The Book I Read A lovely, bouncy, poppy sort of danceable tune! Both Byrne and the band firing on all cylinders. Lots of great lyrics here: I have to write about the book I read I'm embarrassed to admit it hit the soft spot in my heart when I found out you wrote the book I read I'm living in the future, I feel wonderful, I'm tipping over backwards... The book I read was in your eyes I'm spinning around but I feel alright The Na-na chorus (bridge?) is also pretty great. [Everybody sing along!!] I never knew about the Sean Cassidy cover before. Must've been later in his career. Sounds like he wants to be Bowie more than Byrne [not that there's anything wrong with that], but seems to kind of peter out towards the end, maybe running out of ideas...
No Compassion As (to my ears) there is no melody to speak of, the songs virtues rest upon the lyrics, which I don't care for. 1/5
Not to be a killjoy.. but "fun and quirky and funky" is fine, but in small doses. I'm close to ODing at times here... The best is yet to come.
One of the most memorable tracks on the album, and one of the best. So many great little vocal flourishes here and there, such as the way he hits "SO..." at the start of the second verse and the slight vibrato on "arms" and "alright" (So take my shoulders as they touch your arms, I've got little cold chills but I feel alright...) Love this one. Clear 4.5/5 for this guy.
Catching up after my weekend... this is really where the album picks up steam and becomes a classic. I love the sequence of these three songs together. Who Is It? - I didn't pick up on this for but to me it's pretty clear now that this is kind of a spiritual precursor to "I Zimbra" two albums later. Emphasis is on fun, movement, the sounds of words rather than the words themselves or their meaning, all over an impossibly funky, but utterly nimble, gone-before-you-know-it arrangement. As others have noted, the perfect gap between this and the next song make them almost of a piece. Completely original and irresistible. No Compassion - "Not so cool to have so many problems," one of many favorite lines from this song which others have already quoted the rest. The slide guitars always a welcome addition to their palette, employed in an unorthodox manner for atmospheric effect rather than bluesy emoting. The change in tempo to the fleetfooted bridge is a thrill each time. Definitely a more muscular and rocking track than the rest of the record, they were always versatile and just became more so with each record. The Book I Read - The piano and organ are nice touches to shake up the record a bit. I love David's vocals on this, nobody sang like this and it's so self-assured, despite Frantz's admission later that he could be a "trainwreck" in front of the mic in the early days. My favorite part being the "Oooooooooooh I'm living in the future...." so soulful. I'm noticing on the remaster it's easy to pick out some double tracked vocals sometimes, there are a lot of cool little touches to David's performance and the sound of it. Even all that ad-libbing at the end works great, we all wouldn't have been shocked if it didn't though; that's some tightrope walking without much net when he goes up for those sustained falsetto notes. Somehow it all complements the joy of the previous lyrics brilliantly.
The Book I Read A big part of the reason I love this album is due to its quirkiness and this fits right in. 4.5/5
The Book I Read This is where the songs start to get memorable for me, and the album really takes off. Really strong writing and performance. 5/5
Given that they take a considerable leap forward musically as soon as their next album, I don't think an album of "fun and quirky and funky" steps into OD range, particularly since the melodies and arrangements are consistently clever/inventive (IMO, at least). I understand that everyone hears these things differently, but it's not like they spent an entire decade or something beating this formula to death.
The Book I Read This is another favorite. It’s such a great quirky love song that brings me back to my college days and hanging around with a girl I was in love with. Sadly she had a boyfriend. Tough to compete with a guy in the rock band, lol. Anyway we were good friends and I went with her to see her boyfriend’s band play. You wouldn’t think this combination would work, but the boyfriend’s band sounded like a cross between the Talking Heads and the Grateful Dead, and they were actually pretty great. Anyway this track and others on this album, including one coming up, transport me back, and are just so joyful and capture my feelings from those days so well. I agree that Dave’s vocals on this track are some of the strongest on the album. Just a great infectious track that I still love decades later.
"The Book I Read" - Chris and David had spent some years playing early '70s pop and r'n'b hits, and it shows on these early songs. So many hooks, particularly rhythmically. I love the "na na na na" break. And I love it when an artist finds a new way to express a love song. 4.5/5
The Book I Read: I agree with all the positive comments, this is clearly one of their best early tracks. 5/5
The Book I Read This is a a really interesting song. I really like the driving piano in this song and I like the groove. The na-nas go a bit long for my liking - is this what he meant by channeling KC, I suspect it's more the somewhat disco beat to it, myself. Catchy and it does have an infectious groove. 3.9/5
"The Book I Read" More goofy lyrics but an instantly catchy intro, a hummable, bouncy tune and propulsive, almost danceable bridge. I'm embarrassed to admit it but I'm giving it a 5/5
Our votes for “The Book I Read” 1-0 2-0 3-2 4-7 5-15 Average: 4.3917 Updated Cumulative Rankings For Talking Heads: 77 1. The Book I Read – 4.3917 (24) 2. No Compassion – 4.2404 (26) 3. Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town – 4.0310 (29) 4. New Feeling – 3.8846 (26) 5. Happy Day – 3.6900 (25) 6. Who Is It? – 3.5714 (28) 7. Tentative Decisions – 3.4185 (27)
Today’s song is “Don’t Worry About The Government” Lyrics – Don’t Worry About The Government Written by David Byrne. In this track David proclaims the virtues of suburbia, civil servants and municipal employees that work hard for the people, and home sweet home. Years later, Tina reflected, “It was just us saying that the best rock and roll comes out of the suburbs. It was a beautiful and innocent sentiment.” Lines are blurred and it’s not clear where sarcasm and irony begins and ends. This was the b-side to the “Pulled Up” single.
