Didn't get Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime" 20 yrs ago - now it's perfectly clear!

Parent Cafe
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<p>I recall that back in the '80s, shortly after college, I saw David Bryne’s performance of “Once in a Lifetime” and thought “Huh??? . . . weird. Don’t get it.”</p>

<p>“You may ask yourself
How do I work this?
You may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
You may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
You may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!”</p>

<p>Yesterday, it was playing as background music in the K-Mart (yeah, seriously! :))and the next time I was at the computer I thought about it and brought it up on Youtube. OMG, once you’ve reached (maybe passed through?) midlife, the song makes all the sense in the world!</p>

<p>If you don’t recall it, check it out and tell me if you agree. Bear in mind that Byrne portrays a man who sees himself as a marionette with others pulling his strings</p>

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<p>It surely does. I’d forgotten what a brilliant performer he was. (I only saw him once very far away in Central Park.)</p>

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<p>That sure took me back…then it was a great song to dance to. Now, what are we doing, sitting back sipping our wine and reflecting on whether or not we’ve made the right choices in our lives? Its too soon for that!!!</p>

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<p>I take great comfort in the repeated line: “Same as it ever was” in that song. It reminds us that nothing really changes. </p>

<p>“Life in Wartime” is also prescient.</p>

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<p>ALOT of 70’s lyrics really show their meaning when you are older.</p>

<p>Steve Miller “time keeps on slipping into the future”
Pink Floyd “and then one day you find, 10 years have caught behind you, no one told when to run, you missed the starting gun”
Stones “I can’t get no satisfaction”</p>

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<p>My personal favorite …</p>

<p>Springsteen: "Someday you’ll look back on this, and it will all seem funny.</p>

<p>I was dragged to see Talking Heads in CBGBs in NYC one New Year’s Eve in the mid 70s … had no idea who they were at the time!</p>

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<p>Thanks for that link, gadad. We just saw David Byrne in Asheville this past September. What an amazing show altogether. </p>

<p>I’m still scratching my head at the notion of hearing any Talking Heads song in Kmart.</p>

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<p>Hmmmm . . . Somehow I missed this back in the '70s. But then again, I seem to have missed a lot of things (or so my DH tells me . . . ).</p>

<p>Regardless, I enjoyed it now.</p>

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<p>I must be an old soul… I’m 23, and you guys are quoting a bunch of lyrics on my most-played list on iTunes…</p>

<p>Then again, if I listen to my music on iTunes, maybe I’m not there yet.</p>

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<p>What’s nice about music these days is that you can enjoy a new song immediately followed by a 45-year-old song. (I’m thinking of some old Beatles music that’s on my iPod. Came out in 1964.)</p>

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<p>I think the popularity of games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band is helping kids realize that there was a lot of good music written before their time and gets them to explore it a little bit. That’s a good thing. And a lot of the musicians that are popular now are influenced by artists from a generation ago.</p>

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<p>My kids definitely prefer “classic” rock to what’s out currently. In some small corner of the universe, this makes me cool, too. ;)</p>

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<p>I find the topic interesting.</p>

<p>The Killers= Channeling Bruce Springsteen
Wolfmother= definitely influenced by Zep.
Heck, even Outkast did an album heavily influenced by 1920’s big-band music.</p>

<p>I could go on… </p>

<p>With only 12 notes, there are bound to be some similarities. Definitely not a bad thing.</p>

<p>I wonder what music my generation will remember when we’ve got kids in high school…</p>

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<p>Stop Making Sense is a family favorite. I kept telling my kids about “the big suit” and finally got to show it to them via YouTube. I have intro’d my kids to the Talking Heads, the Beatles, Yes, Peter Gabriel, the Who, Dave Matthews, the Cars, Los Lobos, Heart of Glass by Blondie, the Police, Sting, Billy Joel, Cindy Lauper, etc. They’ve intro’d me to Kanye West, Maroon Five, Dr. Horrible, Aqua’s Barbie Girl, Ozone’s Dragostea din tei, and the newer Weird Al songs such as White and Nerdy and the grad student video of Hardware Store.</p>

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<p>D tells me I’m in this same corner. Cool.</p>

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<p>[Internet</a> Archive: The Dead](<a href=“http://www.archive.org/details/TheDead]Internet”>Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine) The remaining members of the Grateful dead are on tour NOW and they sound AMAZING.</p>

<p>This link is only for shows played under the name The Dead. The Grateful Dead (with Jerry) has it’s own (voluminous) archive.</p>

<p>“such a long long time to be gone and a short time to be there”
Box of Rain</p>

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<p>“I wish I knew what I know now, when I was younger.”</p>

<p>Oh La La</p>

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<p>My daughter is 17 and she listens to The Beatles constantly. The original Beatles era was when I was in jr. high and high school.</p>

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<p>my son had all the Beatles stuff from Napster almost 10 years ago.</p>

<p>I think he was downloading Eminem and Slipknot also. yes, I let him listen to whatever he wanted to, from Beethoven and Bach to crap and everything in between.</p>

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<p>My daughter became a Who fan from watching CSI.</p>

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<p>gadad, if you haven’t seen it, you should watch True Stories. David Byrne is marvelous in it. It’s a really weird movie but we all love it.</p>