‘Theme’: the mysterious Talking Heads song that disappeared for four decades
Almost nothing about Talking Heads is conventional, expected, or straightforward. Fronted by the charismatic David Byrne and known for their compelling material, Talking Heads are best understood through their surreal tendencies, where their performances and eccentricity are as much about the visual and theatrical experience as they are about the music itself.
Aside from the prominent “contradictory” element of the band’s music, Talking Heads became a staple of the 1970s rock scene because they weren’t a staple of anything other than their refusal to conform to traditional genre boundaries. However, this wasn’t your usual experimentalist sensibilities: what Byrne helped to create was a niche that celebrated something much more accessible: emotion.
This is why many of their songs sound and feel immensely inviting and intriguing, but when the layers peel back, the true meaning is difficult, if not impossible, to grasp. According to Byrne, however, that was precisely the point. In his view, if the music got you to feel something and connect, he succeeded. In his words, it’s a job well done if “it doesn’t make literal sense, but it makes emotional sense.”
Aside from the obvious hits, like ‘Psycho Killer’, ‘Once in a Lifetime’, and ‘This Must Be the Place’, the mystery of Talking Heads ventures much deeper than questioning why their songs resonate. In 1976, the band opened for Television at New York’s CBGB and performed a mysterious instrumental track that Byrne introduced as ‘Theme’. Although they only had three members at the time, they performed two shows, both of which included performances of ‘Theme’.
Byrne also only revealed its name when urged to do so by a fan. He initially stated, “This is an instrumental.” When a member of the audience said, “No title?” He replied: “We call it ‘Theme’, but then we just keep it to ourselves.” It’s unclear, too, when exactly during their set that the song played, but the mystery remained intact for many years, mainly because the tune itself was as good as forgotten until around 40 years after that one special night.
The story of how it did or didn’t emerge from the confines of the CBGB is made even more poignant when you listen to the track itself. Beginning with seemingly ominous-sounding chords that oscillate between joy and sorrow, it kicks off after about a minute with more typical rock notes, setting a scene that almost gives you the impression Byrne’s unmistakable vocals are about to chime in.
What’s particularly interesting about this composition is that it also constantly teeters on the edge of concluding before another thunderous guitar lick comes and drags you back in. If Talking Heads were the forerunners in the unorthodox rhythms arena, ‘Theme’ is undoubtedly consistent with that legacy, embracing unpredictability while maintaining a hypnotic groove. Details around the track might remain sparse, but just like their broader discography, it feels like a controlled chaos, part of a whole where the whole doesn’t even matter if you’re already feeling something.
