Album: The Name of This Band is Talking Heads
Year: 1980
. . .
So while I’ll admit that it’s a little weird that the version of “Crosseyed and Painless” on the Name of This Band is Talking Heads omits the slow funky jam that precedes it, I still prefer it to the album version and the Stop Making Sense version. I prefer it to the album version because Adrian Belew is on fire throughout, and I prefer it to the Stop Making Sense version because it contains that weird two-note bee-boop sequence during the verses. Because it’s from OUTER SPACE!
Or maybe because for me, that occasionally repeating two-note motif is a major hook of the song, and adds a bit to what Byrne is singing about, which seems to be a breakdown.
I’m ready to leave, I push the facts in front of me
Facts lost, facts are never what they seem to be
Nothing there, no information left of any kind
Li-lifting my head, lo-lo-looking for the danger signs
“Crosseyed and Painless” is one of those songs with more than one chorus, but my favorite seems incredibly Enoish:
There was a line, there was a formula
Sharp as a knife, facts cut a hole in us
There was a line, there was a formula
Sharp as a knife, facts cut a hole in us
What I love about the choruses of “Crosseyed and Painless” is that they’re a very slow roll against a pretty fast afrofunk beat: Chris Frantz is keeping the beat with Steve Scales adding extra fills, Buster Jones and Tina Weymouth are making a wall of sparsely-played bass and Jerry Harrison and David Byrne are scratching away at their guitars. But that chorus is just taking it’s time.
Not taking any time: Steve Scales and Adrian Belew: the former taking the closest to a drum solo you’ll ever hear in a Talking Heads song — with the full band jamming away, of course — and the latter making the sounds of a nervous breakdown on his guitar. This all leads to the bridge, probably one of the two most memorable parts of the song.
I’m still waiting
I-I-I’m still waiting
I’m still waiting
I-I-I’m still waiting
I’m still waiting
I-I-I’m still waiting
I’m still waiting
I-I-I’m still waiting
The other memorable part of the song is a breakdown about a breakdown, where Byrne it seems like the whole world around him has stopped making sense. By this time, we’ve gone through more verses and more choruses and guitar solos and everything else, and it’s kinda late in the song for a new part, but here we are.
Facts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts don’t come with points of view
Facts don’t do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
Facts are nothing on the face of things
With Frantz slyly dropping down to just his kick drum to add more momentum, this part isn’t really a rap, but it’s also really not a rap, and it leads to the outro of the song, everybody chanting “I’m still waiting” while Belew responds and comments on his guitar until they finally end it.
“Crosseyed and Painless (Cherry Hill 11-08-1980)”
“Crosseyed and Painless” Live in Dortmund, 1980
“Crosseyed and Painless” from Stop Making Sense
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