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"'''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." | ||
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== Background and Recording == | == Background and Recording == | ||
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> | 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== | ||