MMM: Heaven – Talking Heads

Milo here.

Aww a nice one today! It’s been a while, eh?

Today, we’re looking at Heaven, an gorgeous album cut from Talking Heads’ 1979 record Fear Of Music. Check the video below:

With an emphasis on offbeat sensibilities and left-field musical influences, there’s no arguing that Talking Heads are one of the most important bands of all time and, for their first seven years, holders of one of music’s most stunning winning streaks. However, even with some of the grooviest songs laid to wax in their back catalogue, it’s this acoustic-driven cut that stands out to me as one of my favourites.
While I’d usually post the album (or at least single) version of an MMM song here, this time I’ve chosen to focus in especially on the performance from 1984’s Stop Making Sense (because it’s awesome). The stripped-back instrumental and isolated vocal track really lets the listener focus in on the narrative of the song. Like many TH tracks, Heaven‘s lyricism is drawn up to vague concepts and motifs, worded in a deceptive way so that they can mean fuck-all and fuck-everything at the same time. However, the nigh-on desperation in David’s voice, at least for me, indicates a strong hit of awkward romanticism, playing with the idea of excitement within tedium that real love often boils down to. It’s delivered through that trademark Byrne unflinching kindness, of course; it’s a love song with prolonged eye contact.

Lots of hugs, kisses and lacerations

Milo.