This poetic and ironic jab at the ways of the world and reality along with the most perfect harmonic rock/world music rhythms is a perfect classic by Talking Heads from their
release. It has Byrne, Weymouth, Harrison and Frantz at one of their finest and wildest moments and there's an even participation from Johnny Marr (The Smiths) and many other
talented musicians. The video is an icon from the period due to the usual style from Heads' and the factual information it provides while making us dance and sing along.
The group of musicians dance, sing and have some close-up shots with part of the lyrics and plenty of statiscal information about life around the world with some shocking facts (like the low numbers of Americans moved to tears by a greeting card or the high numbers of guns available to people in the U. S.) or even facts about the environment, nuclear power, economy facts and more. It's all about the numbers and the fun part of seeing this clip through different decades is that we can compare it about how alarming those facts had drastically changed for worse (statistics fans with great curiosity will want to make those calculus. I'd like to see those answers but I would be never be able to do that or research about that...except for the guns owned or the forest devastation. I think those might be easy to find).
And why those facts have anything to do with the song? Everything since its lyrics deal with issues of how progress can be a damaging experience to mankind where we desperatly crave for our comfort goods that we'd trade the earth that we live just so could experience the man made creation ("if this was paradise I wish I had a lawnmower"). In order to construct we have to destroy, preservation is something we say we do and work towards it but each decade goes by many natural resources are killed and vanish from earth. On the other hand Byrne and company talk about a reverse situation where nature takes over the cities and progress and the narrator is nostalgic for what he had (the discount store becomes a cornfiel). Oh the irony...It's so bloody good to see such humored which hasn't been equaled.
It's a true classic and one that is hardly ever imitated, both the visuals and the music, one of the most rhythmic I've ever heard. Fascinating and of pure geniality. 10/10.
The group of musicians dance, sing and have some close-up shots with part of the lyrics and plenty of statiscal information about life around the world with some shocking facts (like the low numbers of Americans moved to tears by a greeting card or the high numbers of guns available to people in the U. S.) or even facts about the environment, nuclear power, economy facts and more. It's all about the numbers and the fun part of seeing this clip through different decades is that we can compare it about how alarming those facts had drastically changed for worse (statistics fans with great curiosity will want to make those calculus. I'd like to see those answers but I would be never be able to do that or research about that...except for the guns owned or the forest devastation. I think those might be easy to find).
And why those facts have anything to do with the song? Everything since its lyrics deal with issues of how progress can be a damaging experience to mankind where we desperatly crave for our comfort goods that we'd trade the earth that we live just so could experience the man made creation ("if this was paradise I wish I had a lawnmower"). In order to construct we have to destroy, preservation is something we say we do and work towards it but each decade goes by many natural resources are killed and vanish from earth. On the other hand Byrne and company talk about a reverse situation where nature takes over the cities and progress and the narrator is nostalgic for what he had (the discount store becomes a cornfiel). Oh the irony...It's so bloody good to see such humored which hasn't been equaled.
It's a true classic and one that is hardly ever imitated, both the visuals and the music, one of the most rhythmic I've ever heard. Fascinating and of pure geniality. 10/10.