And She Was
{{Short description|1985 single by Talking Heads}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox song
| name = And She Was
| cover = And She Was.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Talking Heads
| album = Little Creatures
| released = August 1985{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/greatrockdiscogr00stro/page/808/|title=The Great Rock Discography|year=1995|page=809 |isbn=9780862415419 |last1=Strong |first1=Martin Charles |publisher=Canongate Press }}
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
| length =
- {{Duration|m=3|s=36}} (album version)
- {{Duration|m=3|s=26}} (single mix)
| label =
| writer = David Byrne
| producer = Talking Heads
| prev_title = Road to Nowhere
| prev_year = 1985
| next_title = Once in a Lifetime (Live)
| next_year = 1986
| misc = {{External music video|header=Audio|{{YouTube|Q4W8RY3fxdI|"And She Was"}}}}
}}
"And She Was" is a song by the American band Talking Heads from their 1985 album Little Creatures. The song was written by David Byrne, who also provides the lead vocals. It reached {{thinspace|No.|54}} on the US Billboard Hot 100 and {{thinspace|No.|17}} on the UK Singles Chart. The accompanying music video was directed by avant-garde filmmaker Jim Blashfield, who cites the style of Terry Gilliam as one of his major influences.{{cite web|url=http://nightflight.com/jim-blashfields-suspicious-circumstances-salvador-dali-and-betty-crocker-collage-animation-geniusness/|title=Jim Blashfield's 'Suspicious Circumstances': 'Salvador Dalí and Betty Crocker' collage animation geniusness|author=Bryan Thomas|date=June 29, 2015|publisher=Nightflight|access-date=June 11, 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.orartswatch.org/jim-blashfield-and-he-was/|title=Jim Blashfield: And He Was|author=Barry Johnson|date=October 24, 2012|publisher=Oregon Artswatch|access-date=June 11, 2016}}
The song is musically notable for its unusual use of modulation. The overall key of the song is E major; however, the bridge to the chorus is in F major. The second bridge back to the verse is in the key of G major (Chords B minor to G major, "She was glad about it..."){{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}
Background
"I used to know a blissed-out hippie-chick in Baltimore," recalled Byrne in the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads. "She once told me that she used to do acid (the drug, not music) and lay down on the field by the Yoo-hoo chocolate soda factory. Flying out of her body, etc etc. It seemed like such a tacky kind of transcendence… but it was real! A new kind of religion being born out of heaps of rusted cars and fast food joints. And this girl was flying above it all, but in it too."
Drummer Chris Frantz said of the song, "It's a story about a woman who has the power to levitate above the ground and to check out all her neighbors from a kind of bird's eye view. And the guy who's writing the song is in love with her and he kinda wishes she would just be more normal and, like, come on back down to the ground [Laughs], but she doesn't. She goes floating over the backyard and past the buildings and the schools and stuff and is absolutely [upside-down] to him in every way."{{cite web|title=The Daily Cut: Talking Heads "And She Was"|url=http://wncx.cbslocal.com/2016/11/22/teh-daily-cut-talking-heads-and-she-was/|website=98.5 WNCX|publisher=CBS|accessdate=March 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326051548/http://wncx.cbslocal.com/2016/11/22/teh-daily-cut-talking-heads-and-she-was/|archive-date=March 26, 2017|url-status=dead}}
Reception
Cash Box said that the song "displays David Byrne's discreet pop ingenuity and Talking Heads' inimitable rhythmic pump" and has "a strangely surrealistic lyric and a singalong chorus."{{cite magazine|title=Single Releases|magazine=Cash Box|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1985/CB-1985-08-31.pdf|date=August 31, 1985|accessdate=August 1, 2022|page=9}} John Leland at Spin praised the extended mix, saying, "Talking Heads overhaul the already brilliant "And She Was" and turn it into the vibrantly upbeat pop party record the B-52s have spent a lifetime trying to make."{{cite magazine| magazine= Spin | title=Singles|author=John Leland| date=February 1986|issue=10|page=35}}
In popular culture
The song was featured in the 1989 film Look Who's Talking, in the 2005 films Bewitched and Sky High, and the 2016 film Storks.{{IMDb name|126154|David Byrne}}
Charts
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
=Weekly charts=
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Weekly chart performance for "And She Was" !Chart (1985–1986) !Peak |
| scope="row"|Australia (Kent Music Report){{Cite book|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, NSW|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6 }}
|10 |
|---|
| {{single chart|Flanders|23|artist=Talking Heads|song=And She Was|rowheader=true|access-date=March 19, 2025}} |
| scope="row"|Europe (European Hot 100 Singles){{cite magazine|title=European Hot 100 Singles|magazine=Eurotipsheet|volume=3|issue=9|page=12|date=March 8, 1986}}
|13 |
| {{single chart|Ireland2|9|artist=Talking Heads|song=And She Was|rowheader=true|access-date=March 19, 2025}} |
| {{single chart|Dutch40|25|year=1986|week=8|rowheader=true|access-date=March 19, 2025}} |
| {{single chart|Dutch100|31|artist=Talking Heads|song=And She Was|rowheader=true|access-date=March 19, 2025}} |
| {{single chart|New Zealand|16|artist=Talking Heads|song=And She Was|rowheader=true|access-date=March 19, 2025}} |
| {{single chart|UK|17|date=19860308|rowheader=true|access-date=March 19, 2025}} |
| {{single chart|Billboardhot100|54|artist=Talking Heads|rowheader=true|access-date=March 19, 2025}} |
| {{single chart|Billboarddanceclubplay|33|artist=Talking Heads|rowheader=true|access-date=March 19, 2025|note=Remix with "Television Man" (remix)}} |
| {{single chart|Billboarddancesales|38|artist=Talking Heads|rowheader=true|access-date=March 19, 2025|note=Remix with "Television Man" (remix)}} |
| {{single chart|Billboardmainstreamrock|11|artist=Talking Heads|rowheader=true|access-date=March 19, 2025}} |
| {{single chart|West Germany|53|artist=Talking Heads|song=And She Was|songid=31697|rowheader=true|access-date=March 19, 2025}} |
{{col-2}}
=Year-end charts=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Year-end chart performance for "And She Was" !Chart (1986) !Position |
| scope="row"|Australia (Kent Music Report){{cite magazine|url=https://i.imgur.com/F7ais40.jpg|title=National Top 100 Singles for 1986|magazine=Kent Music Report|issue=650|date=December 1986|via=Imgur|access-date=January 24, 2023}}
|90 |
|---|
{{col-end}}
Certifications
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=single|artist=Talking Heads|title=And She Was|award=Platinum|relyear=1985|certyear=2024|source=radioscope|access-date=March 19, 2025}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Talking Heads}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Music videos directed by Jim Blashfield
Category:Song recordings produced by David Byrne