Life During Wartime (song)

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David wrote nine of the album's eleven tracks. Two numbers came out of jamming. The first would be called "Life During Wartime." David's lyrics describe a Walker Percy-ish post-apocalyptic landscape where a revolutionary hides out in a deserted cemetery, surviving on peanut butter. "I wrote this in my loft on Seventh and Avenue A," David later said, "I was thinking about Baader-Meinhof. Patty Hearst. Tompkins Square. This a song about living in Alphabet City." [6]

Record World called it "a brilliant futuristic treatise on urban guerilla warfare." [7]

AllMusic's Bill Janowitz reviewed the song, calling attention to its nearness to funk, saying that it is a "sort of apocalyptic punk/funk merge" comparable to Prince's later hit single "1999". [8] In 2012, The New Yorker described "Life During Wartime" as, "an apocalyptic swamp-funk transmission in four-four time," adding "[it] is the band’s pinnacle, and the song is still a hell of a thing to hear." [9]

Lyrics

The lyrics are told from the point of view of someone involved in clandestine activities in the U.S. (the cities Houston, Detroit, and Pittsburgh are mentioned) during some sort of civil unrest or dystopian environment. [8]

The line "This ain't no Mudd Club or CBGB" refers to two New York music venues at which the band performed in the 1970s. [8]

"The line 'This ain't no disco' sure stuck!" remarks Byrne in the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads . "Remember when they would build bonfires of Donna Summer records? Well, we liked some disco music! It's called 'dance music' now. Some of it was radical, camp, silly, transcendent and disposable. So it was funny that we were sometimes seen as the flag-bearers of the anti-disco movement."

Personnel

Charts

"Life During Wartime"
Life During Wartime Talking Heads.jpg
UK vinyl single
Single by Talking Heads
from the album Fear of Music and The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
B-side "Electric Guitar" (1979)
Released
  • September 1979
  • 1982 (live)
Genre
Length
  • 3:41
  • 5:52 (live)
Label Sire
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Talking Heads singles chronology
"Take Me to the River"
(1978)
"Life During Wartime"
(1979)
"I Zimbra"
(1980)

"Houses in Motion (alternate mix)"
(1981)

"Life During Wartime (Live)"
(1982)

"Burning Down the House"
(1983)
Chart (1979)Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100 [12] 80

Other versions

An alternate mix of the song featuring heavy guitar played by Brian Eno was released on the 2005 compilation Talking Heads and the 2005 expanded CD reissue of Fear of Music. This version of the song is longer (4:07 v 3:41) and does not fade out as early, with extra verses that are not heard in the regular album version.

Live versions

Cover versions

The Staple Singers covered this song on their eponymous 1985 album. [14] [15]

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References

  1. Janovitz, Bill. "Cities by Talking Heads - Track Info - AllMusic". allmusic. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  2. Bershaw, Alan Exclusive: Listen to a Talking Heads Concert from 1979 Paste Magazine. December 14, 2015
  3. Whitburn, Joel (1997). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research Inc. p. 603. ISBN   0-89820-122-5.
  4. Whitburn, Joel (1997). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research Inc. p. 869. ISBN   0-89820-122-5.
  5. Experience The Music: One Hit Wonders and The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. December 15, 2015
  6. Bowman, David (2001). This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. p. 152. ISBN   0-380-97846-6.
  7. "Single Picks" (PDF). Record World. October 13, 1979. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  8. 1 2 3 "Life During Wartime - Talking Heads | Song Info | AllMusic" via www.allmusic.com.
  9. Verini, James The Talking Heads Song That Explains The Talking Heads New Yorker. December 15, 2015
  10. Fear of Music (LP sleeve). Talking Heads. London: Sire Records. 1979.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. Fear of Music (CD booklet and case back cover). Talking Heads. London: Warner. 2006.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. "Talking Heads Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  13. "David Byrne – Between The Teeth – Live". Discogs. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  14. "The Staple Singers - The Staple Singers | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" via www.allmusic.com.
  15. "Life During Wartime" via www.youtube.com.