Life During Wartime (song)

For the song by Pinhead Gunpowder, see Goodbye Ellston Avenue.

1979 song by Talking Heads

"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|

* September 1979
* 1982 (live)

Genre|

* New wave
* post-punk
* funk[1]
* dance-punk

Length|

* 3:41
* 5:52 (live)

Label| Sire
Songwriter(s)|

* David Byrne
* Chris Frantz
* Jerry Harrison
* Tina Weymouth

Producer(s)|

* Brian Eno
* Talking Heads
* Gary Goetzman (live)

Talking Heads singles chronology
| "Take Me to the River"
(1978)  | "Life During Wartime"
(1979)  | "I Zimbra"
(1980)

|
|

* * *

"Houses in Motion (alternate mix)"
(1981)  |

* * *

"Life During Wartime (Live)"
(1982)  |

* * *

"Burning Down the House"
(1983)

|
|

Alternative release

US vinyl single

Official audio
"Life During Wartime" (2005 Remaster) on YouTube

"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 peaked at #80 on the US Billboard Pop Singles Chart.

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.[3]

The song is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[4]

## Origin[edit]

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:

> 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."[5]

Record World called it "a brilliant futuristic treatise on urban guerilla warfare."[6]

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".[7] 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."[8]

## Lyrics[edit]

The 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.[7]

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.[7]

"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."

## Charts[edit]

Chart (1979)  | Peak
position

|

US Billboard Hot 100[9] | 80

### Chart runs[edit]

* Billboard Hot 100[10] (5 weeks, entered November 3): Reached #80

### Personnel[edit]

* David Byrne \- vocals, guitar
* Jerry Harrison \- synthesizers
* Tina Weymouth \- bass guitar
* Chris Frantz \- drums
* Ari and Gene Wilder - congas[11][12]

## Other versions[edit]

An alternate mix of the song featuring heavy guitar played by Brian Eno[13] was released on the 2005 compilation Talking Heads and the 2005 expanded CD reissue of Fear of Music. This version of the song is longer (4:07 v 3:41) and does not fade out as early, with extra verses that are not heard in the regular album version.

### 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.[14]
* 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[edit]

The Staple Singers covered this song on their eponymous 1985 album.[15][16]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Janovitz, Bill. "Cities by Talking Heads - Track Info - AllMusic". allmusic. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
2. ^ Bershaw, Alan Exclusive: Listen to a Talking Heads Concert from 1979 Paste Magazine. December 14, 2015
3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1997). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research Inc. p. 869\. ISBN 0-89820-122-5.
4. ^ Experience The Music: One Hit Wonders and The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. December 15, 2015
5. ^ 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.
6. ^ "Single Picks" (PDF). Record World. October 13, 1979. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
7. ^ a b c "Life During Wartime - Talking Heads | Song Info | AllMusic" - via www.allmusic.com.
8. ^ Verini, James The Talking Heads Song That Explains The Talking Heads New Yorker. December 15, 2015
9. ^ "Talking Heads Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
10. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1997). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research Inc. p. 603\. ISBN 0-89820-122-5.
11. ^ Fear of Music (LP sleeve). Talking Heads. London: Sire Records. 1979.`{{cite AV media notes}}`: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ "Life During Wartime (Alternate Version)". YouTube. Retrieved 17 April 2024. See personnel credits in song description.
14. ^ "David Byrne – Between The Teeth – Live". Discogs. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
15. ^ "The Staple Singers - The Staple Singers | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" - via www.allmusic.com.
16. ^ "Life During Wartime" - via www.youtube.com.

## External links[edit]

* Life During Wartime (Remastered) on YouTube
* Life During Wartime (Alternate Version) on YouTube

* v
* t
* e

Talking Heads

* David Byrne
* Chris Frantz
* Jerry Harrison
* Tina Weymouth

Studio albums|

* Talking Heads: 77
* More Songs About Buildings and Food
* Fear of Music
* Remain in Light
* Speaking in Tongues
* Little Creatures
* True Stories
* Naked

Live albums|

* The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
* Stop Making Sense

Compilations|

* Popular Favorites 1976–1992: Sand in the Vaseline
* Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads
* Once in a Lifetime
* The Best of Talking Heads
* Talking Heads
* Bonus Rarities and Outtakes

Singles|

* "Love → Building on Fire"
* "Psycho Killer"
* "Take Me to the River"
* "Life During Wartime"
* "I Zimbra"
* "Cities"
* "Crosseyed and Painless"
* "Once in a Lifetime"
* "Houses in Motion"
* "Burning Down the House"
* "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)"
* "Girlfriend Is Better"
* "Road to Nowhere"
* "And She Was"
* "Wild Wild Life"
* "Blind"
* "(Nothing But) Flowers"
* "Sax and Violins"

Other songs|

* "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel"
* "Heaven"
* "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)"

Filmography|

* Stop Making Sense
* True Stories
* Storytelling Giant

Tribute albums|

* Live Phish Volume 15
* Everyone's Getting Involved

Related articles|

* Discography
* Songs
* How Music Works
* "King's Lead Hat"
* My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
* No Talking, Just Head
* "Damage I've Done"
* Sounds from True Stories
* Tom Tom Club

* Category

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group
* 2
* MusicBrainz work

|

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