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It’s about time I got around to covering the Talking Heads, don’t you think?
Weirdly, a lot of their material is kind of under-researched, unless you’re willing to do deep dives into the biographies and such. However, that seems to be loosening up in recent years as more people get nostalgic about the 1980s. And now I’m realizing that that’s like my grandparents being nostalgic for World War 2.
Anyway, that, I think, is why I was able to find a decent amount of material for this song. It was the Heads’ first single and the one that encouraged David Byrne to keep on keeping on. Because, while it didn’t chart huge in the US (peaking at Number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart), it gave him the understanding that there was, in fact, an audience out there for his rather peculiar musical style.
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And, as promised, here’s a video of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain performing their version of this song in 2009. Stay with it, it’s pretty cool.
I am NOT, on the other hand, going to link you to “Psycho Chicken.” You can find that one on your own. You have been warned.
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain are still going. They post regularly on YouTube. Their version of the ‘Theme from Shaft’ at Shrewsbury Folk Festival is particularly good. They have caused a growth of ukulele bands in the UK.
Thanks for the pod. I have listened for 2-3 years. As a UK listener I don’t understand all of the references but it’s a good education.
I figured they were still around; what I wasn’t sure of was whether the lineup is the same.
Now I’m kind of curious to know what I’m saying that the UK listeners don’t get, since I know I have a chunk of folks on that side of the Atlantic. It’s one of the reasons I like to report the British chart appearances if I know them.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go search for a ukulele version of “Theme From Shaft.”