https://talkingheadswiki.com/mediawiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Hairball1984Talking Heads Wiki - User contributions [en]2026-04-03T23:57:03ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.41.0https://talkingheadswiki.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Life_During_Wartime&diff=3224Life During Wartime2025-05-15T12:52:58Z<p>Hairball1984: I added more category, corrected some lyrics</p>
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<div>"'''Life During Wartime'''" is a song by [[Talking Heads]] that was released as the first single for their 1979 ''[[Fear of Music]].'' The song is included in [[wikipedia:Rock_and_Roll_Hall_of_Fame#The_Songs_That_Shaped_Rock_and_Roll|The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll]].<br />
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== Origins ==<br />
"'''Life During Wartime'''" accounts for one of the eleven tracks written by [[David Byrne]] on [[Fear of Music]]. He said about the conception of the song "I wrote this in my loft on Seventh and Avenue A. I was thinking about [[wikipedia:Red_Army_Faction|Baader-Meinhof]]. [[wikipedia:Patty_Hearst|Patty Hearst]]. [[wikipedia:Tompkins_Square_Park|Tompkins Square]]. This a song about living in [[wikipedia:Alphabet_City,_Manhattan|Alphabet City]]." <ref>Bowman, David (2001). ''This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century''. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. p. 152.</ref><br />
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== Notoriety and Impact ==<br />
On November 3, 1979, the song entered the [[wikipedia:Billboard_Hot_100|US Billboard Pop Singles Chart]], ranked 80th and stayed there five weeks. It was acclaimed by the critics, and the latter made lots of comparisons between "Life During Wartime" and some of [[wikipedia:Prince_(musician)|Prince]]'s works.<br />
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The song gained a huge notoriety thanks to its performance in the concert movie [[Stop Making Sense]], where [[David Byrne]] sing whilst jogging and performed one of the most well-known dance of the movie, which resulted in one of the signature moment of the band.<br />
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== Band Reflections ==<br />
The bands has always expressed a deep love for the song as one of their favorites. Tina Weymouth has said "t''hat was always a favorite of ours because of the line 'this ain’t no [[Mudd Club]], no [[CBGB|CBGB’s]], I ain't got time for that now."''<ref name=":0">Noise11.com. “Talking Heads Tina Weymouth – the Noise11 Interview Archive Series (2002).” ''Noise11.com'', 5 Aug. 2024, www.noise11.com/news/talking-heads-tina-weymouth-the-noise11-interview-archive-series-2002-20240806. Accessed 12 Aug. 2024.</ref><br />
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The song is notable for its performances by all 4 band members in other projects besides Talking Heads, including [[David Byrne|David Byrne's]] solo tours, [[Jerry Harrison|Jerry Harrison's]] [[Casual Gods]] performances, and [[Tom Tom Club]] live shows.<ref name=":0" /> <br />
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== Sources ==</div>Hairball1984