I wanted to pick something by the great David Byrne and in the end it was a toss up between this and Once in a Lifetime. I chose this because it is slightly less well known and equally brilliant.
It starts with the sense of expectation created by acoustic guitar picking and floating synth chord and then suddenly kicks off with that fantastic opening lyric (see above).
Being a guitar man I was never much of a fan of synthesizer music, which dominated the charts in the Seventies, but Talking Heads use one to great effect on this track - farty, wah-wahed little chord stabs punctuate the song giving it a funky, disco feel. It seems so modern compared to everything else that was happening in the Eighties (apart from those other great musical pioneers Mr Bowie and Roxy Music of course).
Add some tribal drumming and you end up with a thrilling yet mysterious track which is impossible not to dance to.
Desert Island Discs
1 - Midnight At The Oasis
'Heaven’s Holding
a Half Moon’
2 - Drive-In Saturday
‘Jung the Foreman
Prayed at Work...’
3 - Virginia Plain
Make Me a Deal,
and Make it Straight!’
4 - Au Fond du Temple Saint
‘At the Back of
the Holy Temple’
5 - Kid
‘Angry Tears Are Too Dear,
You Won’t Let Them Go’
6 - Burning Down The House
‘Watch Out! You Might
Get What You’re After'
7 - Riders on the Storm
‘There’s a Killer on the Road’
8 - Across the Universe
'Words are Flowing Out
Like Endless Rain
into a Paper Cup'