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Psycho Killer: Difference between revisions
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| album = [[Talking Heads: 77]] | | album = [[Talking Heads: 77]] | ||
| B-side = | | B-side = | ||
* | * ''Psycho Killer'' (acoustic version) | ||
* | * ''[[I Wish You Wouldn't Say That]]'' | ||
| released = December 1977 | | released = December 1977 | ||
| recorded = 1977 | | recorded = 1977 | ||
| Line 28: | Line 28: | ||
* [[Tina Weymouth]] | * [[Tina Weymouth]] | ||
| producer = | | producer = | ||
* Tony Bongiovi | * [[Tony Bongiovi]] | ||
* Lance Quinn | * [[Lance Quinn]] | ||
| prev_title = Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town | | prev_title = ''[[Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town]]'' | ||
| prev_year = 1977 | | prev_year = 1977 | ||
| next_title = Pulled Up | | next_title = ''[[Pulled Up]]'' | ||
| next_year = 1978 | | next_year = 1978 | ||
}} | }} | ||
"'''Psycho Killer'''" is a song by | "'''Psycho Killer'''" is a song by [[Talking Heads]], released in 1977 as a single from their debut studio album, ''[[Talking Heads: 77]]''. This was the earliest Talking Heads song, dating back to 1974 when [[David Byrne]] and [[Chris Frantz]] performed it in their previous band, [[The Artistics]]. | ||
The band also recorded an acoustic version of the song featuring [[Arthur Russell]] on cello. In the liner notes for ''[[Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads]]'' (1992), [[Jerry Harrison]] wrote of the A-side and B-side of the single, "I'm glad we persuaded Tony [Bongiovi] and Lance [Quinn] that the version with the cellos shouldn't be the only one." | The band also recorded an acoustic version of the song featuring [[Arthur Russell]] on cello. In the liner notes for ''[[Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads]]'' (1992), [[Jerry Harrison]] wrote of the A-side and B-side of the single, "I'm glad we persuaded Tony [Bongiovi] and Lance [Quinn] that the version with the cellos shouldn't be the only one." | ||
The band's "signature debut hit" features lyrics | The band's "signature debut hit" features lyrics representing the thoughts of a serial killer. Originally written and performed as a ballad, ''Psycho Killer'' became what AllMusic calls a "deceptively funky new wave/no wave song" with "an insistent rhythm, and one of the most memorable, driving basslines in rock & roll." | ||
''Psycho Killer'' was the only song from the album to appear on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 92. It reached number 32 on the Triple J Hottest 100 in 1989, and peaked at number 11 on the Dutch singles chart in 1977. The song is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, has been featured in various shows and films, and has been covered by a variety of artists. | |||
== Background and Recording == | == Background and Recording == | ||
The song that would become | The song that would become ''Psycho Killer'' was originally performed in 1974 by [[The Artistics]] while David, Chris and Tina were all still studying at [[Rhode Island School of Design|RISD]]. David has talked about trying to write a song that was "''maybe a cross between Alice Cooper and Randy Newman.''"<ref name=":0">Gross, Terry. “For David Byrne, Talking Heads Was about Making Emotional Sense — Not Literal Sense.” ''Spokane Public Radio'', 5 July 2024, www.spokanepublicradio.org/2024-07-05/for-david-byrne-talking-heads-was-about-making-emotional-sense-not-literal-sense. Accessed 10 July 2024.</ref> Tina has added on to this in a quote from a November 1977 interview where she said "''David Started out doing an Alice Cooper song [...] but since he always does everything wrong, he got it different. I think it's popular because people really like the conventional structure - neanderthal [sic] bass, simple drum."''<ref>Toepfer, Susan. “Neanderthal Bass.” ''Daily News'', 20 Nov. 1977, https://ghostarchive.org/archive/3fND1. Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.</ref> | ||
==Lyrics== | ==Lyrics== | ||
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The French lyrics were supplied by [[Tina Weymouth]]. According to [[Chris Frantz]], "I told David that Tina's mother is French and that they always spoke French in the home. Tina agreed to do it and just sat down and did it in a little over an hour. I wrote a couple of more verses, and within a few hours, 'Psycho Killer' was more or less done." David has called the French used in the song "very kind of old-fashioned. I think Tina said, this is very Napoleonic kind of French."<ref name=":0" /> | The French lyrics were supplied by [[Tina Weymouth]]. According to [[Chris Frantz]], "I told David that Tina's mother is French and that they always spoke French in the home. Tina agreed to do it and just sat down and did it in a little over an hour. I wrote a couple of more verses, and within a few hours, 'Psycho Killer' was more or less done." David has called the French used in the song "very kind of old-fashioned. I think Tina said, this is very Napoleonic kind of French."<ref name=":0" /> | ||
Additionally, the song features the repeating a nonsense syllable, "Fa-Fa-Fa," which David has said was a reference to "''[[Sad Song (Otis Redding)|Sad Song]]''" by [[Otis Redding]].<ref name=":0" /> | Additionally, the song features the repeating a nonsense syllable, "Fa-Fa-Fa," which David has said was a reference to "''[[Sad Song (Otis Redding)|Sad Song]]''" by [[Otis Redding]].<ref name=":0" /> This was also spotter by certain reviewers of Talking Heads 77.<ref>Syrja, JJ. “Talking Heads’ Realization.” ''The Seguin Gazette-Enterprise'', 22 Dec. 1977, ghostarchive.org/archive/YMqcZ. Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.</ref> | ||
==Later releases== | ==Later releases== | ||
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|} | |} | ||
==Legacy== | ==Legacy== | ||
''See also: [[Covers of | ''See also: [[Studio Covers of Talking Heads Songs]] and also [[History of Live Covers of Talking Heads Songs]]'' | ||
The song has been recorded in cover versions by many bands and musicians including Velvet Revolver, James Hall, the Bobs (''a cappella'' group), Victoria Vox, Wet Leg, Duran Duran featuring Victoria De Angelis, Miley Cyrus, and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain at the 2009 BBC Proms. | The song has been recorded in cover versions by many bands and musicians including Velvet Revolver, James Hall, the Bobs (''a cappella'' group), Victoria Vox, Wet Leg, Duran Duran featuring Victoria De Angelis, Miley Cyrus, and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain at the 2009 BBC Proms. | ||
Massachusetts-based band the Fools parodied the song and entitled it "Psycho Chicken"; it was included as a bonus record with their major-label debut album ''Sold Out'' in 1980. Ice-T says that "Psycho Killer" was a starting influence for his band Body Count's controversial song "Cop Killer". Singer Selena Gomez samples the bassline on her 2017 single "Bad Liar." A Talking Heads tribute band based in Baltimore, active since 2011, call themselves the Psycho Killers. | Massachusetts-based band the Fools parodied the song and entitled it "Psycho Chicken"; it was included as a bonus record with their major-label debut album ''Sold Out'' in 1980. Ice-T says that "Psycho Killer" was a starting influence for his band Body Count's controversial song "Cop Killer". Singer Selena Gomez samples the bassline on her 2017 single "Bad Liar." A Talking Heads tribute band based in Baltimore, active since 2011, call themselves the Psycho Killers. | ||
== References == | |||