SONG OF THE DAY

“Road To Nowhere” by The Talking Heads (Little Creatures, Sire Records, 1985). Written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, and Tina Weymouth.

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– The song reached #25 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks and #6 in the British and German singles chart. It also made #8 on the Dutch Top 40.

– The video, released to promote the single, was directed by David Byrne and Stephen R. Johnson and features the band and various objects revolving, as if in their own “road to nowhere,” and it was nominated for “Best Video of the Year” at the MTV Video Music Awards 1986.

– According to the sleeve of Talking Heads compilation Once in a Lifetime, Byrne added the choral intro after deciding the song in itself was embarrassingly simplistic and monotonous.

– It is featured in the 1994 film Reality Bites.

– Portuguese musician João Coração adapted part of “Road to Nowhere” in the last minute of his song “Muda que muda” from the album with the same name. What is heard is a musical parody of the verses “We’re on a road to nowhere / Come on inside” translated to Portuguese.

– The song was featured in the 2008 documentary Young@Heart.

MY TAKE

This song is used during the credits of my favorite documentary of all time, Bill Maher’s Religulous. Though sometimes the film is clearly sensationalist (where does he find those crazies!?!), its message of “I don’t know, I’m only human; and since you’re human too, you don’t know either” is of critical importance in the modern religious-political world that we live in. Maher had me at “hello” (or, the opening scene in a trucker’s Christian chapel with a former satanist priest), but when the credits began to run down the screen playing one of my favorite bands, I just knew we were a match made in heaven! It’s like the film was made to affirm all of my religious and political beliefs! Yay, Religulous!

VIDEO OF THE DAY

and the Young @ Heart version here!