"I Zimbra" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Talking Heads | ||||
from the album Fear of Music | ||||
B-side | "Air" (3:33) | |||
Released | 1980 | |||
Recorded | 1979 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:06 | |||
Label | Sire | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Brian Eno | |||
Talking Heads singles chronology | ||||
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Official audio | ||||
"I Zimbra" (2005 Remaster) on YouTube |
"I Zimbra" is a song by American new wave band Talking Heads, released as the second single from their 1979 album Fear of Music .
According to Sytze Steenstra in Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present, the music draws heavily on the African popular music Byrne was listening to at the time. [2]
The lyrics of "I Zimbra" are an adaptation of Dadaist Hugo Ball's poem Gadji beri bimba. [3]
In an interview, Jerry Harrison named "I Zimbra"" as his favorite Talking Heads song, and pointed out that the style of the group's next album, Remain in Light , was indebted to the song's production style.
"We also knew that our next album would be a further exploration of what we had begun with 'I Zimbra'."
The song is used in the opening scene of the movie Spider-Man: No Way Home . [5] It is also in Byrne's stage musical American Utopia , also filmed for theatrical release by Spike Lee. [6]
Chart (1980) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play [7] | 28 |
Talking Heads
Additional musicians
The song was one of three songs (along with "Cities" and "Big Business") that were cut from the theatrical release of the 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense but were restored as a bonus feature for the 1999 DVD release. [8]
Talking Heads were an American rock band that formed in 1975 in New York City. The band was composed of David Byrne, Chris Frantz (drums), Tina Weymouth (bass) and Jerry Harrison. Described as "one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the '80s," Talking Heads helped to pioneer new wave music by combining elements of punk, art rock, funk, and world music with an anxious, clean-cut image.
David Byrne is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American new wave band Talking Heads.
Hugo Ball was a German author, poet, and essentially the founder of the Dada movement in European art in Zürich in 1916. Among other accomplishments, he was a pioneer in the development of sound poetry.
Remain in Light is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Talking Heads, released on October 8, 1980, by Sire Records. It was recorded at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas and Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia during July and August 1980. It was the last Talking Heads album to be produced by Brian Eno.
Fear of Music is the third studio album by American rock band Talking Heads, released on August 3, 1979, by Sire Records. It was recorded at locations in New York City during April and May 1979 and was produced by Brian Eno and Talking Heads. The album reached number 21 on the Billboard 200 and number 33 on the UK Albums Chart. It spawned the singles "Life During Wartime", "I Zimbra", and "Cities".
Stop Making Sense is a 1984 American concert film featuring a live performance by the American rock band Talking Heads. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over four nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre in December 1983, when Talking Heads were touring to promote their 1983 album Speaking in Tongues.
Speaking in Tongues is the fifth studio album by American rock band Talking Heads, released on June 1, 1983, by Sire Records. After their split with producer Brian Eno and a short hiatus, which allowed the individual members to pursue side projects, recording began in 1982. It became the band's commercial breakthrough and produced the band's sole US top-ten hit, "Burning Down the House", which reached No. 9 in the Billboard Chart.
"Road to Nowhere" is a rock song written by David Byrne for the 1985 Talking Heads album Little Creatures. It also appeared on Best of Talking Heads, Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites, the Once in a Lifetime box set and the Brick box set. The song was released as a single in 1985 and reached No. 25 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and No. 6 on the UK, German and South African singles charts. It also made No. 8 on the Dutch Top 40.
"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" is a song by new wave band Talking Heads. The closing track of its fifth studio album Speaking in Tongues, it was released in November 1983 as the second and final studio single from the album; a live version would be released as a single in 1986. The lyrics were written by frontman David Byrne, and the music was written by Byrne and the other members of the band, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison.
The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads is a double live album by the American new wave band Talking Heads, released in 1982 by Sire Records. The first LP features the original quartet in recordings from 1977 and 1979, and the second LP features the expanded ten-piece lineup that toured in 1980 and 1981. The album contains live versions of songs that appear on their first four studio albums: Talking Heads: 77, More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, and Remain in Light.
"Once in a Lifetime" is a song by the American new wave band Talking Heads, produced and cowritten by Brian Eno. It was released in January 1981 as the lead single from Talking Heads' fourth studio album, Remain in Light (1980), through Sire Records.
No Talking, Just Head is an album released in 1996 by the Heads, a band composed of Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth, and Chris Frantz of Talking Heads, joined by a variety of guest singers. The project was commercially and critically unsuccessful, leading to the band members pursuing other interests.
"Wild Wild Life" is a song by American rock band Talking Heads, released as the lead single from their seventh studio album True Stories. It was the band's third and last top 40 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100.
"Life During Wartime" is a song by the American new wave band Talking Heads, released as the first single from their 1979 album Fear of Music. It peaked at #80 on the US Billboard Pop Singles Chart.
Stop Making Sense is a live album by American rock band Talking Heads, the soundtrack to the film of the same name. It was released in September 1984 and features nine tracks from the film, albeit with treatment and editing. The album spent over two years on the Billboard 200 chart. It was their first album to be distributed by EMI outside North America.
The Catherine Wheel is an album by Scottish-American musician David Byrne, released in 1981 by Sire Records. It contains Byrne's musical score for choreographer Twyla Tharp's dance project of the same name. The Catherine Wheel premiered September 22, 1981, at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City.
"Love → Building on Fire" is a song by rock band Talking Heads, released as a single in 1977. The single preceded the band's debut album by seven months, and was recorded before keyboardist and guitarist Jerry Harrison joined the band. As the single was the first piece of music released commercially by the band, its release was cited as a milestone in the band's history in its Rock and Roll Hall of Fame entry.
"Crosseyed and Painless" is a song by American new wave band Talking Heads. It was released in 1980 in the United States as a promotional single from their fourth studio album, Remain in Light. Although the single failed to reach on the US main chart, it reached to 20 on the US Dance chart to become Talking Heads' highest charting dance single. They chose this song for their second music video, released in 1981.
"Cities" is a single, released in 1980, by the American new wave band Talking Heads. It is the fourth track on the 1979 album Fear of Music.
"Damage I've Done" is a song from American band The Heads, which was released in 1996 as the lead single from their only studio album No Talking, Just Head. A collaboration between the Heads and Johnette Napolitano, "Damage I've Done" was written by Napolitano (lyrics), and Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, T. "Blast" Murray and Tina Weymouth (music). It was produced by the Heads.