The only Talking Heads song not to feature a David Byrne lyric
Talking Heads only existed as a recording act for around 15 years, but during that time, the band transformed rock music for a new age. The group’s origins can be traced back to the early 1970s when Scottish import David Byrne met Chris Frantz. The pair established a close bond over a shared musical taste and sought to combine their studies at the Rhode Island School of Design with an artistic approach to rock music.
Under the initial and eminently apt name Artistics, the pair goofed about with guitars and drums to create whatever the day’s whim might bring. Despite their musical inclinations, Byrne and Frantz envisaged futures in design and visual arts, even after the latter encouraged his girlfriend, Tina Weymouth, to learn the bass guitar.
“Now I’m in New York, in a band with Chris Frantz and his girlfriend, Tina [Weymouth], and we didn’t have a super-duper plan,” Byrne revealed in a 2018 interview with Pitchfork. “I had ambitions to be a fine artist and show in galleries, but I was also writing songs. This club, CBGB, had opened around the corner, and there were bands like Television playing, and Patti Smith was doing poetry readings. We thought, ‘If we learn some songs, we can play there.'”
Through the mid-1970s, the band grew from strength to strength, with Byrne and Frantz penning several rudimentary, punk-infused tracks. Among these were early singles for Talking Heads like ‘Love → Building on Fire’ and ‘Psycho Killer’. The latter would arrive on the band’s 1977 debut album, Talking Heads: 77, launching the band, now with Jerry Harrison on board, to global acclaim.
In 1978, Talking Heads released the more eclectic and artistically enlightened follow-up album More Songs About Buildings and Food. Notably, this album marked the first of the band’s critically acclaimed trilogy, with creative producer Brian Eno contributing as the unofficial fifth member.
The album boasted a breadth of material to enjoy, from the highly accessible Al Green cover ‘Take Me to the River’ to the galloping classic ‘Thank You for Sending Me an Angel’. At such an early point in their career, the album gives the illusion of chief songwriter Byrne running out of ideas, given that it included a cover song and ‘Warning Sign’, the only song in the entire Talking Heads catalogue with lyrics Byrne wasn’t at least partially involved in.
‘Warning Sign’ was actually one of the band’s earliest compositions. It was written entirely by drummer Chris Frantz in 1973 and was inspired by an infatuation with The Velvet Underground. The album highlight leads with a strong groove that allows the husband-wife rhythm section to shine for a minute before Byrne’s vocals enter play. Thanks to Brian Eno’s production command, the song is elevated to a psychedelic stratum.
