Stop Making Sense is 1984 album by Talking Heads, the soundtrack to the fil… Read Full Bio ↴Stop Making Sense is 1984 album by Talking Heads, the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The album features only nine of the songs from the movie, many of them heavily edited. The album spent over two years (118 weeks) on the Billboard 200 chart.
Byrne's intention was not to make a traditional soundtrack album, but to have it be a separate experience. Limited pressings of the original LP version featured a full color picture book wrapped around the album jacket. Regular versions had many of the pictures and captions on the album's inner sleeve. In 1999, to correspond with the theatrical re-release of the movie, the album was extended and remastered, restoring all of the songs from the movie with only very minor edits. The newly included tracks feature Frantz's original drumming from the concert recordings. In 2003, the album was ranked number 345 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Track listing
All songs written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth except as noted.
Side one
"Psycho Killer" (Byrne, Frantz, Weymouth) – 4:28
"Swamp" – 3:50 (LP) 4:28 (cassette, CD)
"Slippery People" – 3:35 (LP) 4:13 (different mix; cassette, CD)
"Burning Down the House" – 4:14
"Girlfriend Is Better" – 3:32 (LP) 5:07 (cassette, CD)
Side two
"Once in a Lifetime" (Byrne, Brian Eno, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth) – 4:34 (LP) 5:34 (cassette, CD)
"What a Day That Was" (Byrne) – 5:08 (LP) 6:30 (cassette, CD)
"Life During Wartime" – 4:52 (LP) 5:52 (cassette, CD)
"Take Me to the River" (Al Green, Teenie Hodges) – 5:59
Film/Special New Edition Soundtrack
Bonus live tracks "Heaven" and "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" were available as B-sides on various US 7" and UK 12" singles during the album's original release. These versions were released on the Special Edition soundtrack.
"Psycho Killer" (Byrne, Frantz, Weymouth) – 4:24
"Heaven" (Byrne, Harrison) – 3:41
"Thank You for Sending Me an Angel" (Byrne) – 2:09
"Found a Job" (Byrne) – 3:15
"Slippery People" – 4:00
"Burning Down the House" – 4:06
"Life During Wartime" – 5:51
"Making Flippy Floppy" – 4:40
"Blind"- 5:13
"Swamp" – 4:30
"What a Day That Was" (Byrne) – 6:00
"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" – 4:57
"Once in a Lifetime" (Byrne, Eno, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth) – 5:25
"Genius of Love" (Weymouth, Frantz, Adrian Belew, Steven Stanley) (performed by Tom Tom Club) – 4:30
"Girlfriend Is Better" – 5:06
"Take Me to the River" (Green, Hodges) – 5:32
"Crosseyed and Painless" (Byrne, Eno, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth) – 6:11
Personnel
David Byrne – guitar, vocals
Chris Frantz – drums, vocals
Jerry Harrison – guitar, keyboards, vocals
Tina Weymouth – bass, keyboards, vocals
Additional personnel
Bernie Worrell – keyboards
Alex Weir – guitar, vocals
Steve Scales – percussion
Ednah Holt – backing vocals
Lynn Mabry – backing vocals
Charts
Album
Year Chart Position
1984 The Billboard 200 41/53
1984 UK albums 37/24
Certifications
Organization Level Date
RIAA – U.S. Gold March 1, 1985
BPI – UK Gold November 26, 1985
RIAA – U.S. Platinum July 2, 1986
RIAA – U.S. Double Platinum August 17, 1994
Byrne's intention was not to make a traditional soundtrack album, but to have it be a separate experience. Limited pressings of the original LP version featured a full color picture book wrapped around the album jacket. Regular versions had many of the pictures and captions on the album's inner sleeve. In 1999, to correspond with the theatrical re-release of the movie, the album was extended and remastered, restoring all of the songs from the movie with only very minor edits. The newly included tracks feature Frantz's original drumming from the concert recordings. In 2003, the album was ranked number 345 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Track listing
All songs written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth except as noted.
Side one
"Psycho Killer" (Byrne, Frantz, Weymouth) – 4:28
"Swamp" – 3:50 (LP) 4:28 (cassette, CD)
"Slippery People" – 3:35 (LP) 4:13 (different mix; cassette, CD)
"Burning Down the House" – 4:14
"Girlfriend Is Better" – 3:32 (LP) 5:07 (cassette, CD)
Side two
"Once in a Lifetime" (Byrne, Brian Eno, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth) – 4:34 (LP) 5:34 (cassette, CD)
"What a Day That Was" (Byrne) – 5:08 (LP) 6:30 (cassette, CD)
"Life During Wartime" – 4:52 (LP) 5:52 (cassette, CD)
"Take Me to the River" (Al Green, Teenie Hodges) – 5:59
Film/Special New Edition Soundtrack
Bonus live tracks "Heaven" and "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" were available as B-sides on various US 7" and UK 12" singles during the album's original release. These versions were released on the Special Edition soundtrack.
"Psycho Killer" (Byrne, Frantz, Weymouth) – 4:24
"Heaven" (Byrne, Harrison) – 3:41
"Thank You for Sending Me an Angel" (Byrne) – 2:09
"Found a Job" (Byrne) – 3:15
"Slippery People" – 4:00
"Burning Down the House" – 4:06
"Life During Wartime" – 5:51
"Making Flippy Floppy" – 4:40
"Blind"- 5:13
"Swamp" – 4:30
"What a Day That Was" (Byrne) – 6:00
"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" – 4:57
"Once in a Lifetime" (Byrne, Eno, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth) – 5:25
"Genius of Love" (Weymouth, Frantz, Adrian Belew, Steven Stanley) (performed by Tom Tom Club) – 4:30
"Girlfriend Is Better" – 5:06
"Take Me to the River" (Green, Hodges) – 5:32
"Crosseyed and Painless" (Byrne, Eno, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth) – 6:11
Personnel
David Byrne – guitar, vocals
Chris Frantz – drums, vocals
Jerry Harrison – guitar, keyboards, vocals
Tina Weymouth – bass, keyboards, vocals
Additional personnel
Bernie Worrell – keyboards
Alex Weir – guitar, vocals
Steve Scales – percussion
Ednah Holt – backing vocals
Lynn Mabry – backing vocals
Charts
Album
Year Chart Position
1984 The Billboard 200 41/53
1984 UK albums 37/24
Certifications
Organization Level Date
RIAA – U.S. Gold March 1, 1985
BPI – UK Gold November 26, 1985
RIAA – U.S. Platinum July 2, 1986
RIAA – U.S. Double Platinum August 17, 1994
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Stop Making Sense
Talking Heads Lyrics
Burning Down The House Watch out you might get what you're after Cool babies, stran…
Girlfriend Is Better Ha! Who took the money? Who took the money away? Ha ha…
Life During Wartime Heard of a van that's loaded with weapons Packed up and…
Once in a Lifetime And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack And…
Psycho Killer I can't seem to face up to the facts I'm tense…
Slippery People What about the time? You were rollin' over Fall on your face…
Swamp Now lemme tell you a story The devil he has a…
Take Me to the River I don't know why I love her like I do All…
What a Day That Was Well, I'm dressed up so nice An' I'm doin' my best An'…