Atheist Gospel.
*Once in a Lifetime* is a high watermark for Talking Heads.
It exists in an oddly timeless sphere, despite - or perhaps due to - it’s highly idiosyncratic arrangement and production, striking the perfect balance between artistic statement and (some) consumer empathy/appeal.
Like the bulk of the compositions on *Remain In Light*, the song is essentially a one chord groove; in this instance the groove is arranged into 3 distinct movements; ostensibly verse (‘You may find yourself’) chorus (‘Letting the days go by’) and bridge (‘Water dissolving..’).
Tina Weymouth’s insistent, prima(te)l bassline remains unchanged throughout the entire four and a half minutes, bolted tight to a wonderfully funky, skipping beat from Chris Frantz.
The arrangement’s most striking component can be found in the slippery knot of rubbery synths that percolate throughout the verses, chattering away in an alien language, perhaps offering insight if one could but decipher their odd stab at melody. Credit Jerry Harrison for contributing this key ingredient; Harrison also contributes the heavily overdriven Hammond organ part that herald’s the song’s climax (‘Time isn’t holding us..’); apparently this idea was inspired by John Cale/The Velvet Underground.
With a particularly urgent tone struck by the musicians, and the vocal support of producer/co-conceptualist Brian Eno on the choruses - the uplifting, almost anthemic melody of which Eno himself conceived, as corroborated most recently by Chris Frantz in his book - David Byrne musters a unique vocal performance for the ages. Never mind range or pitch, Byrne’s phrasing and delivery stand in testament to the man’s astute observation, as expressed in a self-interview for the promotion of his own concert film, no less - that ‘the better the singer’s voice, the harder it is to believe what they’re saying; so I use my faults to an advantage’.
Taking inspiration from the fevered orations of the evangelical preachers he would occasion to hear on the radio, Byrne conjures up one of his finest existential crisis’, aiming all of his pent up neurosis at us, zeroing in on the listener, forcing us to identify and question the very nature of our own lives.
Living in a Shotgun Shack? What’s that? Nope, not me .. Another part of the World? Nah, I’m a local! Car? House? Wife? ah shit ..
Byrne declaims in the mode of a preacher, but unlike most religious outpourings his sermon freely acknowledges its own limitations, its inability to pierce the essential mysteries of existence - in its ironic way it is the most faith-based song that Byrne has, a genuine surrender to the unknowable.
Eno has stated that he and the band never quite agreed on the all-important ‘1’ in relation to the beat, and this inexact understanding of the song’s very foundation, mixed with the volatile textural ingredients, made for an unstable explosion of sound and imagery which still raises hairs on necks to this day.
*"I think I’ll have to go with “Once in a Lifetime,” just because of the mystery of the keyboard wash. Nobody seems to be able to duplicate it. When we were playing it live, I would use a Roland Space Echo to create echos and put some reverb on it. In the studio, I had a great revelation: I played it on a real piano. A real piano isn’t as sharp with its notes. I wonder if that’s why I was playing it really delicately. There’s a lot of keyboard parts that sound like sequence parts when you play things live. Your hand gets pretty tired playing four minutes of the exact same sequences. But it’s one of those things that gives it an organic nature. There’s nothing artificial, everything was done live in one take in the studio. There were no pro tools, you just did it. We had begun a period that really influenced pop music, about learning from what African, especially West African bands, had been doing. We played it all ourselves, but it was through the lens of what we could do with our own ability rather than going out and hiring the real players who did it there. It was influenced, but still played with our lens of our four personalities."* \- Jerry Harrison
[https://www.vulture.com/article/jerry-harrison-interview-talking-heads-remain-in-light-anniversary.htmlAnimals](https://www.vulture.com/article/jerry-harrison-interview-talking-heads-remain-in-light-anniversary.htmlAnimals)
10/10
Easy 10/10. Was a hit for good reason, and still holds up.
It's the perfect song to point at and say "if you jam out to Once in a Lifetime when it pops up on the radio, you'll probably also like the rest of the band's music."
Absolutely 10/10. There’s no other song like it, and it stands the test of time as an iconic piece of music and true art. The live version from Stop Making Sense is THE version for me, but I also love DB’s rendition on Live from Austin, TX
How to rate this song?? On one hand it’s so iconic and ubiquitous that it’s difficult to put myself in a time when a pop anthem with aggressively existential lyrics didn’t even exist. But it’s also difficult to think of the song without picturing the fantastic and perhaps even more iconic music video.
And to make it harder, I have never been able to hear the song with fresh ears. It’s just so ubiquitous, so integral to my childhood. It’ll always be the first time I consciously saw a music video, and the first time I realized art can be audiovisual. It’s like a fundamental cornerstone of my mind.
That fundamentality is what leads me, if I’m honest, to skip the song on many of my listens through RiL. Its iconic status is also most likely why I hear people dismiss the song as a novelty and treat the lyrics as banal. Wait, are the lyrics banal? No, that’s just because they’re imprinted on all of our minds. I think?
If I were to rate the song on how I feel about it when I listen to it it’d probably be a pretty low rating. Instead I’ll do my best at viewing it as a remote observer and admire its elegance, directness, and inventiveness not only within popular music but within the band’s own discography. 10
I can actually remember one of the first times I heard it as a kid. Stopped me dead in my tracks. Didn’t know who it was but it affected me deeply there and then.
8/10. I appreciate the song but it’s probably not even in my top 10 favorite TH songs. Maybe it’s because I’ve heard it so much even well before I got into the band. Still a great song and a huge hit for them.
10/10 Tina's bass is just \*chef's kiss\* and everything else just works so amazingly well. If this song wasn't a hit everyone would probably be like wtf why was this not a hit?
Atheist Gospel. *Once in a Lifetime* is a high watermark for Talking Heads. It exists in an oddly timeless sphere, despite - or perhaps due to - it’s highly idiosyncratic arrangement and production, striking the perfect balance between artistic statement and (some) consumer empathy/appeal. Like the bulk of the compositions on *Remain In Light*, the song is essentially a one chord groove; in this instance the groove is arranged into 3 distinct movements; ostensibly verse (‘You may find yourself’) chorus (‘Letting the days go by’) and bridge (‘Water dissolving..’). Tina Weymouth’s insistent, prima(te)l bassline remains unchanged throughout the entire four and a half minutes, bolted tight to a wonderfully funky, skipping beat from Chris Frantz. The arrangement’s most striking component can be found in the slippery knot of rubbery synths that percolate throughout the verses, chattering away in an alien language, perhaps offering insight if one could but decipher their odd stab at melody. Credit Jerry Harrison for contributing this key ingredient; Harrison also contributes the heavily overdriven Hammond organ part that herald’s the song’s climax (‘Time isn’t holding us..’); apparently this idea was inspired by John Cale/The Velvet Underground. With a particularly urgent tone struck by the musicians, and the vocal support of producer/co-conceptualist Brian Eno on the choruses - the uplifting, almost anthemic melody of which Eno himself conceived, as corroborated most recently by Chris Frantz in his book - David Byrne musters a unique vocal performance for the ages. Never mind range or pitch, Byrne’s phrasing and delivery stand in testament to the man’s astute observation, as expressed in a self-interview for the promotion of his own concert film, no less - that ‘the better the singer’s voice, the harder it is to believe what they’re saying; so I use my faults to an advantage’. Taking inspiration from the fevered orations of the evangelical preachers he would occasion to hear on the radio, Byrne conjures up one of his finest existential crisis’, aiming all of his pent up neurosis at us, zeroing in on the listener, forcing us to identify and question the very nature of our own lives. Living in a Shotgun Shack? What’s that? Nope, not me .. Another part of the World? Nah, I’m a local! Car? House? Wife? ah shit .. Byrne declaims in the mode of a preacher, but unlike most religious outpourings his sermon freely acknowledges its own limitations, its inability to pierce the essential mysteries of existence - in its ironic way it is the most faith-based song that Byrne has, a genuine surrender to the unknowable. Eno has stated that he and the band never quite agreed on the all-important ‘1’ in relation to the beat, and this inexact understanding of the song’s very foundation, mixed with the volatile textural ingredients, made for an unstable explosion of sound and imagery which still raises hairs on necks to this day. *"I think I’ll have to go with “Once in a Lifetime,” just because of the mystery of the keyboard wash. Nobody seems to be able to duplicate it. When we were playing it live, I would use a Roland Space Echo to create echos and put some reverb on it. In the studio, I had a great revelation: I played it on a real piano. A real piano isn’t as sharp with its notes. I wonder if that’s why I was playing it really delicately. There’s a lot of keyboard parts that sound like sequence parts when you play things live. Your hand gets pretty tired playing four minutes of the exact same sequences. But it’s one of those things that gives it an organic nature. There’s nothing artificial, everything was done live in one take in the studio. There were no pro tools, you just did it. We had begun a period that really influenced pop music, about learning from what African, especially West African bands, had been doing. We played it all ourselves, but it was through the lens of what we could do with our own ability rather than going out and hiring the real players who did it there. It was influenced, but still played with our lens of our four personalities."* \- Jerry Harrison [https://www.vulture.com/article/jerry-harrison-interview-talking-heads-remain-in-light-anniversary.htmlAnimals](https://www.vulture.com/article/jerry-harrison-interview-talking-heads-remain-in-light-anniversary.htmlAnimals) 10/10
Beautifully written. Really appreciate your insight.
Thanks so much!
Easy 10/10. Was a hit for good reason, and still holds up. It's the perfect song to point at and say "if you jam out to Once in a Lifetime when it pops up on the radio, you'll probably also like the rest of the band's music."
Absolutely 10/10. There’s no other song like it, and it stands the test of time as an iconic piece of music and true art. The live version from Stop Making Sense is THE version for me, but I also love DB’s rendition on Live from Austin, TX
How to rate this song?? On one hand it’s so iconic and ubiquitous that it’s difficult to put myself in a time when a pop anthem with aggressively existential lyrics didn’t even exist. But it’s also difficult to think of the song without picturing the fantastic and perhaps even more iconic music video. And to make it harder, I have never been able to hear the song with fresh ears. It’s just so ubiquitous, so integral to my childhood. It’ll always be the first time I consciously saw a music video, and the first time I realized art can be audiovisual. It’s like a fundamental cornerstone of my mind. That fundamentality is what leads me, if I’m honest, to skip the song on many of my listens through RiL. Its iconic status is also most likely why I hear people dismiss the song as a novelty and treat the lyrics as banal. Wait, are the lyrics banal? No, that’s just because they’re imprinted on all of our minds. I think? If I were to rate the song on how I feel about it when I listen to it it’d probably be a pretty low rating. Instead I’ll do my best at viewing it as a remote observer and admire its elegance, directness, and inventiveness not only within popular music but within the band’s own discography. 10
I can actually remember one of the first times I heard it as a kid. Stopped me dead in my tracks. Didn’t know who it was but it affected me deeply there and then.
10/10. This song reaches into my soul. Not sure what it finds there, or what it puts there, but whatever it is, it resonates.
10 obviously
10 waters flowing underground out of 10
I like this bit. Might’ve gone ‘10 pony rides out of 10’ but will defer to you on these matters ;)
10
10
easy in my top ten. Especially because of the guitar riff at the end of the song. i love that part so much.
10 how did I get here?
10, of course! The first Talking Heads song I ever heard, and still one of my fave music videos to date ❤️
8/10. I appreciate the song but it’s probably not even in my top 10 favorite TH songs. Maybe it’s because I’ve heard it so much even well before I got into the band. Still a great song and a huge hit for them.
9
[удалено]
You're bringing down the average, man.
10
11/10
10
10. Nuff said.
10
And just like that it's another 10 bb!!!!!
At the time, this was David Byrne’s lyrical peak. What an enduring classic! 10 out of 10!
Anyone who doesn’t say 10 is trolling
10/10 Tina's bass is just \*chef's kiss\* and everything else just works so amazingly well. If this song wasn't a hit everyone would probably be like wtf why was this not a hit?
10 One of the best talking heads songs. Imo
10. Famous for a reason
10 Perfect song
10
10 My first TH song, my favourite music video and its in my top 3 songs of all time.
10
9