Psycho Killer Contents Lyrics Later releases Personnel Charts Certifications Legacy References External links Navigation menu"Psycho Killer – Song Review""10 '70s Songs That Will Give You Your Groove Back""David Byrne: composer, curator, cyclist — not just a Talking Head"The Rough Guide to Rock"Talking Heads, 'Chronology'""Talking Heads – Talking Heads 77 Review""David Byrne talking about 'Psycho Killer'""Experience The Music: One Hit Wonders and The Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll""Flashback: Talking Heads Perform 'Psycho Killer' at CBGB in 1975"American Murder: Criminals, Crimes and the MediaTalking Heads: Once in a Lifetime: The Stories Behind Every SongUltratop.be – Talking Heads – Psycho Killer"Nederlandse Top 40 – Talking Heads - Psycho Killer"Dutchcharts.nl – Talking Heads – Psycho Killer""Talking Heads Chart History (Hot 100)""50 Back Catalogue Singles – 17/10/2009""British single certifications – Talking Heads – Psycho Killer""Julie Christensen – Where the Fireworks""Rare Performances: Talking Heads Live in 2002""James Hall and Pleasure Club""Cage the Elephant – Live from the Vic in Chicago""Phish – Live Phish: 12.07.97 Ervin J. Nutter Center, Dayton, Oh""ANTiSEEN – 15 Minutes of Fame, 15 Years of Infamy""The Bobs On Mountain Stage""Moxy Früvous – Live Noise""Take Me Out – Alec Downie's Top 20 Scottish Cover Versions (20-11)""Ukulele player, 'mouth trumpeter' Victoria Vox coming to Carroll Arts Center""The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain Performs Stunning Covers of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" & More""Mariusz Lubomski – Lubomski W""Marco Mengoni- Dove si vola (SonyMusic), l'ep di debutto della nuova stella della musica italiana""The Fools – Sold Out"Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption-from South Central to Hollywood"Hear Selena Gomez Sample Talking Heads in 'Bad Liar'""Thomas Dolby to join Talking Heads tribute group Psycho Killers at charity show"Lyrics of this songe
1974 songs1977 singlesMultilingual songsSire Records singlesSong recordings produced by Tony BongioviSongs written by Chris FrantzSongs written by David ByrneSongs written by Tina WeymouthTalking Heads songsThe Flying Pickets songs
David ByrneChris FrantzTina WeymouthTalking Headsliner notesJerry Harrisonb-sideArthur RussellTonyserial killerAllMusicnew waveno wavebasslinesBillboard Hot 100Triple J Hottest 100 in 1989Dutch singles chartThe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and RollSon of Samliner notesAlice CooperRandy NewmanJokerHannibal LecterbridgeFrenchBBC2Remain in LightsoundtrackRichie HavensacousticRoland TR-808drum machineboomboxcover versionsJulie ChristensenVelvet RevolverJames HallCage the ElephantPhishAntiseenRichard ThompsonThe BobsMoxy FrüvousRicoVictoria VoxUkulele Orchestra of Great BritainBBC PromsPolishMariusz LubomskiMarco MengoniThe FoolsIce-TBody CountCop KillerSelena GomezbasslineBad Liartribute bandBaltimore
| "Psycho Killer" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 U.S. vinyl edition cover | ||||
Single by Talking Heads | ||||
| from the album Talking Heads: 77 | ||||
| B-side |
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| Released | December 1977 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1977 | |||
| Genre |
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| Length | 4:19 | |||
| Label | Sire | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) |
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Talking Heads singles chronology | ||||
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"Psycho Killer" is a song written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz, and Tina Weymouth and first played by their band The Artistics in 1974,[4] and as Talking Heads in 1975,[5] with a later version recorded for their 1977 album Talking Heads: 77. In the liner notes for Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads (1992), Jerry Harrison wrote of the b-side of the single, an acoustic version of the song that featured Arthur Russell on cello, "I'm glad we persuaded Tony [Bongiovi] and Lance [Quinn] that the version with the cellos shouldn't be the only one."
The band's "signature debut hit"[6] features lyrics which seem to represent the thoughts of a serial killer. Originally written and performed as a ballad,[7] "Psycho Killer" became what AllMusic calls a "deceptively funky new wave/no wave song" with "an insistent rhythm, and one of the most memorable, driving basslines in rock & roll."[1]
"Psycho Killer" was the only song from the album to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 92. It reached number 32 on the Triple J Hottest 100 in 1989, and peaked at number 11 on the Dutch singles chart in 1977. The song is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[8]
Contents
1 Lyrics
2 Later releases
3 Personnel
4 Charts
5 Certifications
6 Legacy
7 References
8 External links
Lyrics
The song was composed near the beginning of the band's career and prototype versions were performed onstage as early as December 1975.[9] When it was finally completed and released as a single in December 1977, "Psycho Killer" became instantly associated in popular culture with the contemporaneous Son of Sam serial killings.[10][11] Although the band always insisted that the song had no inspiration from the notorious events, the single's release date was "eerily timely"[9] and marked by a "macabre synchronicity".[11]
According to the preliminary lyric sheets copied onto the 2006 remaster of Talking Heads: 77, the song started off as a semi-narrative of the killer actually committing murders. In the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads, Byrne says:
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When I started writing this (I got help later), I imagined Alice Cooper doing a Randy Newman-type ballad. Both the Joker and Hannibal Lecter were much more fascinating than the good guys. Everybody sort of roots for the bad guys in movies.
The bridge lyrics are in French, as is the prominent chorus line "Qu'est-ce que c'est ?" ("What is this/it?"). The bridge lyrics are:
| Lyrics in French | Translation |
|---|---|
Ce que j'ai fait, ce soir-là | What I did, that evening |
Later releases
Talking Heads performed the song on the BBC2 television show The Old Grey Whistle Test on January 31, 1978. The performance was later released on a DVD compilation of performances from the show.[12]
A live version was released on The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads in 1982 and the later CD release included a second, later live version from the Remain in Light tour. In 1984 later, another live version was included on the soundtrack for the band's concert movie Stop Making Sense. The film opens with Byrne alone onstage, announcing "'Hi. I've got a tape I want to play'...[and] strumming maniacally like Richie Havens,[1] playing an acoustic version of "Psycho Killer", backed only by a Roland TR-808 drum machine whose sound appears to be issuing from a boombox.
The song also appears on their 1992 compilation album Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites and, over a decade later, on another compilation album The Best of Talking Heads.
Personnel
David Byrne – lead guitar, vocals
Jerry Harrison – rhythm guitar
Tina Weymouth – bass guitar
Chris Frantz – drums
Charts
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|
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/Sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[18] | Silver | 200,000 |
| ||
Legacy
The song has been recorded in cover versions by many bands including Julie Christensen,[19]Velvet Revolver,[20]James Hall,[21]Cage the Elephant,[22]Phish,[23]Antiseen,[24]Richard Thompson,[20]The Bobs,[25]Moxy Früvous,[26]Rico,[27]Victoria Vox[28] and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain at the 2009 BBC Proms.[29]
There is a Polish version ("Psychobójca") by Mariusz Lubomski[30] and in 2009, the song was covered by Italian X Factor winner Marco Mengoni. The song was later included in his debut EP, Dove si vola.[31]
Massachusetts-based band The Fools parodied the song and entitled it "Psycho Chicken"; it was included as a bonus record with their major-label debut album Sold Out in 1980.[32]
Rapper Ice-T says that "Psycho Killer" was a starting influence for Body Count's controversial hit "Cop Killer".[33]
Singer Selena Gomez samples the bassline on her 2017 single "Bad Liar."[34]
A Talking Heads tribute band based in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., active since 2011, call themselves the Psycho Killers.[35]
References
^ abcd Janovitz, Bill. "Psycho Killer – Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved June 28, 2013..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output .citation qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-maintdisplay:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em
^ Leicht, Angelica (January 1, 2015). "10 '70s Songs That Will Give You Your Groove Back". Houston Press. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
^ Potton, Ed (August 15, 2015). "David Byrne: composer, curator, cyclist — not just a Talking Head". The Times. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
^ Smith, Andy (2003). Buckley, Peter (ed.). The Rough Guide to Rock (3rd ed.). p. 1052. ISBN 978-1-85828-457-6.Byrne and Franz formed a quintet called The Artistic (they sometimes appeared as The Autistic), playing mainly 60s covers but throwing in the occasional Byrne original, most notably "Psycho Killer"
^ Flynn, Clare (December 13, 2011). "Talking Heads, 'Chronology'". NPR. Retrieved September 13, 2012.CBGB in 1975, and see footage of an acoustic version of "Psycho Killer" from that performance
^ Jones, Chris (2003). "Talking Heads – Talking Heads 77 Review". BBC Music. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
^ "David Byrne talking about 'Psycho Killer'". SoundCloud. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
^ "Experience The Music: One Hit Wonders and The Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
^ ab Greene, Andy (July 11, 2013). "Flashback: Talking Heads Perform 'Psycho Killer' at CBGB in 1975". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
^ Mayo, Mike (2008). American Murder: Criminals, Crimes and the Media. Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-57859-191-6.
^ ab Gittins, Ian (2004). Talking Heads: Once in a Lifetime: The Stories Behind Every Song. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-634-08033-3.
^ The Old Grey Whistle Test (DVD). Warner Home Video. 2003.
^ "Ultratop.be – Talking Heads – Psycho Killer" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Talking Heads - Psycho Killer" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Talking Heads – Psycho Killer" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
^ "Talking Heads Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
^ "50 Back Catalogue Singles – 17/10/2009". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
^ "British single certifications – Talking Heads – Psycho Killer". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Psycho Killer in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
^ "Julie Christensen – Where the Fireworks". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
^ ab "Rare Performances: Talking Heads Live in 2002". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. August 29, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
^ Liles, Jeff (January 24, 2002). "James Hall and Pleasure Club". Dallas Observer. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
^ Heaney, Gregory. "Cage the Elephant – Live from the Vic in Chicago". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
^ Schneider, Eric. "Phish – Live Phish: 12.07.97 Ervin J. Nutter Center, Dayton, Oh". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
^ "ANTiSEEN – 15 Minutes of Fame, 15 Years of Infamy". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
^ "The Bobs On Mountain Stage". NPR. December 6, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
^ Robinson, Matthew. "Moxy Früvous – Live Noise". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
^ Downie, Alec (August 12, 2009). "Take Me Out – Alec Downie's Top 20 Scottish Cover Versions (20-11)". Dear Scotland. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
^ deNobel, Jacob (April 15, 2015). "Ukulele player, 'mouth trumpeter' Victoria Vox coming to Carroll Arts Center". Carroll County Times. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
^ "The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain Performs Stunning Covers of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" & More". Open Culture. October 17, 2006. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
^ "Mariusz Lubomski – Lubomski W". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
^ Gorini, Laura (January 7, 2010). "Marco Mengoni- Dove si vola (SonyMusic), l'ep di debutto della nuova stella della musica italiana". TC&C Srl (in Italian). Musicalnews.com. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
^ Viglione, Joe. "The Fools – Sold Out". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
^ Ice-T; Century, Douglas (2011). Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption-from South Central to Hollywood. One World. pp. 141–149. ISBN 978-0-345-52330-3.
^ Leight, Elias (May 18, 2017). "Hear Selena Gomez Sample Talking Heads in 'Bad Liar'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
^ Weigel, Brandon (September 8, 2015). "Thomas Dolby to join Talking Heads tribute group Psycho Killers at charity show". Baltimore City Paper. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
External links
Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
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Category1974 songs, 1977 singles, Multilingual songs, Sire Records singles, Song recordings produced by Tony Bongiovi, Songs written by Chris Frantz, Songs written by David Byrne, Songs written by Tina Weymouth, Talking Heads songs, The Flying Pickets songsUncategorized
