Wild Wild Life

Last updated
"Wild Wild Life"
Wild Wild Life.jpg
Single by Talking Heads
from the album True Stories
ReleasedAugust 1986 [1]
Genre
Length
  • 3:39 (album version)
  • 5:30 (extended version)
Label Sire
Songwriter(s) David Byrne
Producer(s)
Talking Heads singles chronology
"Once in a Lifetime (Live)"
(1986)
"Wild Wild Life"
(1986)
"Love for Sale"
(1986)
Official video
"Wild Wild Life" on YouTube

"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.

Contents

Critical reception

Cash Box called it "quirky and typically fun." [3] Billboard said that Talking Heads "put a minimal post-new wave accompaniment to a bouncy singalong tune." [4]

Music video

The video for the song won "Best Group Video" at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1987. Taken from the film True Stories , with some additional content, it includes band member Jerry Harrison parodying Billy Idol, Kid Creole, Ralph Macchio's character in The Karate Kid , and Prince. "My favorite T. Heads video, the most fun to make," Harrison recalled in the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads . "I always wondered what Prince thought of it." The rest of the band also appears in various costumes.

The video is set in a 1960s ambienced cabaret bar, where a frantic series of unannounced performers lip sync to the song, imitating such singers as Madonna and Prince as disjointed images play across a wall of video screens behind them. Byrne wrote about this scene:

The song itself becomes a vehicle that can say anything they want it to. Some gestures and movements are obviously derived from well-known sources: television shows ... movies ... and, most recently, rock videos. Odd to think that some lip-synchers are imitating characters in videos, who are really musicians imitating other characters. [5]

Actor John Goodman, prior to his fame in the sitcom Roseanne , appeared in both the film and MTV versions of the video. Goodman was also featured on the B-side's "People Like Us", a song that also appeared in the film.

Track listing

7-inch single

No.TitleLength
1."Wild Wild Life"3:39
2."People Like Us" (movie version)4:23

12-inch single

No.TitleLength
1."Wild Wild Life" (extended mix)5:30
2."Wild Wild Life"3:39
3."People Like Us" (movie version)4:23

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for "Wild Wild Life"
Chart (1986)Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report) [6] 13
Dutch Singles Chart [7] 42
Irish Singles Chart [8] 9
New Zealand Singles Chart [9] 2
Swiss Singles Chart [10] 20
UK Singles Chart [11] 43
US Billboard Hot 100 [12] 25

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for "Wild Wild Life"
Chart (1986)Position
Australia (Kent Music Report) [13] 92

Use in media

The song was covered by Wailing Souls for the 1993 movie Cool Runnings .

The song was used in the trailers for Brother Bear , [14] Over the Hedge , [15] and Zookeeper , as well as the beginning of the 2006 animated film Open Season , for which it was included on the film's soundtrack. It was also used in the 2014 film United Passions as well as the aforementioned True Stories .

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References

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  4. "Reviews". Billboard. August 23, 1986. p. 81. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
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