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Psycho Killer#Legacy

{{for|the video game|Psycho Killer (video game)}}

{{Short description|1977 single by Talking Heads}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Psycho Killer

| cover = Talking heads psycho killer USA vinyl.jpg

| alt =

| caption = U.S. vinyl edition cover

| type = single

| artist = Talking Heads

| album = Talking Heads: 77

| B-side =

  • "Psycho Killer" (acoustic version)
  • "I Wish You Wouldn't Say That"

| released = December 1977

| recorded = 1977

| studio =

| venue =

| genre =

  • New wave{{cite web |first=Bill |last=Janovitz |title=Psycho Killer – Song Review |website=AllMusic |access-date= June 28, 2013 |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/psycho-killer-mt0005254892}}
  • funk rock{{cite news |title=Talking Heads – Talking Heads: 77 |website=Musicologia |date=December 26, 2013 |access-date= June 30, 2021 |url=https://www.musicologia.musicattitude.it/migliori-album/talking-heads-talking-heads-77/ |language=it |author1=Admin }}
  • art pop{{cite news |first=Ed |last=Potton |title=David Byrne: composer, curator, cyclist — not just a Talking Head |work=The Times |date=August 15, 2015 |access-date= February 28, 2016 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/scotland-travel/david-byrne-composer-curator-cyclist-not-just-a-talking-head-xnlbtp30vtv}}
  • art rock{{cite magazine |title=The 50 Best Song Interpolations of the 21st Century: Staff Picks |magazine=Billboard |date=October 28, 2021 |access-date= November 28, 2021 |url=https://www.billboard.com/media/lists/best-interpolations-9651682/}}
  • art punk{{Cite podcast |url=https://slate.com/culture/2018/06/how-r-e-m-and-the-b-52s-made-a-scene-in-a-farm-town-called-athens-georgia.html |title=The Deadbeat Club Edition, Part 1 |website=Hit Parade {{!}} Music History and Music Trivia|publisher=Slate|last=Molanphy|first=Chris|date=June 29, 2018|access-date=July 30, 2023}}

| length = 4:19

| label = Sire

| writer =

| producer =

| prev_title = Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town

| prev_year = 1977

| next_title = Pulled Up

| next_year = 1978

|language=English, French

| misc = {{External music video|header=Official audio|{{YouTube|eauZzwt8Ci8|"Psycho Killer"}}}}

}}

"Psycho Killer" is a song by American rock band Talking Heads, released on their debut studio album Talking Heads: 77 (1977). The group first performed it as the Artistics in 1974.{{cite web |first=Clare |last=Flynn |title=Talking Heads, 'Chronology' |date=December 13, 2011 |publisher=NPR |quote=CBGB in 1975, and see footage of an acoustic version of "Psycho Killer" from that performance |access-date= September 13, 2012 |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2011/12/13/143581537/first-watch-talking-heads-chronology}}{{cite book |first=Andy |last=Smith |editor-first= Peter |editor-last= Buckley |year=2003 |title=The Rough Guide to Rock |publisher=Rough Guides |edition=3rd |quote=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" |isbn=978-1-85828-457-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/roughguidetorock00roug/page/1052 1052] |url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetorock00roug |url-access= registration}}

The band also recorded an acoustic version of the song featuring Arthur Russell on cello.{{cite web |last=Tiller |first=Joe |title=How Did I Get Here? 10 Talking Heads Facts You Probably Didn't Know |url=https://www.thisisdig.com/feature/talking-heads-facts/ |website=Dig |access-date=27 November 2022}} 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, "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"{{cite web |first=Chris |last=Jones |title=Talking Heads – Talking Heads 77 Review |year=2003 |publisher=BBC Music |access-date= July 30, 2013 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/bc63}} features lyrics that seem to represent the thoughts of a serial killer. Originally written and performed as a ballad,{{cite web |title=David Byrne talking about 'Psycho Killer' |publisher=SoundCloud |url=https://soundcloud.com/dave-8-2/david-byrne-talking-about |access-date= July 30, 2013}} "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."

"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.{{cite web |title=Experience The Music: One Hit Wonders and The Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll |publisher=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum |access-date= April 27, 2015 |url=http://rockhall.com/exhibits/one-hit-wonders-songs-that-shaped-rock-and-roll/ |archive-date= June 4, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160604160549/https://www.rockhall.com/exhibits/one-hit-wonders-songs-that-shaped-rock-and-roll/}}

Lyrics

The song was composed near the beginning of the band's career and prototype versions were performed onstage as early as December 1975.{{cite magazine |first=Andy |last=Greene |title=Flashback: Talking Heads Perform 'Psycho Killer' at CBGB in 1975 |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=July 11, 2013 |access-date= February 18, 2016 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/flashback-talking-heads-perform-psycho-killer-at-cbgb-in-1975-20130711}} 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 (July 1976 – July 1977).{{cite book |first=Mike |last=Mayo |title=American Murder: Criminals, Crimes and the Media |year=2008 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |location=Canton, MI |page=32 |isbn=978-1-57859-191-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EEoU2kOb0OIC&pg=PA32}}{{cite book |first=Ian |last=Gittins |title=Talking Heads: Once in a Lifetime: The Stories Behind Every Song |year=2004 |location=Milwaukee, WI |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |page=30 |isbn=978-0-634-08033-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvhoZyTzspYC&pg=PA30}} Although the band always insisted that the song had no inspiration from the notorious events, the single's release date was "eerily timely" and marked by a "macabre synchronicity".

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, David Byrne says:

{{quotation|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 "{{lang|fr|Qu'est-ce que c'est?}}" ("What is this/it?"). The bridge lyrics are:

class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

!Lyrics in French

!Translation

Ce que j'ai fait, ce soir-là

Ce qu'elle a dit, ce soir-là

Réalisant mon espoir

Je me lance vers la gloire... OK !

|What I did, that night

What she said, that night

Fulfilling my hope

I launch myself towards glory... OK!

The French lyrics were supplied by Tina Weymouth. According to Chris Frantz, "I told David that Tina's mother is French and that they always spoke French in the home. Tina agreed to do it and just sat down and did it in a little over an hour. I wrote a couple of more verses, and within a few hours, 'Psycho Killer' was more or less done."{{cite news |first1=Marc |last1=Parker |first2=Melissa |last2=Benefield Parker |title=Chris Frantz: Shock Rocker Inspired Talking Heads' 'Psycho Killer' |publisher=Apple News |date=November 15, 2021 |access-date= February 27, 2022 |url=https://apple.news/AYswvIXiEQmivSWlNM0CEmw}}

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.{{cite AV media |title=The Old Grey Whistle Test |year=2003 |medium=DVD |publisher=Warner Home Video}}

A live version recorded in 1977 for radio broadcast was released on The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads in 1982, featuring an additional verse not heard in the studio version, and the later CD release included a second, later live version from the Remain in Light tour. In 1984, 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", 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 Popular Favorites 1976–1992: Sand in the Vaseline and on another compilation album, The Best of Talking Heads, in 2004.

Personnel

Talking Heads

Additional personnel

Charts

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

!Chart (1978)

!Peak
position

{{single chart|Flanders|19|artist=Talking Heads|song=Psycho Killer|rowheader=true|access-date=July 30, 2013}}
{{single chart|Dutch40|11|year=1978|week=14|rowheader=true|access-date=July 30, 2013}}
{{single chart|Dutch100|13|artist=Talking Heads|song=Psycho Killer|rowheader=true|access-date=July 30, 2013}}
{{single chart|Billboardhot100|92|artist=Talking Heads|rowheader=true|access-date=July 30, 2013}}

{{col-2}}

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

!Chart (2009)

!Peak
position

scope="row"|Belgium (Back Catalogue Singles Flanders){{cite web |title=50 Back Catalogue Singles – 17/10/2009 |publisher=Ultratop. Hung Medien |url=http://www.ultratop.be/nl/weekchart.asp?cat=sb&year=2009&date=20091017 |access-date= July 30, 2013}}

|24

{{col-end}}

Certifications

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|type=single|artist=Talking Heads|title=Psycho Killer|award=Platinum|relyear=1977|certyear=2024|note=sales since 2009|access-date=September 16, 2024|id=13213}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Spain|artist=Talking Heads|title=Psycho Killer|award=Gold|type=single|relyear=1977|certyear=2024|certweek=8|note=(since 2015)|access-date=27 February 2024}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Talking Heads|title=Psycho Killer|award=Platinum|relyear=2011|certyear=2024|id=15571-2108-1|note=sales since 2011|access-date=January 26, 2024}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

Legacy

The song has been recorded in cover versions by many bands and musicians including Velvet Revolver,{{cite web |title=Rare Performances: Talking Heads Live in 2002 |publisher=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum |date=August 29, 2012 |access-date= April 27, 2015 |url=http://rockhall.com/blog/post/8848_rare-performances-talking-heads-hall-of-fame-live/}} James Hall,{{cite news |first=Jeff |last=Liles |title=James Hall and Pleasure Club |newspaper=Dallas Observer |date=January 24, 2002 |access-date= April 27, 2015 |url=http://www.dallasobserver.com/2002-01-24/music/james-hall-and-pleasure-club/full/}} the Bobs (a cappella group),{{cite web |title=The Bobs on Mountain Stage |publisher=NPR |date=December 6, 2013 |access-date= April 27, 2015 |url=https://www.npr.org/event/music/249245003/the-bobs-on-mountain-stage}} Victoria Vox,{{cite news |first=Jacob |last=deNobel |title=Ukulele player, 'mouth trumpeter' Victoria Vox coming to Carroll Arts Center |newspaper=Carroll County Times |date=April 15, 2015 |access-date= April 27, 2015 |url=http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/features/ph-cc-victoria-vox-20150415,0,4101159.story}} Wet Leg,{{cite web |first=Tom |last=Taylor |title=Check out Wet Leg's cover of the Talking Heads classic 'Psycho Killer' |website=Far Out |date=April 18, 2022 |access-date= April 27, 2022 |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/wet-leg-cover-talking-heads-classic-psycho-killer}} Duran Duran featuring Victoria De Angelis,{{cite web |url=https://www.spin.com/2023/08/duran-duran-announces-new-album-danse-macabre/ |title=Duran Duran Announces New Album, 'Danse Macabre' |website=Spin |date=30 August 2023|access-date=30 August 2023}} Miley Cyrus,{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/miley-cyrus-cover-talking-heads-psycho-killer-new-lyrics-banjo-1235627807/|title=Watch Miley Cyrus Sing Banjo-Fied Cover of Talking Heads' 'Psycho Killer' With Fresh Lyrics|date=2024-03-08|access-date=2024-04-26|magazine=Billboard|last=Kaufman|first=Gil}}{{Cite web|url=https://consequence.net/2024/04/girl-in-red-girlfriend-is-better-stream/|title=girl in red Covers Talking Heads' "Girlfriend Is Better": Stream|date=2024-04-24|access-date=2024-04-26|website=Consequence of Sound|last=Vito|first=Jo}} and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain at the 2009 BBC Proms.{{cite web |title=The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain Performs Stunning Covers of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" & More |website=Open Culture |date=October 17, 2006 |access-date= August 1, 2018 |url=http://www.openculture.com/2016/10/ukulele-orchestra-of-great-britain-performs-stunning-covers.html}}

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.{{cite web |first=Joe |last=Viglione |title=The Fools – Sold Out |publisher=AllMusic |access-date= April 27, 2015 |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/sold-out-mw0001878812}} Ice-T says that "Psycho Killer" was a starting influence for his band Body Count's controversial song "Cop Killer".{{cite book |last1=Ice-T |author-link= Ice-T |first2=Douglas |last2=Century |year=2011 |title=Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption-from South Central to Hollywood |publisher=One World |pages=141–149 |isbn=978-0-345-52330-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mxxRFFNnDpcC&q=%22psycho+killer%22&pg=PA142}} Singer Selena Gomez samples the bassline on her 2017 single "Bad Liar."{{cite magazine |first=Elias |last=Leight |title=Hear Selena Gomez Sample Talking Heads in 'Bad Liar' |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=May 18, 2017 |access-date= May 22, 2017 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/hear-selena-gomez-sample-talking-heads-in-bad-liar-w482880}} A Talking Heads tribute band based in Baltimore, active since 2011, call themselves the Psycho Killers.{{cite news |first=Brandon |last=Weigel |title=Thomas Dolby to join Talking Heads tribute group Psycho Killers at charity show |newspaper=Baltimore City Paper |date=September 8, 2015 |access-date= February 12, 2018 |url=http://www.citypaper.com/blogs/noise/bcpnews-thomas-dolby-to-join-talking-heads-tribute-group-psycho-killers-at-charity-show-20150908-story.html}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{discogs master|39394|type=single}}

{{Talking Heads}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1974 songs

Category:1977 singles

Category:Art rock songs

Category:Duran Duran songs

Category:The Flying Pickets songs

Category:Franglais songs

Category:Halloween songs

Category:Macaronic songs

Category:Sire Records singles

Category:Song recordings produced by Tony Bongiovi

Category:Songs about criminals

Category:Songs about mental health

Category:Songs about violence

Category:Songs written by Chris Frantz

Category:Songs written by David Byrne

Category:Songs written by Tina Weymouth

Category:Talking Heads songs

Category:Works about murder