SONG OF THE DAY
“Life During Wartime” by The Talking Heads (Fear Of Music, Sire Records, 1979).
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– The song’s live version from Stop Making Sense in 1983 was released as a single, which peaked at #80 on the Pop Singles Chart.
– The song was included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
– In 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: “I wrote this in my loft on Seventh and Avenue A.” And later, “I was thinking about Baader-Meinhof. Patty Hearst. Tompkins Square. This a song about living in Alphabet City.”
– Written about life in New York City during the late nineteen seventies, this song describes life in an impoverished metropolis. Byrne describes life in New York as a metaphor for WWII-era civilians and argues against the concept that life there is bohemian by saying, ‘This ain’t no party. This ain’t no disco. This ain’t no foolin’ around.’ The wartime imagery is taken further by images of having to stand away from windows for fear of being shot and people living on the street long beyond the thought of having food to eat.
– The song is occasionally played in concert by Athens, Georgia, jam band Widespread Panic.
– In the film Stop Making Sense, the song is best known for the aerobic exercising and jogging by David Byrne and the chorus singers.