Album: Fear of Music
Year: 1979
. . .
The second album of the trilogy that Talking Heads made with old sourpuss himself, Brian Eno, 1979’s Fear of Music, isn’t quite held in the same highest regard as the albums that surrounded it, More Songs About Buildings and Food and Remain in Light. So, in that respect, it’s kinda like The Two Towers. But that might be because it’s easily the darkest of those three albums, which is understated in the title: music is just one of the many many many things to fear on this record.
If Byrne’s persona was normally kind of a bemused joy, that often goes right out the window on Fear of Music, where nothing seems to satisfy him — not even breathing or eternal life, as we’ll see — and he’s at war with the entire world, opening the record spouting gibberish and ending the record tripping balls. So it’s a dark masterpiece, which might even secretly be their best album. So, in that respect, it’s like The Empire Strikes Back.
“Mind” is the second song on Fear of Music, a seeming return to what passes for normalcy for Talking Heads after the afrofunk of “I Zimbra,” slowly opening with a strangely compelling descending guitar figure from David Byrne and a marching bass from Tina Weymouth combining with a handclaps(!)-augmented drumbeat from Chris Frantz over which Byrne opens in medias res:
Time won’t change you
Money won’t change you
And when he says “I haven’t got the faintest idea” he spaces out a bit, like he’s really trying to get the faintest idea and utterly failing, before realizing “Everything seems to be up in the air at this point” and practically pleading:
I need something to change your mind
I need something to change your mind
I need something to change your mind
I need something to change your mind
Not even Eno’s harmonies and treatments are helping, nor is Weymouth’s bassline, as it lopes through that chorus trying to act as a palliative for the whole situation, even as Byrne gets even more desperate.
Drugs won’t change you
Religion won’t change you
I love Byrne’s muttered “whats the matter with you?” after this, as well as how his “I haven’t got the faintest idea” turns into a grunt turns into a guitar or maybe a synth or possibly a brainwave, but nothing is helping, nothing at all, and now he’s even mocking himself on the second chorus, repeating the word “miiiiindddd” ever more psychotically, before heading into the final verse, where he tries what sounds like sincerity.
Science won’t change you
Looks like I can’t change youI try to talk to you to, to make things clear
But you’re not even listening to me
And it comes directly from my heart to you
In the end, he’s reduced to just playing his electric guitar, knowing that everything he’s tried has failed: nobody’s mind is getting changed today.
“Mind”
“Mind” Live at Montreaux, 1982
Did you miss a Certain Song? Follow me on Twitter: @barefootjim
The Certain Songs Database
A filterable, searchable & sortable somewhat up to date database with links to every “Certain Song” post I’ve ever written.
Certain Songs Spotify playlist
(It’s recommended that you listen to this on Spotify as their embed only has 200 songs.)
Support “Certain Songs” with a donation on Patreon
Go to my Patreon page