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{{For|the song by Pinhead Gunpowder|Goodbye Ellston Avenue}}
{{short description|1979 song by Talking Heads}}
{{short description|1979 song by Talking Heads}}
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{{For|the song by Pinhead Gunpowder|Goodbye Ellston Avenue}}
{{Infobox song
{{Infobox song
| name = Life During Wartime
| name = Life During Wartime
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}}
}}


"'''Life During Wartime'''" is a song by the American [[New wave music|new wave]] band [[Talking Heads]], released as the first single from their 1979 album ''[[Fear of Music]]''.<ref>Bershaw, Alan [http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/06/exclusive-listen-to-a-talking-heads-concert-from-1.html Exclusive: Listen to a Talking Heads Concert from 1979] ''Paste Magazine''. December 14, 2015</ref> It peaked at #80 on the US [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Pop Singles Chart]].
"'''Life During Wartime'''" is a song by the American [[New wave music|new wave]] band [[Talking Heads]], released as the first single from their 1979 album ''[[Fear of Music]]''.<ref>Bershaw, Alan [http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/06/exclusive-listen-to-a-talking-heads-concert-from-1.html Exclusive: Listen to a Talking Heads Concert from 1979] ''Paste Magazine''. December 14, 2015</ref> It entered the US [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Pop Singles Chart]] on November 3, 1979, and peaked at number 80, spending a total of five weeks on the chart.<ref>{{cite book
| first= Joel|last= Whitburn |year= 1997 |title= Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles |edition= |publisher= Record Research Inc |location= Menomonee Falls, WI |isbn= 0-89820-122-5|page= 603}}</ref>


The song is also performed in the 1984 film ''[[Stop Making Sense]]'', which depicts a Talking Heads concert. The performance featured in the film prominently features [[aerobic exercise|aerobic exercising]] and [[jogging]] by David Byrne and background singers. The ''Stop Making Sense'' live version of the track is featured in the film's [[Stop Making Sense (album)|accompanying soundtrack album]]. Its official title as a single, "'''Life During Wartime (This Ain't No Party... This Ain't No Disco... This Ain't No Foolin' Around)'''", makes it one of the longest-titled singles.<ref>{{cite book
The song is also performed in the 1984 film ''[[Stop Making Sense]]'', which depicts a Talking Heads concert. The performance featured in the film prominently features [[aerobic exercise|aerobic exercising]] and [[jogging]] by David Byrne and background singers. The ''Stop Making Sense'' live version of the track is featured in the film's [[Stop Making Sense (album)|accompanying soundtrack album]]. Its official title as a single, "'''Life During Wartime (This Ain't No Party... This Ain't No Disco... This Ain't No Foolin' Around)'''", makes it one of the longest-titled singles.<ref>{{cite book
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==Origin==
==Origin==
In [[David Bowman (writer)|David Bowman]]'s book ''This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century'' Byrne is quoted as describing the genesis of the song:
In [[David Bowman (writer)|David Bowman]]'s book ''This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century'' Byrne is quoted as describing the genesis of the song:
{{quote|David wrote nine of [[Fear of Music|the album's]] eleven tracks. Two numbers came out of jamming. The first would be called "Life During Wartime." David's lyrics describe a [[Walker Percy]]-ish post-apocalyptic landscape where a revolutionary hides out in a deserted cemetery, surviving on peanut butter. "I wrote this in my loft on Seventh and Avenue A," David later said, "I was thinking about [[Baader-Meinhof]]. [[Patty Hearst]]. [[Tompkins Square]]. This a song about living in [[Alphabet City, Manhattan|Alphabet City]]."<ref name="Adventures1">{{cite book|last=Bowman|first=David |title=This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century | publisher=Harper Collins Publishers|location=New York|year=2001|isbn=0-380-97846-6 |page=152 }}</ref>}}
{{blockquote|David wrote nine of [[Fear of Music|the album's]] eleven tracks. Two numbers came out of jamming. The first would be called "Life During Wartime." David's lyrics describe a [[Walker Percy]]-ish post-apocalyptic landscape where a revolutionary hides out in a deserted cemetery, surviving on peanut butter. "I wrote this in my loft on Seventh and Avenue A," David later said, "I was thinking about [[Baader-Meinhof]]. [[Patty Hearst]]. [[Tompkins Square]]. This a song about living in [[Alphabet City, Manhattan|Alphabet City]]."<ref name="Adventures1">{{cite book|last=Bowman|first=David |title=This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century | publisher=Harper Collins Publishers|location=New York|year=2001|isbn=0-380-97846-6 |page=152 }}</ref>}}


''[[Record World]]'' called it "a brilliant futuristic treatise on urban guerilla warfare."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Record World|date=October 13, 1979|accessdate=2023-02-11|title=Single Picks|page=14|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/79/Record-World-1979-10-13.pdf}}</ref>
''[[Record World]]'' called it "a brilliant futuristic treatise on urban guerilla warfare."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Record World|date=October 13, 1979|access-date=2023-02-11|title=Single Picks|page=14|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/79/Record-World-1979-10-13.pdf}}</ref>


[[AllMusic]]'s Bill Janowitz reviewed the song, calling attention to its nearness to funk, saying that it is a "sort of apocalyptic [[punk-funk|punk/funk]] merge" comparable to [[Prince (musician)|Prince's]] later hit single "[[1999 (Prince song)|1999]]".<ref name=AllMusic>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/life-during-wartime-mt0031644471|title=Life During Wartime - Talking Heads &#124; Song Info &#124; AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}}</ref> In 2012, ''[[The New Yorker]]'' described "Life During Wartime" as, "an apocalyptic swamp-funk transmission in four-four time," adding "[it] is the band’s pinnacle, and the song is still a hell of a thing to hear."<ref>Verini, James [http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-talking-heads-song-that-explains-talking-heads The Talking Heads Song That Explains The Talking Heads] ''New Yorker''. December 15, 2015</ref>
[[AllMusic]]'s Bill Janowitz reviewed the song, calling attention to its nearness to funk, saying that it is a "sort of apocalyptic [[punk-funk|punk/funk]] merge" comparable to [[Prince (musician)|Prince's]] later hit single "[[1999 (Prince song)|1999]]".<ref name=AllMusic>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/life-during-wartime-mt0031644471|title=Life During Wartime - Talking Heads &#124; Song Info &#124; AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}}</ref> In 2012, ''[[The New Yorker]]'' described "Life During Wartime" as, "an apocalyptic swamp-funk transmission in four-four time," adding "[it] is the band’s pinnacle, and the song is still a hell of a thing to hear."<ref>Verini, James [http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-talking-heads-song-that-explains-talking-heads The Talking Heads Song That Explains The Talking Heads] ''New Yorker''. December 15, 2015</ref>
Line 88: Line 89:


"The line 'This ain't no disco' sure stuck!" remarks Byrne in the [[liner notes]] of ''[[Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads]]''. "Remember when they would [[Disco Demolition Night|build bonfires]] of [[Donna Summer]] records? Well, we liked some [[Disco|disco music]]! It's called 'dance music' now. Some of it was radical, camp, silly, transcendent and disposable. So it was funny that we were sometimes seen as the flag-bearers of the anti-disco movement."
"The line 'This ain't no disco' sure stuck!" remarks Byrne in the [[liner notes]] of ''[[Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads]]''. "Remember when they would [[Disco Demolition Night|build bonfires]] of [[Donna Summer]] records? Well, we liked some [[Disco|disco music]]! It's called 'dance music' now. Some of it was radical, camp, silly, transcendent and disposable. So it was funny that we were sometimes seen as the flag-bearers of the anti-disco movement."

==Critical reception==
"Life During Wartime" is widely regarded as one of the band's best songs. In 2023, ''[[American Songwriter]]'' ranked the song number nine on their list of the 10 greatest Talking Heads songs,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://americansongwriter.com/top-10-talking-heads-songs/|title=Top 10 Talking Heads Songs|first=Alli|last=Patton|work=[[American Songwriter]]|date=April 29, 2023|accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref> and in 2024, ''[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]'' ranked the song number four on their list of the 30 greatest Talking Heads songs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/talking-heads/the-30-greatest-talking-heads-songs-ranked|title=The 30 Greatest Talking Heads Songs Ranked|first=Matt|last=Mitchell|work=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]|date=April 14, 2024|accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref>

⚫
==Personnel==
⚫
*[[David Byrne]] - vocals, guitar
⚫
*[[Jerry Harrison]] - synthesizers
⚫
*[[Tina Weymouth]] - bass guitar
⚫
*[[Chris Frantz]] - drums
⚫
*Ari and Gene Wilder - congas<ref name="inlay">{{cite AV media notes|title=Fear of Music|others=[[Talking Heads]]|year=1979|type=LP sleeve|publisher=[[Sire Records]]|location=London}}</ref><ref name="inlay2">{{cite AV media notes|title=Fear of Music|others=[[Talking Heads]]|year=2006|type=CD booklet and case back cover|publisher=[[Warner Music Group|Warner]]|location=London}}</ref>


==Charts==
==Charts==
Line 95: Line 106:
!Peak<br/>position
!Peak<br/>position
|-
|-
!scope="row"|US ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100]]<ref>{{cite web|url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=talking heads|chart=all}} |title=Talking Heads Album & Song Chart History |publisher=Billboard |accessdate=13 August 2011}}</ref>
!scope="row"|US ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100]]<ref>{{cite web|url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=talking heads|chart=all}} |title=Talking Heads Album & Song Chart History |publisher=Billboard |access-date=13 August 2011}}</ref>
|80
|80
|}
|}

===Chart runs===
*[[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]]<ref>{{cite book
| first= Joel
| last= Whitburn
| year= 1997
| title= Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles
| edition=
| publisher= Record Research Inc
| location= Menomonee Falls, WI
| isbn= 0-89820-122-5
| page= 603}}</ref> (5 weeks, entered November 3): Reached #80

⚫
===Personnel===
⚫
*[[David Byrne]] - vocals, guitar
⚫
*[[Jerry Harrison]] - synthesizers
⚫
*[[Tina Weymouth]] - bass guitar
⚫
*[[Chris Frantz]] - drums
⚫
*Ari and Gene Wilder - congas<ref name="inlay">{{cite AV media notes|title=Fear of Music|others=[[Talking Heads]]|year=1979|type=LP sleeve|publisher=[[Sire Records]]|location=London}}</ref><ref name="inlay2">{{cite AV media notes|title=Fear of Music|others=[[Talking Heads]]|year=2006|type=CD booklet and case back cover|publisher=[[Warner Music Group|Warner]]|location=London}}</ref>


==Other versions==
==Other versions==
An alternate mix of the song featuring heavy guitar played by Brian Eno<ref>{{cite web |title=Life During Wartime (Alternate Version) |url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=YptCTcVrf9w |website=YouTube |access-date=17 April 2024}}. See personnel credits in song description.</ref> was released on the 2005 compilation ''[[Talking Heads (album)|Talking Heads]]'' and the 2005 expanded CD reissue of ''Fear of Music''. This version of the song is longer (4:07 v 3:41) and does not fade out as early, with extra verses that are not heard in the regular album version.
An alternative mix of the song, featuring prominent guitar playing by [[Robert Fripp]], was released on the 2005 compilation ''[[Talking Heads (album)|Talking Heads]]'' and the 2005 expanded CD reissue of ''Fear of Music''. At 4:07 this version of the song is longer and does not fade out as early, with extra verses that are not heard in the original.{{cn|date=October 2024}}


=== Live versions ===
=== Live versions ===
Line 125: Line 117:
* 1980 ''Remain in Light'' tour version, appeared on the 1982 live compilation album ''[[The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads|The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads]]''
* 1980 ''Remain in Light'' tour version, appeared on the 1982 live compilation album ''[[The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads|The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads]]''
* 1983 ''[[Stop Making Sense]]'' tour version, appeared on the [[Stop Making Sense (album)|album]] and film of the same name.
* 1983 ''[[Stop Making Sense]]'' tour version, appeared on the [[Stop Making Sense (album)|album]] and film of the same name.
* 1992 [[David Byrne]] solo version, from the ''[[Between the Teeth]]'' film.<ref>{{Cite web|title=David Byrne – Between The Teeth – Live|url=https://www.discogs.com/David-Byrne-Between-The-Teeth-Live/master/569105|access-date=2020-08-10|website=Discogs|language=en}}</ref>
* 1992 [[David Byrne]] solo version, from the ''[[Between the Teeth]]'' film.<ref>{{Cite web|title=David Byrne – Between The Teeth – Live|url=https://www.discogs.com/David-Byrne-Between-The-Teeth-Live/master/569105|access-date=2020-08-10|website=Discogs|date=1993 |language=en}}</ref>
* 2001 David Byrne solo version appeared on the 2007 album and film ''[[Live from Austin, TX (David Byrne album)|Live From Austin TX]]''
* 2001 David Byrne solo version appeared on the 2007 album and film ''[[Live from Austin, TX (David Byrne album)|Live From Austin TX]]''
* 2003 David Byrne solo version appeared on the ''[[David Byrne Live at Union Chapel|Live at Union Chapel]]'' film.
* 2003 David Byrne solo version appeared on the ''[[David Byrne Live at Union Chapel|Live at Union Chapel]]'' film.
Line 132: Line 124:


=== Cover versions ===
=== Cover versions ===
[[The Staple Singers]] covered this song on their eponymous 1985 album.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-staple-singers-mw0003131129|title=The Staple Singers - The Staple Singers &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits &#124; AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAXZ1wqI8zk|title=Life During Wartime|via=www.youtube.com}}</ref>
[[The Staple Singers]] covered this song on their eponymous 1985 album.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-staple-singers-mw0003131129|title=The Staple Singers - The Staple Singers &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits &#124; AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAXZ1wqI8zk|title=Life During Wartime|date=30 November 2017 |via=www.youtube.com}}</ref>


==References==
==References==

Latest revision as of 07:25, 20 December 2024

For the song by Pinhead Gunpowder, see Goodbye Ellston Avenue.
"Life During Wartime"
UK vinyl single
Single by Talking Heads
from the album Fear of Music and The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
B-side"Electric Guitar" (1979)
Released
  • September 1979
  • 1982 (live)
Genre
Length
  • 3:41
  • 5:52 (live)
LabelSire
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Talking Heads singles chronology
"Take Me to the River"
(1978) 		"Life During Wartime"
(1979) 		"I Zimbra"
(1980)
"Houses in Motion (alternate mix)"
(1981)
"Life During Wartime (Live)"
(1982)
"Burning Down the House"
(1983)
Alternative release
US vinyl single
Official audio
"Life During Wartime" (2005 Remaster) on YouTube

"Life During Wartime" is a song by the American new wave band Talking Heads, released as the first single from their 1979 album Fear of Music.[2] It entered the US Billboard Pop Singles Chart on November 3, 1979, and peaked at number 80, spending a total of five weeks on the chart.[3]

The song is also performed in the 1984 film Stop Making Sense, which depicts a Talking Heads concert. The performance featured in the film prominently features aerobic exercising and jogging by David Byrne and background singers. The Stop Making Sense live version of the track is featured in the film's accompanying soundtrack album. Its official title as a single, "Life During Wartime (This Ain't No Party... This Ain't No Disco... This Ain't No Foolin' Around)", makes it one of the longest-titled singles.[4]

The song is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[5]

Origin

[edit]

In David Bowman's book This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century Byrne is quoted as describing the genesis of the song:

David wrote nine of the album's eleven tracks. Two numbers came out of jamming. The first would be called "Life During Wartime." David's lyrics describe a Walker Percy-ish post-apocalyptic landscape where a revolutionary hides out in a deserted cemetery, surviving on peanut butter. "I wrote this in my loft on Seventh and Avenue A," David later said, "I was thinking about Baader-Meinhof. Patty Hearst. Tompkins Square. This a song about living in Alphabet City."[6]

Record World called it "a brilliant futuristic treatise on urban guerilla warfare."[7]

AllMusic's Bill Janowitz reviewed the song, calling attention to its nearness to funk, saying that it is a "sort of apocalyptic punk/funk merge" comparable to Prince's later hit single "1999".[8] In 2012, The New Yorker described "Life During Wartime" as, "an apocalyptic swamp-funk transmission in four-four time," adding "[it] is the band’s pinnacle, and the song is still a hell of a thing to hear."[9]

Lyrics

[edit]

The lyrics are told from the point of view of someone involved in clandestine activities in the U.S. (the cities Houston, Detroit, and Pittsburgh are mentioned) during some sort of civil unrest or dystopian environment.[8]

The line "This ain't no Mudd Club or CBGB" refers to two New York music venues at which the band performed in the 1970s.[8]

"The line 'This ain't no disco' sure stuck!" remarks Byrne in the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads. "Remember when they would build bonfires of Donna Summer records? Well, we liked some disco music! It's called 'dance music' now. Some of it was radical, camp, silly, transcendent and disposable. So it was funny that we were sometimes seen as the flag-bearers of the anti-disco movement."

Critical reception

[edit]

"Life During Wartime" is widely regarded as one of the band's best songs. In 2023, American Songwriter ranked the song number nine on their list of the 10 greatest Talking Heads songs,[10] and in 2024, Paste ranked the song number four on their list of the 30 greatest Talking Heads songs.[11]

Personnel

[edit]

Charts

[edit]
Chart (1979) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[14] 80

Other versions

[edit]

An alternative mix of the song, featuring prominent guitar playing by Robert Fripp, was released on the 2005 compilation Talking Heads and the 2005 expanded CD reissue of Fear of Music. At 4:07 this version of the song is longer and does not fade out as early, with extra verses that are not heard in the original.[citation needed]

Live versions

[edit]

Cover versions

[edit]

The Staple Singers covered this song on their eponymous 1985 album.[16][17]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Janovitz, Bill. "Cities by Talking Heads - Track Info - AllMusic". allmusic. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  2. ^ Bershaw, Alan Exclusive: Listen to a Talking Heads Concert from 1979 Paste Magazine. December 14, 2015
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1997). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research Inc. p. 603. ISBN 0-89820-122-5.
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1997). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research Inc. p. 869. ISBN 0-89820-122-5.
  5. ^ Experience The Music: One Hit Wonders and The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. December 15, 2015
  6. ^ Bowman, David (2001). This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. p. 152. ISBN 0-380-97846-6.
  7. ^ "Single Picks" (PDF). Record World. October 13, 1979. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  8. ^ a b c "Life During Wartime - Talking Heads | Song Info | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
  9. ^ Verini, James The Talking Heads Song That Explains The Talking Heads New Yorker. December 15, 2015
  10. ^ Patton, Alli (April 29, 2023). "Top 10 Talking Heads Songs". American Songwriter. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  11. ^ Mitchell, Matt (April 14, 2024). "The 30 Greatest Talking Heads Songs Ranked". Paste. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  12. ^ Fear of Music (LP sleeve). Talking Heads. London: Sire Records. 1979.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  13. ^ Fear of Music (CD booklet and case back cover). Talking Heads. London: Warner. 2006.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. ^ "Talking Heads Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  15. ^ "David Byrne – Between The Teeth – Live". Discogs. 1993. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  16. ^ "The Staple Singers - The Staple Singers | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
  17. ^ "Life During Wartime". 30 November 2017 – via www.youtube.com.
[edit]
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