For the next 30 days, I’ll be taking the #AprilAcrossAmerica challenge, picking one song a day as I make my way across the country and across genres at the same time.
Day 3: Providence, RI
They’ve come a long way since their days at RISD, haven’t they? Last year, I saw David Byrne’s American Utopia, a brilliant show that combined a series of essays that allowed Byrne to truly connect with us in an honest, simple way. In between these treatises on the human condition was essentially a mini Talking Heads concert. I was in heaven. The show was a testament of two things: the resiliency of the band’s music after more than 30 years and the unique, yet highly relatable perspective of David Byrne. One of the longstanding testaments of this is their debut album’s closing track, “Pulled Up”.
Most of the songs on that record were overshadowed by the Talking Heads menacing anthem “Psycho Killer”. But to overlook “Pulled Up” would be a bad mistake. The song is one of the early blueprints of new wave. The instrumentation and demeanor was unlike anything else out there. Like on several other Talking Heads songs, Byrne’s paradoxical tendencies are on full display, most notably in the chorus. He seems simultaneously out of control and in control. He’s not just singing lyrics, those are emotions and expressions coming out of his mouth. Musically, we get a taste of the unique, boisterous bass playing of Tina Weymouth in lock step with boyfriend Chris Frantz’s ready-steady drum style and Harrison’s guitar riffs that cascade like little electric currents inside our brains.
“I DRIFT AWAY TO ANOTHER LAND. SLEEPING DREAMING SUCH A SIMPLE THING. I THINK OF THINGS THAT I MIGHT BE. I SEE MY NAME GO DOWN IN HISTORY.”