Psycho Killer

"Psycho Killer"
Single by Talking Heads
from the album Talking Heads: 77
B-side	"Psycho Killer" (Acoustic version)
Released	December 1977
Format	7"
Recorded	1977
Genre	Post-punk, New Wave
Length	4:19
Label	Sire
Writer(s)	David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth
Producer	Tony Bongiovi, Lance Quinn
Talking Heads singles chronology
"Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town" (1977) "Psycho Killer" (1977) "Pulled Up" (1978)

"Psycho Killer" is a song by American New Wave band Talking Heads from their 1977 album Talking Heads: 77, written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth. The band's "signature debut hit" features lyrics which seem to represent the thoughts of a serial killer. Allmusic calls it a "deceptively funky New Wave/No Wave song ... [with] an insistent rhythm, and one of the most memorable, driving basslines in rock & roll."

"Psycho Killer" was the only song from the album to appear on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, peaking at number 92. It placed 32nd on the Triple J Hottest 100 in 1989, and peaked at #11 on the Dutch singles chart in 1977.

Lyrics

According to the preliminary lyric sheets copied onto the 2006 remaster of Talking Heads: 77, the song started off as a semi-narrative of the killer actually committing murders. Byrne has said of the song:^{[citation needed]}

“

When I started writing this (I got help later), I imagined Alice Cooper doing a Randy Newman-type ballad. Both the Joker and Hannibal Lecter were much more fascinating than the good guys. Everybody sort of roots for the bad guys in movies.

”

The bridge lyrics are in French, as is the prominent chorus line "Qu'est-ce que c'est ?" ("What is this/it?"). The bridge lyrics are:

Ce que j'ai fait ce soir-là

Ce qu'elle a dit ce soir-là

Réalisant mon espoir

Je me lance vers la gloire... OK

What I did, that evening

What she said, that evening

Fulfilling my hope

Headlong I go for glory... OK

Later releases

A live version was released on The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads in 1982 and the later CD release included a second, later live version from the Remain in Light tour. In 1984 later, another live version was included on the soundtrack for Stop Making Sense, the band's concert movie. The film opens with Byrne alone onstage, announcing "'Hi. I've got a tape I want to play'...[and] strumming maniacally like Richie Havens", playing an acoustic version of "Psycho Killer", backed only by a Roland TR-808 drum machine whose sound appears to be issuing from a boom box.

The song also appears on their 1992 compilation album Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites and over a decade later on another compilation album, The Best of Talking Heads.

Charts

Chart (1977)	Peak position
Dutch Singles Chart	11
US Billboard Hot 100	92

Influence, and other versions

The song has been recorded in cover versions by many bands including Brand New, The Features, Julie Christensen, Velvet Revolver, Bushwalla, James Hall, Rab Noakes, Cranial Screwtop, Cage the Elephant, Local H, Barenaked Ladies (on Buck Naked), Phish, Jason Isbell, Antiseen, Richard Thompson, Faker, Moxy Früvous, Terrorvision, Rico, The Faint, Bishop Allen, The Kransky Sisters, Victoria Vox, and Two Sheds. A live version by Oh-OK appears on The Complete Recordings. Pete Doherty covered the song during his performance at Glastonbury in 2009. "Psycho Killer" has been covered a cappella by both The Flying Pickets and The Bobs. An operatic version by Kate Miller-Heidke is played during the closing credits of an episode of Spicks and Specks, and there is a also a version in Polish ("Psychobójca") by Mariusz Lubomski.^{[citation needed]}

Massachusetts-based band The Fools released a version with parody lyrics entitled "Psycho Chicken"; it was included as a bonus record with their major-label debut album Sold Out in 1980 and released in a live version on their 2003 live album The F In Beach Album. The phrase "A Psycho Killer/Well Qu'est-ce que c'est?" is repeated in the song "M & M" by the band Pezz, who are now known as Billy Talent. In 2009, the song was also covered by Italian X Factor winner Marco Mengoni. The song was later included in his debut EP, Dove si vola.

Rapper Ice-T says that "Psycho Killer" was a starting influence for Body Count's controversial hit "Cop Killer".

In 2008 French mash-up producer ToToM mixed "Psycho Killer" with MSTRKRFT's "Bounce" and is widely known as "Psycho Bouncer".

Seattle based electro/hip-hop group Mad Rad referenced the song in their song "Qu'est-ce Que C'est" (the title itself, a reference) with lyrics, "I'm a psycho, you're a killer. Qu'est-ce Que C'est. Run away"

In popular culture

The song has been featured in many TV series, including The Simpsons, Heroes, St. Elsewhere and Mad Dogs. It is also featured in the films Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon and Julie and Julia, as well as in the trailer for the film Killers. In the third episode of television show Flight of the Conchords, "Mugged", a reference to "Psycho Killer" is featured in a line of dialogue, "He's a psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est?". In 2008, the song was included in the music video game Rock Band 2, developed by Harmonix Music Systems. The Commodore 64 game Ghetto Blaster features an enemy called "Psycho Killer". If he manages to catch the player, the screen displays the lyrics to the chorus of the song.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain performed their arrangement at the Royal Albert Hall in a concert broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 as part of The Proms season, 2009.

The phrase "Psycho killer, qu-est-ce que c'est?" is also used to describe the character Juliet Sykes in Lauren Oliver's novel, Before I Fall, published in February 2010.