Match the song title: Stop Making Sense

 

It was the summer of 1986. I was working for my college's food services. I had gotten the key job of grilling hot dogs outside. It was just me and Kathy D., who would cash out customers, three times a week from 11 am.-2 p.m., serving up dogs under the sunshine.

I was interested in Kathy D., the way I was interested in any college girl who said two words to me. But Talking Heads concert movie fan, Jason S., was interested in her, too. While we were working, he would stop by just to yammer at her. He'd riff on lyrics from the "Stop Making Sense" movie. I hadn't seen the movie, but I had the album that went along with it (the cassette actually). I mentioned that, and Jason S. said, "you need to watch the movie."

I finally did and I'm glad I did. I've always been a music guy over being a movie guy. But this was a perfect blend of both.

It's considered one of the greatest concert movies of all-time and so groundbreaking that the 40th anniversary of the movie and album has been celebrated all year. The four members of the band have been doing the talk show circuit together, reminiscing about the album and their careers. And there's a tribute album out in which current artists sing Talking Heads songs (the only one I've heard is Paramore's Burning Down the House).

 

It's nice to see people recognize the Talking Heads now -- not just older people who remember the time but younger people who respect their influence.

So here is my little tribute to that album, called "Match the Song Title," where I match a card to each song on the record. I know some people think this exercise is weird and may not make sense, which means it's perfect for this album.

Here's the track list:

Qu'est-ce que c'est?

 

Match the Song Title: "Stop Making Sense, Talking Heads"

Track 1: Psycho Killer
(From Talking Heads, 1977)

The player nicknamed "Psycho" gets the honors of representing the first song on the album, which is a look into the inner-mind babblings of a "psycho killer," ... or David Byrne. Fa, fa, fa, fa, fa. Fa, fa, fa, fa, fa, fa.

Track 2: Swamp

(From Speaking in Tongues, 1983)

I have such a visceral reaction to 1980 Empire Strike Back cards. I collected nearly the entire first set in '80. I often wonder if they're worth pursuing again, based on my reaction to seeing this card and all of the others again after all these years. Probably will never do anything about it though.

Track 3: Slippery People
(From Speaking in Tongues, 1983)

This terrific 1954-55 Parkhurst hockey card gets to represent Track 3, which references certain sketchy folks in life. For the "slippery" part, you need to turn the card over to the back.

 

Rookie appearance of Jacques Plante! And terrific use of the old-school sports adjective "lamp-lighter"!

Track 4: Burning Down the House
(From Speaking in Tongues, 1983)

This Panini Prestige insert is good enough for the song about breaking the ties that bind. It's got the word "house," it's got flames. Hey, there are no cards about people committing arson (as far as I know).

 

Track 5: Girlfriend Is Better

(From Speaking in Tongues, 1983)

This 1966 Topps Monster Laffs card is my favorite card inclusion from this episode. The cards for this album is a nice mix of cards from my collection and odd items I don't have but would like to have. Seems appropriate for this band.

Track 6: Once in a Lifetime

(From Remain in Light, 1980)

These retro insert tributes for past Topps sets with the bizarre "35th anniversary" designation seemingly will go on and on, at least for a few more years (I can't image collectors getting excited for an insert with the 1996 design). They are now numbingly expected, and pulling them, you can't help but hear the lyric in your head: "Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Same AS IT EVER WAS."

 

Track 7: What a Day That Was

(From David Byrne's solo album, The Catherine Wheel, 1981)

This is the least-familiar song on the album to me, as it's from a Byrne solo album that I haven't listened to ... yet. In baseball, "What a Day That Was" takes me back to the first big baseball moment that I could appreciate. That was when Mike Schmidt hit four home runs in a game against the Cubs in the first month of the 1976 season. He made the cover of Sports Illustrated for that and I read the story with fascination.

Track 8: Life During Wartime

(From Fear of Music, 1979)

If you haven't seen video footage of this song's performance -- hard to believe as it has been reacted to up-and-down the social medias -- go watch it and try to sit still.

The lyrics for this song are dark, very specific and wonderfully accurate. Les Webber played almost his entire career for the Brooklyn Dodgers and during World War II. He was mostly a relief pitcher.

Track 9: Take Me To The River

(From More Songs About Buildings And Food, 1978)

Talking Heads' version of "Take Me To The River" is the first version that I knew. Back when I was making my first mix tapes, it was one of the early songs I taped off the radio. The original version, by Al Green, from his 1974 album "Al Green Explores Your Mind," never made the Billboard charts. Talking Heads' version reached just No. 26. The chart's lack of respect for both versions is an injustice.

At that's where the needle comes off the record.

There are a lot of different versions of this album with different track listings and remasters and expanded editions. But I'm not familiar with those others, just what I first heard on that tape way back in 1984/1985.

Talking Heads still means something to me, not just in a nostalgic way. My daughter's boyfriend got into the Talking Heads a year or two ago, which is a bit of a switch from his hip-hop interests (but not really). We've been able to connect by talking about the band and isn't that cool?

Little did I know back when I was grilling hot dogs outside "The Bengal Burger" in 1986 that I'd still be discussing the band.