Saturday Morning Movie: Life During Wartime



In 1984, director Jonathan Demme released his concert movie Stop Making Sense, filmed in Los Angeles over three days of concerts by the New Wave band Talking Heads. I loved that movie, as did many critics, some of whom hailed it the best concert film ever.

This song is Life During Wartime, and it may be that the "dance moves" the band employ during the song are a reflection of one of the last lines in the song, "...try to stay healthy, physical fitness, don't want to catch no disease..."  David Byrne, the singer and central nervous system of the band, is simply amazing here. The song was written by him, the bassist Tina Weymouth, her husband the drummer Chris Franz, and keyboardist Jerry Harrison.  The majority of the Talking Heads' songs were credited with having been written by the four core members of the band.

It also reminds me that in 1984 I was in pretty good shape from all the dancing I did. I always hated running, but I was happy to run in place along with this song!

Anyway, enjoy.




Comments

Efrogwraig said…
I'd forgotten how much I loved Talking Heads & this film & David Byrne & how young he was & how young I was. I'm now 54 & my son can't believe that I was once into such cool music. Thank you for giving it back to me for five minutes!
Hi Efrogwraig - thanks for stopping by! I'm glad you enjoyed reliving the 80's with me this morning! It is nice to remember how young we were, isn't it? And, BTW, my younger son's favorite song when he was 3 was Burning Down the House. Now he's almost 18 and a musician himself. Coincidence? I think not. :-)
Bill Bynum said…
Nice rock clip. I haven't really heard that much of the Talking Heads, but based on this performance no one in the group should catch no disease, not with that kind of exercise on the stage. I am a big fan of Jonathan Demme. "Rachel Getting Married" has got to be the best wedding weekend picture of all time.
Thanks, Bill - One thing you have to say about Jonathan Demme is that he is versatile. Silence of the Lambs, Beloved, Something Wild, Stop Making Sense .... I'll have to see Rachel Getting Married some time! Thanks for the suggestion.