Album: Little Creatures
Year: 1985
. . .
One of the things about Little Creatures and the albums that followed it was that Talking Heads decided not to tour them. And, of course, when I say “Talking Heads,” I mean David Byrne, who had the True Stories project already percolating while doing press for Stop Making Sense. And as you’ve probably noticed, Talking Heads was one of the all-time great live bands, and I occasionally wonder what the songs from those records might have become in a live setting. Especially given that none of the Little Creatures (or True Stories, for that matter) songs were all that technically difficult.
So one wonders what a song like “Road to Nowhere” might have been in a live setting, even with just the original quartet playing it. Which isn’t to say that it’s not awesome in the studio incarnation, which begins with a gospel acapella.
Well, we know where we’re going
But we don’t know where we’ve been
And we know what we’re knowing
But we can’t say what we’ve seen
And we’re not little children
And we know what we want
And the future is certain
Give us time to work it out
With Chris Frantz doing a marching beat on his snare and the accordion of Jimmy MacDonnell dominating the proceedings, “Road to Nowhere” is as unlikely of an anthem as could possibly be, and yet, anthemic it most certainly is, even as it’s talking metaphorically about all of us being heading towards to — if we’re a lucky — a place where nothing ever happens. But more like, oblivion.
We’re on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Taking that ride to nowhere
We’ll take that ride
I’m feeling okay this morning
And you know
We’re on the road to paradise
Here we go, here we go
As “Road to Nowhere” moves forward, it gets more and more jaunty, to the point when, near the end, Byrne keeps insisting “and it’s alright, baby, it’s alright” you might almost believe that he believes that it’s going to be alright. Almost. But in the end, with his animal noises counterpointing the gospel choir’s chant on “we’re on a road to nowhere,” oblivion seems joyful, a place where something might even happen.
Also joyful, the accompanying video, which was basically a mash-up of all of their previous videos plus those Peter Gabriel stop motion videos as well. It also served as a left-field trailer for True Stories, which had many of its songs recorded at the same sessions.
Despite the video, “Road to Nowhere” went nowhere as a single in the U.S., though it was their biggest single in the U.K., making it to #6, their highest-charting single in either country. Oh, and Little Creatures had another interesting fact: it was the only Talking Heads album to top the Village Voice’s Pazz and Jop poll, a feat that not even Remain in Light managed, that record coming in a #3, being outmuscled by a couple of double-album monsters called The River and London Calling. Because 1985 was one of those years without a consensus album — or albums — of the year, I think that Little Creatures kinda snuck in there because it was on everybody’s ballot: Talking Heads were always critical catnip to the point where the worst any of the previous studio albums did was #7 for Talking Heads: 77
It would also be the last time a Talking Heads album got anywhere near the Pazz & Jop top ten.
“Road to Nowhere”
“Road to Nowhere” Official Music Video
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