We should popularize a category of songs called "One Chord Substitution and the Truth." The Proclaimer's "I'm Gonna Be" is in that same category-- listen to it and see if you can spot the lone instance of a disco chord. :)

> Tina Weymouth never plays the tonic!

While I'm not sure exactly what Tina Weymouth was playing, somebody was generating the d a ninth above middle c and sustaining it literally the entire song.

This article kermits a great sin by not including the best cover of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCY0aeUx-Ns

I’m convinced that this is one of the greatest songs written to date. Very simple but at the same time deep, and I haven't yet met a person who didn’t like it.

As an aside I read that fela kuti was an influence to eno at the time and I think that can be heard in the repetitive nature of the song, especially in the guitar lines.

Great post, incredible song. Talking Heads remain powerful, and their songs still have the power to rock a dance floor.

It's a pop song but it's profound. I remember playing it in 2005 . The opening riff, and then it starts talking about various things like the big house. When the song debuted, in the early 80s, having a fine automobile and big house were a big deal and the epitome of the American dream, but nowadays luxury cars and big homes have become so commonplace. An SUV will likely cost more than a luxury car brand. It shows how much society has changed. Now you need millions of dollars. Or a super-successful Substack or some other signifier of status.

Often, when bad things come up in the news, I think of Life During Wartime: https://youtu.be/v0DpBnUznd0

I mean, there has to be lots of cocaine on that stage, but epic nonetheless.

This mashup with Tim Maia is amazing: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/aZzu6EpjtuMNDvmf8

I never knew the meaning of the song, but I always though he talks/sings like an evangalist, so it seemed religous / spiritual to me (or maybe a parody of religion).