The Talking Heads song inspired by The Beatles’ Ringo Starr
The Beatles had an unprecedented impact on music, changing the industry and the artists within it forever, and Talking Heads are no exception. Though they took their guitars in an entirely new direction, pioneering new wave and incorporating polyrhythms and oversized suits, David Byrne and his crew still couldn’t escape the influence of the Fab Four.
Before Talking Heads became Talking Heads, future frontman Byrne and drummer Chris Frantz made up The Artistics. The pair had met at art school in Providence, where they played covers for friends and honed their craft before moving to New York. During this time, Frantz penned a song that would come to feature on their 1978 record, More Songs About Buildings and Food.
Titled ‘Warning Sign’, the song was conceived during an Artistics rehearsal session hosted by their bassist at the time. “We rehearsed in Hank’s apartment on Benefit Street,” Frantz recalled during a conversation with Nakedly Examined Music, “He had a pet rabbit. The rabbit just had the run of his apartment, so I can remember distinctly laying on my stomach on the carpet with the rabbit hopping around, as I was writing these lyrics.”
Frantz came up with a drum beat, one he later realised was subconsciously inspired by Ringo Starr’s playing on the Beatles’ 1966 track ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. “I had a drum beat which I realise now is kind of somehow inspired by Ringo Starr,” he recalled, “His part in the song ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. But I wasn’t thinking that at the time. I was thinking, ‘Oh, I’ve got a good idea!’”
With one listen to the opening moments of the track, it’s easy to hear how Frantz was inspired by Starr’s unique playing for the Beatles. The Talking Heads track was one of few songs to make it onto the band’s sophomore record that wasn’t penned by Byrne alone, and Frantz recalls it receiving a warm reception from the art school kids they played it for.
“They loved it,” he remembered, “It was kind of loosely inspired by The Velvet Underground, that kind of style of noir lyrics with a little bit of a sense of humour thrown in.” Between The Beatles and The Velvet Underground, it’s no surprise that the band immediately won over art school kids.
They’ve maintained their grip on them for decades since then, through the death of the Artistics and the birth of Talking Heads, through Beatles influences and Brian Eno collaborations.
Listen to ‘Warning Sign’ below.
