Courtney Barnett’s favourite Talking Heads song: “I just kind of opened IP”
Since emerging in 2012, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist Courtney Barnett has risen to international acclaim thanks to her unique blend of indie rock and folk music, underpinned by a distinctive guitar style incorporating elements of garage rock, punk and country genres. Her 2013 debut EP, I’ve Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris, was followed by her debut album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit in 2015 – leading to a landmark moment in her career which saw her pick up a nomination for a Grammy Award for ‘Best New Artist’.
Since then, she has released two more solo album – namely Tell Me How You Really Feel (2018) and Things Take Time, Take Time (2021) – whilst 2017 saw her collaborate with Kurt Vile on the album Lotta Sea Lice.
Characterised by witty and observational lyrics, thematically her music often explores the topics of anxiety, depression, and everyday life. That wit and everyday life – oftentimes viewed through an existential lens – is present at the centre of a Courtney Barnett-meets-Talking Heads Venn diagram. Unsurprisingly, the Australian was first introduced to the David Byrne-led group at the young, impressionable age of 17.
Bartnett recalls her art class teacher being particularly “cool…[she] let us listen to music. My friend Rose, she just had all this cool music that she introduced me to, which I, again, hadn’t heard of. She showed me The Pixies and Talking Heads and Television, stuff that I didn’t know of.”
Discussing the relevance of the New York group, Barnett added, “[I liked] how different it was to other music I was listening to. The spoken, really casual verses probably inspired me a little bit, because I never sang in front of anyone until I was nineteen-ish. When I was doing my first shows, I always just played guitar, and I was always just so frightened by the idea of what a good singer should be and how they should sound. When I heard ‘Once in a Lifetime’, I just kind of opened up.”
The lead single from Talking Heads’ fourth album, Remain in Light (1980), draws attention to the auto-pilot routine of everyday life. According to songwriter David Byrne, the song is about the unconscious. “You know, we operate half awake or on autopilot and end up, whatever, with a house and family and job and everything else, and we haven’t really stopped to ask ourselves, ‘How did I get here?’,” the frontman told NPR.
It’s the wit of the lyrics throughout that forces listeners to pause and reflect. Speaking to us in the second person, Byrne repeats the same opening sentiment to each of the first five lines in the verse: “And you may find yourself”. This repetition also brilliantly reflects the monotony that can come to life when we rarely stop to take a look around.
The album would be the band’s last collaboration with producer Brian Eno. Discussing the lyrics of the chorus – “Letting the days go by / let the water hold me down / Letting the days go by, water flowing underground” – he explained to Uncut, “It worked as a call-and-response pattern, like a preacher’s conversation with his congregation.” The succeeding lyric “Same as it ever was”, simple and repeated but carrying that classic David Byrne quirk and wit, has become iconic.
