Love → Building on Fire
| Love → Building on Fire | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Love Goes to Building On Fire.jpg | ||||
| Single by Talking Heads | ||||
| B-side | New Feeling | |||
| Released | February 1977 | |||
| Recorded | 1977 | |||
| Studio | Sundragon (New York City) | |||
| Genre | New wave | |||
| Length | 2:57 | |||
| Label | Sire | |||
| Songwriter(s) | David Byrne | |||
| Producer(s) | ||||
| Talking Heads singles chronology | ||||
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| Official audio | ||||
| Template:YouTube | ||||
Love → Building on Fire (read as Love Goes to Building on Fire) is the debut single by Talking Heads, released in February 1977. The single preceded the band's debut album by seven months, and was recorded before keyboardist and guitarist Jerry Harrison joined the band. As the single was the first piece of music released commercially by the band, its release was cited as a milestone in the band's history in its Rock and Roll Hall of Fame entry.[1]
The song did not appear on any of the band's original studio albums, though it was later included on their 1992 compilation album Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites, on their 2003 box set Once in a Lifetime, and as a bonus track on a reissue of Talking Heads: 77. live recording of the song is featured on their live albums The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads (1982) and the same recording again on Live At WCOZ 1977 (2024).
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Love → Building on Fire" | 2:57 |
| 2. | "New Feeling" | 3:09 |
Personnel
Adapted from Talking Heads: 77 liner notes.
- David Byrne – guitar, lead vocals
- Chris Frantz – drums, steel pan
- Tina Weymouth – bass guitar
The original recorded version was produced by Tony Bongiovi and mastered by Ted Jensen. The horns in the song were arranged by Brad Baker and Lance Quinn.
Artistic impressions of the song
Jerry Harrison called "Love → Building on Fire" one of his favorite songs to play live, despite the fact the song was recorded before he joined the band. Harrison stated that he and Byrne "used to get a wonderful interplay of guitars that was a bit like early Television." However, he felt that the best live performances were never recorded.[2]
Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth described hearing the track when it came out in 1977, "it was as though the trio had denied the entire vocabulary of rock, offering a minimal and stunning vision of love as a work of arson."[3]
References
- ↑ https://rockhall.com/inductees/talking-heads/timeline/
- ↑ Liner notes to Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites.
- ↑ Moore, Thurston. Sonic Life. Doubleday, 24 Oct. 2023, p. 75