Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads song)
Encyclopedia
"Once in a Lifetime" is a song by New Wave band Talking Heads
, released as the first single from their fourth studio album Remain in Light
. The song was written by David Byrne
, Brian Eno
, Chris Frantz
, Jerry Harrison
, and Tina Weymouth
, and produced by Eno. It received critical acclaim, and was named one of the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century by National Public Radio.
At the time of its original release, the song gained modest chart success, peaking at #14 on the UK Singles Chart
and at #31 in the Dutch singles chart
. While the song failed to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100
chart, various American 80s format radio stations have come to programming it in their playlists over the years.
It was also an early MTV
staple and was one of the most heavily played videos upon MTVs debut in August 1981.
A live version of the song taken from Talking Heads' concert film
Stop Making Sense
was released as a single in 1985, peaking at #91 on the Billboard Hot 100.
introduced Fela Kuti
's multiple rhythm music style to the band, and when producing used a different rhythm count to the band which results in a rhythm imbalance throughout the song. Jerry Harrison
developed the synthesizer line and added the hammond organ climax taken from Velvet Underground's "What Goes On
". Eno sang nonsense verb sound blocks, which Byrne then converted into lyrics in the call and response style of American radio evangelists on the theme of moving through life with little awareness or questioning.
As the song essentially consisted of a repetitive 2 bar groove (with the pattern reversed between the verse and the chorus) Brian Eno decided to approach the production by allowing each of the band members to record overdubs of different rhythmic and musical ideas independently to each other, with each member being kept blind to what the others had put down on tape. In the final mix Eno faded between these different independent ideas at different parts of the song. This is very much in keeping with his production technique of Oblique Strategies
.
mood to it, although it is usually interpreted to be a song dealing with the midlife crisis
and the inevitable sacrifice of youthful ideals and dreams for conventional success.
features a bespectacled David Byrne
dancing much like a marionette
. Byrne is shown making sudden flings of his arm, tapping his head, and getting on his hands and knees to pat the floor, much like simple tricks which can be done with actual marionettes. In the background, clones of Byrne dance in perfect synchronization; in the foreground, a larger Byrne is getting further and further out of synch.
The video is exhibited in the New York Museum of Modern Art. Some of Byrne's mannerisms (such as physical spasms, unfocussed eye movements, and sharp intakes of breath) were inspired by his choreographer Toni Basil
showing him footage of epilepsy sufferers.
Stop Making Sense
is notable for its almost 4-minute long, unbroken chiaroscuro
shot of Byrne performing the song.
This version of the song also plays over the opening titles of Down and Out in Beverly Hills
. The song was remixed to remove the live audience.
The live performance was released as a single in 1985, peaking at #91 on the US Billboard Hot 100
.
Live version
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
, released as the first single from their fourth studio album Remain in Light
Remain in Light
Remain in Light is the fourth studio album by American New Wave band Talking Heads, released on 8 October 1980 on Sire Records. It was recorded at locations in the Bahamas and the United States between July and August 1980 and was produced by the quartet's long-time collaborator...
. The song was written by David Byrne
David Byrne (musician)
David Byrne is a musician and artist, best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography,...
, Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, Chris Frantz
Chris Frantz
Chris Frantz is an American musician and record producer. He was the drummer for both Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club.-Career:...
, Jerry Harrison
Jerry Harrison
Jerry Harrison is an American songwriter, musician and producer...
, and Tina Weymouth
Tina Weymouth
Martina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the New Wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club .-Profile:Weymouth is of French heritage on her mother's side. Weymouth was a cheerleader in high school...
, and produced by Eno. It received critical acclaim, and was named one of the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century by National Public Radio.
At the time of its original release, the song gained modest chart success, peaking at #14 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
and at #31 in the Dutch singles chart
Dutch Top 40
The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...
. While the song failed to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart, various American 80s format radio stations have come to programming it in their playlists over the years.
It was also an early MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
staple and was one of the most heavily played videos upon MTVs debut in August 1981.
A live version of the song taken from Talking Heads' concert film
Concert film
A concert movie, or concert film, is a type of documentary film, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by a musician ....
Stop Making Sense
Stop Making Sense
Stop Making Sense is a concert movie featuring Talking Heads live on stage. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December 1983, as the group was touring to promote their new album Speaking in Tongues. The movie is notable for...
was released as a single in 1985, peaking at #91 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Production
Brian EnoBrian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
introduced Fela Kuti
Fela Kuti
Fela Anikulapo Kuti , or simply Fela , was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.-Biography:...
's multiple rhythm music style to the band, and when producing used a different rhythm count to the band which results in a rhythm imbalance throughout the song. Jerry Harrison
Jerry Harrison
Jerry Harrison is an American songwriter, musician and producer...
developed the synthesizer line and added the hammond organ climax taken from Velvet Underground's "What Goes On
The Velvet Underground (album)
The Velvet Underground is the third album by American rock group The Velvet Underground. It was their first record to feature Doug Yule, John Cale's replacement. It was recorded in 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood, California. This album's softer sound marks a radical shift in approach in style...
". Eno sang nonsense verb sound blocks, which Byrne then converted into lyrics in the call and response style of American radio evangelists on the theme of moving through life with little awareness or questioning.
As the song essentially consisted of a repetitive 2 bar groove (with the pattern reversed between the verse and the chorus) Brian Eno decided to approach the production by allowing each of the band members to record overdubs of different rhythmic and musical ideas independently to each other, with each member being kept blind to what the others had put down on tape. In the final mix Eno faded between these different independent ideas at different parts of the song. This is very much in keeping with his production technique of Oblique Strategies
Oblique Strategies
Oblique Strategies is a set of published cards created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt first published in 1975, and is now in its fifth, open ended, edition...
.
Lyrics
The verses of the song consist of David Byrne speaking rather than singing. With the lyrics "Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down," the song has an existentialExistentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
mood to it, although it is usually interpreted to be a song dealing with the midlife crisis
Midlife Crisis
"Midlife Crisis" is a song by the American rock band Faith No More. It was released on May 26, 1992 as the first single from their fourth album, Angel Dust...
and the inevitable sacrifice of youthful ideals and dreams for conventional success.
Music video
The music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
features a bespectacled David Byrne
David Byrne (musician)
David Byrne is a musician and artist, best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography,...
dancing much like a marionette
Marionette
A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a manipulator. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms...
. Byrne is shown making sudden flings of his arm, tapping his head, and getting on his hands and knees to pat the floor, much like simple tricks which can be done with actual marionettes. In the background, clones of Byrne dance in perfect synchronization; in the foreground, a larger Byrne is getting further and further out of synch.
The video is exhibited in the New York Museum of Modern Art. Some of Byrne's mannerisms (such as physical spasms, unfocussed eye movements, and sharp intakes of breath) were inspired by his choreographer Toni Basil
Toni Basil
Antonia Christina Basilotta , better known by her stage name Toni Basil, is an American singer-songwriter, actress, filmmaker, film director, choreographer, and dancer, best known for her multi-million-selling worldwide #1 hit "Mickey" from 1982.-Early life:Basil was born Antonia Christina...
showing him footage of epilepsy sufferers.
Stop Making Sense
Talking Heads' performance of Once in a Lifetime in their concert filmConcert film
A concert movie, or concert film, is a type of documentary film, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by a musician ....
Stop Making Sense
Stop Making Sense
Stop Making Sense is a concert movie featuring Talking Heads live on stage. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December 1983, as the group was touring to promote their new album Speaking in Tongues. The movie is notable for...
is notable for its almost 4-minute long, unbroken chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro in art is "an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In paintings the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted"....
shot of Byrne performing the song.
This version of the song also plays over the opening titles of Down and Out in Beverly Hills
Down and Out in Beverly Hills
Down and Out in Beverly Hills is a 1986 American comedy film based on the French play Boudu sauvé des eaux, which had previously been adapted on film in 1932 by Jean Renoir. Down and Out in Beverly Hills was directed by Paul Mazursky, and starred Nick Nolte, Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfuss...
. The song was remixed to remove the live audience.
The live performance was released as a single in 1985, peaking at #91 on the US Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
.
Charts
Original version| Chart (1981) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
23 |
| Canadian Singles Chart Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays.... |
28 |
| Dutch Singles Chart Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
24 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
16 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
14 |
| US Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Hot 100 |
103 |
Live version
| Chart (1985) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Dutch Singles Chart | 22 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
15 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
91 |
External links
- NPR 100 reviews the song's genesis and legacy on 27 March 2000
- NPR interviews David Byrne on the occasion of the Once in Lifetime box set release on 18 November 2003