"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.[2] It entered the US Billboard Pop Singles Chart on November 3, 1979, and peaked at number 80, spending a total of five weeks on the chart.[3]
| "Life During Wartime" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 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 |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length |
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| Label | Sire | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) |
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| Talking Heads singles chronology | ||||
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| Alternative release | ||||
 US vinyl single | ||||
| Official audio | ||||
| "Life During Wartime" (2005 Remaster) on YouTube | ||||
The song is also performed in the 1984 film Stop Making Sense, which depicts a Talking Heads concert. The performance featured in the film prominently features aerobic exercising and jogging by David Byrne and background singers. The Stop Making Sense live version of the track is featured in the film's accompanying soundtrack album. Its official title as a single, "Life During Wartime (This Ain't No Party... This Ain't No Disco... This Ain't No Foolin' Around)", makes it one of the longest-titled singles.[4]
The song is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[5]
Origin
editIn David Bowman's book This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century Byrne is quoted as describing the genesis of the song:
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
editThe 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."
Critical reception
edit"Life During Wartime" is widely regarded as one of the band's best songs. In 2023, American Songwriter ranked the song number nine on their list of the 10 greatest Talking Heads songs,[10] and in 2024, Paste ranked the song number four on their list of the 30 greatest Talking Heads songs.[11]
Personnel
edit- David Byrne - vocals, guitar
- Jerry Harrison - synthesizers
- Tina Weymouth - bass guitar
- Chris Frantz - drums
- Ari and Gene Wilder - congas[12][13]
Charts
edit| Chart (1979) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100[14] | 80 |
Other versions
editAn alternative mix of the song, featuring prominent guitar playing by Robert Fripp, was released on the 2005 compilation Talking Heads and the 2005 expanded CD reissue of Fear of Music. At 4:07 this version of the song is longer and does not fade out as early, with extra verses that are not heard in the original.[citation needed]
Live versions
edit- 1980 Remain in Light tour version, appeared on the 1982 live compilation album The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads
- 1983 Stop Making Sense tour version, appeared on the album and film of the same name.
- 1992 David Byrne solo version, from the Between the Teeth film.[15]
- 2001 David Byrne solo version appeared on the 2007 album and film Live From Austin TX
- 2003 David Byrne solo version appeared on the Live at Union Chapel film.
- 2004 David Byrne and Caetano Veloso version, featured on the 2012 album Live at Carnegie Hall
- 2009 David Byrne solo version, featuring in the 2010 film Ride, Rise, Roar
Cover versions
editThe Staple Singers covered this song on their eponymous 1985 album.[16][17]
References
edit- ^ Janovitz, Bill. "Cities by Talking Heads - Track Info - AllMusic". allmusic. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ Bershaw, Alan Exclusive: Listen to a Talking Heads Concert from 1979 Paste Magazine. December 14, 2015
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (1997). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research Inc. p. 603. ISBN 0-89820-122-5.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (1997). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research Inc. p. 869. ISBN 0-89820-122-5.
- ^ Experience The Music: One Hit Wonders and The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. December 15, 2015
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Single Picks" (PDF). Record World. October 13, 1979. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
- ^ a b c "Life During Wartime - Talking Heads | Song Info | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
- ^ Verini, James The Talking Heads Song That Explains The Talking Heads New Yorker. December 15, 2015
- ^ Patton, Alli (April 29, 2023). "Top 10 Talking Heads Songs". American Songwriter. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ Mitchell, Matt (April 14, 2024). "The 30 Greatest Talking Heads Songs Ranked". Paste. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ Fear of Music (LP sleeve). Talking Heads. London: Sire Records. 1979.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ 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) - ^ "Talking Heads Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
- ^ "David Byrne – Between The Teeth – Live". Discogs. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- ^ "The Staple Singers - The Staple Singers | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
- ^ "Life During Wartime" – via www.youtube.com.