Has David Byrne even *been* to London?

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'Think of London, a small city,
Dark, dark in the day time,
People sleep, sleep in the daytime,
If they want to, if they want to..'

'CITIES' (1978)

eh?

― piscesboy, Thursday, 28 October 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

It's funny, it's supposed to make you laugh. But, London is a small city surrounded by lots of interlinked villages, so he's right really.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 28 October 2004 14:28 (twenty-one years ago)

he went on Top Of The Pops so yes (unless it was still in Elstree when 'Lazy' came out)

― Freelance Hiveminder (blueski), Thursday, 28 October 2004 14:29 (twenty-one years ago)

He was also probably doing a lot of coke at the time, so his perceptions were invariably somewhat clouded.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 28 October 2004 14:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I always think of that "dark in the daytime" line when the clocks go back.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 28 October 2004 14:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Irony
n. pl. i·ro·nies

The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.
A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect.
Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: “Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated” (Richard Kain).
An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity.

(French ironie, from Old French, from Latin rna, from Greek eirneia, feigned ignorance, from eirn, dissembler, probably from eirein, to say]

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 28 October 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

That song has great lyrics:

"Memphis, home of Elvis and Ancient Greeks"

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 28 October 2004 14:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I need a city to live in.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 28 October 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

"There are a lot of rich people in Birmingham"

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 28 October 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Has David Byrne even *been* to heaven?

'heaven,
heaven is a place,
a place where nothing,
nothing ever happens!'

'HEAVEN' (1978)

as if!

― sleep (sleep), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Has Charlene even *been* to herself?

"I've been undressed by kings
and I've seen some things
that a woman ain't supposed to see
I've been to paradise
but I've never been to me"

She even admits it!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey David Byrne! A psycho killer is a crazy murderer, n'est pas?

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:36 (twenty-one years ago)

And if Byrne has been to London, did he venture down in a tube station at midnight?

― nickn (nickn), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:38 (twenty-one years ago)

He's checking 'em out. He's got it figured out.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:39 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread is making realize what a bunch of liars musicians are. Grand Funk Railroad promised many years ago to come to my town and help me party it down, but I'm still waiting.

― Nemo (JND), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't give up hope

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Brown sugar doesn't taste so good. As a matter of fact, it tastes pretty much like sloppy pussy.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Some good points, some bad points.

― mike a, Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey! It all works out.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:47 (twenty-one years ago)

David Byrne may or may not have visited London, but he's got El Paso's number (I've been there):

"Down el Paso way things get pretty spread out
People got no idea where in the world they are
They go up north and come back south
Still got no idea where in the world they are."

― mike a, Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:49 (twenty-one years ago)

David Byrne is a British citizen so I imagine he's very familiar with the capital city of the Empire

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:51 (twenty-one years ago)

David Byrne also has some hot information on Houston, Detroit and Pittsburgh, P. A.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

"Hey, hey we're the Monkees,
You never know where we'll be found.
So you'd better get ready,
We may be comin to your town."

They didn't.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

and did anyone ever end up taking lipps inc. to funkytown?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

British? I thought he was SCOTTISH?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 28 October 2004 19:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Wait did I really just type that?

Note to self: let thoughts form COMPLETELY before attempting to communicate them.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 28 October 2004 19:02 (twenty-one years ago)

He wouldn't live there if you paid him to.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 28 October 2004 19:04 (twenty-one years ago)

There's not even a f*!&%ing train that GOES to Clarksville!

― briania (briania), Thursday, 28 October 2004 19:11 (twenty-one years ago)

That's cuz the last one left decades ago.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 28 October 2004 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

To be fair, the Monkees only said that they might come.

― alex in montreal, Thursday, 28 October 2004 19:20 (twenty-one years ago)

ha ha brian jeezus i'm hurting with giggles

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 28 October 2004 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

British? I thought he was SCOTTISH?

Scottish people are British. Do we have to go through this every time?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 28 October 2004 19:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Wait did I really just type that?
Note to self: let thoughts form COMPLETELY before attempting to communicate them.

-- nickalicious (nickaliciou...), October 28th, 2004 4:02 PM. (nickalicious)

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 28 October 2004 19:48 (twenty-one years ago)

aka I remembered that after I clicked "submit"

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 28 October 2004 19:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought it was the uk
Or just another country
Another council tenancy

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Thursday, 28 October 2004 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Monkees = unreliable narrators

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 28 October 2004 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

1) Queen claimed they would rock me.
2) Queen did rock me.
3) Talking Heads never made any assertion about rocking me.
_______________________________________________________
4) Therefore, Queen is a greater band than Talking Heads
if one were to judge greatness in terms of the intention
and ability to rock.

― The TAO that can be Posted is not the TAO! (The Tao that can be Posted is), Thursday, 28 October 2004 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

"Look over there! A dry-ice factory! Good! Place! To! Getsomethinkingdone!"

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 28 October 2004 22:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm still trying to figure out where Gene Pitney was if he was within 24 hours of Tulsa.

― papa november (papa november), Thursday, 28 October 2004 22:26 (twenty-one years ago)

The weird thing about the "El Paso" verse is that it's on the lyric sheet but not in the actual song itself. This was a big deal in El Paso at the time.

It's odd because they played here in 1979, just a few weeks after the album came out. (Actually, they played up the road at NMSU in Las Cruces, New Mexico.) I was there, and when they played "Cities", of course he sang the El Paso verse, garnering the expected Spinal Tap-ish wild applause. (Hello Springfield!")

I had forgotten all about this until I read this thread.

Still, it is odd that the verse is on the printed lyrics but not in the song. Maybe it was on a demo or earlier take?

As dumb as it sounds, people around here speculated for YEARS about this.

― Majooba, Thursday, 28 October 2004 22:55 (twenty-one years ago)

the lyric sheet of FEAR OF MUSIC is a law unto itself.
'life during wartime' is another one where what's on the booklet
what's on the track are totally different.

hey maybe this will all be sorted out in the re-releases, which are coming along nicely :

http://zimbranet.vdservers.com/~talkingheads/scripts/discus/discus.cgi

― piscesboy, Friday, 29 October 2004 07:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe David Byrne was referring to London, Ontario.

― Nemo (JND), Friday, 29 October 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

forger Cities (1978) what about City of Dreams (1986)

"From Germany and Europe
And Southern U.S.A.
They made this little town here
That we live in to this day"

eh? Germany and Europe? Germany's IN Europe!

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 30 October 2004 12:15 (twenty-one years ago)

is David Bryne a psycho killer?

is he a pyromaniac?

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 30 October 2004 12:27 (twenty-one years ago)

did anyone ever take him to the shopping mall and buy him a rubber doll?

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 30 October 2004 13:57 (twenty-one years ago)

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