Cities

Album: Fear of Music (1979)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song finds David Byrne singing about a man looking for a city to live in. During the song he talks about London being "a small city." He explained to Uncut August 2015: "I think I meant that it was made up of lots of small villages, and people sometimes never ventured out of their little village."
  • This is as close to a touring song as the Talking Heads ever got. Birmingham, Alabama; El Paso, Texas; and Memphis, Tennessee all get mentions in addition to London. But unlike most musical travelogues, the lyrics is rather abstruse, with David Byrne singing that Memphis is home of both Graceland and the ancient Greeks. By this time, the Talking Heads had toured extensively, but hadn't played any of the cities mentioned in the song except for London. They never did play Memphis or El Paso, but did play Birmingham in 1979 after the album was released.
  • Brian Eno produced the Fear Of Music album with the band; it was Talking Heads third album and their second with Eno on board. Most of the band had art school backgrounds and meshed well with Eno's experimental style, which resulted in some rather unusual songs, like "Cities," which is driven by Tina Weymouth's bass line, David Byrne's rhythm guitar, and Jerry Harrison's Yamaha CP-70 electric piano.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Harry Shearer

Harry ShearerSongwriter Interviews

Harry is Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap, Mark Shubb in The Folksmen, and Mr. Burns on The Simpsons.

Glen Burtnik

Glen BurtnikSongwriter Interviews

On Glen's résumé: hit songwriter, Facebook dominator, and member of Styx.

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater RevivalFact or Fiction

Is "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" about Vietnam? Was John Fogerty really born on a Bayou? It's the CCR edition of Fact or Fiction.

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' Albums

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' AlbumsSong Writing

With the rise of Kindie rock, more musicians are embracing their inner child with tunes for tots - here, we look at pop stars who recorded kids' albums.

Phil Hurtt ("I'll Be Around")

Phil Hurtt ("I'll Be Around")Songwriter Interviews

Phil was a songwriter, producer and voice behind many Philadelphia soul classics. When disco hit, he got an interesting project: The Village People.

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)Songwriter Interviews

Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai were two of Graham's co-writers for some '80s rock classics.