Burning Down the House
| "Burning Down the House" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Talking Heads | ||||
| from the album Speaking in Tongues | ||||
| Released | 1983 | |||
| Format | 12", CD | |||
| Genre | New Wave | |||
| Length | 4:00 | |||
| Label | Sire | |||
| Writer(s) | David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth | |||
| Producer | Talking Heads | |||
| Talking Heads singles chronology | ||||
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"Burning Down the House" is a song by New Wave band Talking Heads, released as the first single from their fifth studio album Speaking in Tongues.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Chris Frantz has stated that he thought of the titular chorus after seeing a Parliament-Funkadelic show where the crowd chanted "Burn down the house." The initial lyrics were considerably different, however. In an interview on NPR's "All Things Considered" aired on December 2, 1984, David Byrne played excerpts of early worktapes showing how the song had evolved from an instrumental jam by Tina Weymouth (bass) and Chris Frantz (drums). Once the whole band had reworked the groove into something resembling the final recording, Byrne began chanting and singing nonsense syllables over the music until he had arrived at phrasing that fit with the rhythms—a technique influenced by former Talking Heads producer Brian Eno-- "and then I [would] just write words to fit that phrasing... I'd have loads and loads of phrases collected that I thought thematically had something to do with one another, and I'd pick from those."
According to Byrne in the NPR interview, phrases he tried but ultimately didn't use in the song's recorded "verses" included "I have another body," "Pick it up by the handle," "You travel with a double," and "I'm still under construction." As for the title phrase in the chorus, one early attempt (as heard on a worktape) had him singing a different line, "What are we gonna do?", and at another point in the process, "instead of chanting 'Burning Down the House,' I was chanting 'Foam Rubber, USA.'"
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, "Burning Down the House" was one of the songs put on Clear Channel's list of possibly inappropriate songs.
[edit] Music video
The house used in the "Burning Down the House" video is located on Myrtle Street in Union, New Jersey. Max Illidge, vocalist of the band 40 Below Summer, is featured as a young boy in the video. This was revealed on an episode of Headbangers Ball. Rockets Redglare was also in the video playing Jerry Harrison's part.
[edit] Covers
A section of the song was covered by "Weird Al" Yankovic on his "Polkas on 45" polka medley. It was also covered by Tom Jones with The Cardigans in Jones's 1999 album Reload. Bonnie Raitt covered the song on her live album, Road Tested Montreal DJ/producer Tiga recorded a cover of this song for his 2006 album, Sexor. John Legend also covered the song on his album Live at SOB's. A version by the Vienna Boys' Choir can be found on their 2002 album Vienna Boys' Choir Goes Pop. Marcus Miller also recorded a jazz/funk cover of this song. The Dave Matthews Band has covered the song during its concert tours, debuting the tune at Louisville Slugger Ballpark on August 1, 2008.[1] They released a version of the song on their live album Live Trax Vol. 15 and played it with Trombone Shorty and Kermit Ruffins at the NFL 2010 Season Opening Kickoff pregame show. Heather Luttrell sang this song on Rock Star: INXS Toby Rand sang this song on Rock Star Supernova. The Radiators have been covering the song since 2003, and it has become one of their most frequent and popular covers. The Used also covered the song in 2009 that was featured in the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack and in the end credits to the True Blood episode, "Burning Down the House". Phish covered the song during a concert on August 12, 1998 in Vernon, NY, initially replacing the words in the first refrain of "burning down the house" to "Vernon Downs the house;" a reference to the venue at which they were performing.[2] In 2001, bassist Marcus Miller covered the song from his album M².[3][4]
[edit] Chart performance
"Burning Down the House" became the Talking Heads' highest-charting hit single in North America, becoming their lone top ten single on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #9, as well as reaching the top ten in Canada. Despite this success, outside of North America the song was not a hit; in the UK, where Talking Heads would release 14 charting singles, it failed to make the charts at all, and in Australia it peaked at a very modest #94.
[edit] Charts
| Chart (1983) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart[5] | 94 |
| Canadian Singles Chart[6] | 8 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart[7] | 5 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[8] | 9 |
| US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks[8] | 6 |
[edit] References
- ^ "Antsmarching.org Tour Central Database". Antsmarching.org. http://antsmarching.org/tour/ViewSongShows.php?SongID=409. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
- ^ "Setlists". Phish.net. http://phish.net/setlists/1998.html. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ "M² overview". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r531969.
- ^ "M2 Marcus Miller". JazzTimes. http://jazztimes.com/articles/12447-m2-marcus-miller.
- ^ "Discography Talking Heads". Australian-charts.com. http://australian-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Talking+Heads. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
- ^ "Talking Heads Top Singles positions". RPM. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=c6btf3r8hs459qqt5ln3o3dcv5&q1=%22Talking+Heads%22+%22Top+Singles%22&q2=&interval=50. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
- ^ "Discography Talking Heads". Charts.org.nz. http://charts.org.nz/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Talking+Heads. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
- ^ a b "Talking Heads > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/artist/talking-heads-p5594/charts-awards/billboard-singles. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
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