Top Ten 1983 Songs: Burning Down the House (#3)
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (86757)
United States
June 28, 2023 10:11am CST
They say paybacks are a female dog, or that paybacks are the devil’s abode. Not today! Paybacks are funky! I pay you back for the way you endured the country song yesterday. Can you believe this song is 40 years old now? Get up and dance!
#3: Burning Down the House - Talking Heads
You can’t plan this by any stretch of the imagination, but the wildfire smoke is back in this area, so it looks like someone is burning down the whole neighborhood out there!
As for the phrase, David Byrne said he heard George Clinton shouting it at a Parliament-Funkadelic concert. Sounds like a good title for a song, doesn’t it?
Obviously the Heads borrowed more than just the title, ‘cause it’s a funky piece of material. Most of the album has that vibe to it. It’s a great exercise album!! (They even put the “cool-down” song [“This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)”] at the end of the album! 
)
This also turned out to be Talking Heads’ biggest hit, making it to the top three on the Billboard charts.
And, as Talking Heads are one of my favorite bands, I’ll bet you wonder what beat them from 1983?! Stay tuned! 
Burning Down the House
Written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, and Tina Weymouth
Recorded by Talking Heads
From Speaking in Tongues, 1983
Three hundred sixty five degrees:
)
This also turned out to be Talking Heads’ biggest hit, making it to the top three on the Billboard charts.
And, as Talking Heads are one of my favorite bands, I’ll bet you wonder what beat them from 1983?! Stay tuned!
Burning Down the House
Written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, and Tina Weymouth
Recorded by Talking Heads
From Speaking in Tongues, 1983
Three hundred sixty five degrees:
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12 people like this
10 responses
@FourWalls (86757)
• United States
28 Jun 23
Oh, get out of here! 
DON’T sit by the pool today if it’s half as smoky there as it is here! 
DON’T sit by the pool today if it’s half as smoky there as it is here! 2 people like this
@NJChicaa (127158)
• United States
28 Jun 23
@FourWalls I heard that the smoke is headed back this way. It is nowhere as bad as it was 2 weeks ago though.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86757)
• United States
28 Jun 23
@NJChicaa — it’s a lot worse here, but I think that’s because we’ve had a northerly breeze helping to blow it this way.
1 person likes this
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@much2say (57760)
• Los Angeles, California
28 Jun 23
@FourWalls I mostly only know a few songs of certain musicians . . . not much about the stories and histories behind them. I'll have to listen to the full albums and listen out for that funk 
!
!1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86757)
• United States
28 Jun 23
I think this album as well as the previous two (Fear of Music and Remain in Light) show that they had a lot of funk for influences.
Bernie Worrell, who played keyboards with the Heads on the Stop Making Sense tour, was a member of P-Funk.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86757)
• United States
28 Jun 23
So you’re burning down this song? Gotcha.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222534)
• United States
29 Jun 23
Yup. I know this one. The smoke was really bad here yesterday. Hubs was having trouble breathing.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86757)
• United States
29 Jun 23
Eric Wilhelm said last night that it’s the worst air quality the Youngstown area has had this century. 
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222534)
• United States
29 Jun 23
@FourWalls I didn't realize that the fires were so widespread.
Then again, who over 35 hasn't heard of the Talking Heads? They're pretty darn iconic!@FourWalls (86757)
• United States
28 Jun 23
Okay, that brings it down to one you might know. (Now watch: the one I think you don’t know will be the one where you go, “Oh, this is the best song ever!” )
)1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86757)
• United States
29 Jun 23
Talking Heads were all art students in college, so that’s why their videos were so “artsy.”
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (98033)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
29 Jun 23
I do remember but the only thing this song did for me was remembering how carefully I enjoyed placing a pile of paper towels in the kitchen sink and setting them on fire
1 person likes this
@misunderstood_zombie (8765)
• United States
29 Jun 23
I really liked this a lot back in the day. That's fun to know where the title came from.
1 person likes this
