Tuesday, May 10, 2005

"Once in a Lifetime"

Probably one of the more thought-provoking songs I've blogged, this is one of those moments when you can't decide whether to dance or to sit and ponder life's eternal verities. Talking Heads do this to me. Every song of theirs I've heard and enjoyed has been a tussle between my hips and my head. What is this about, anyway? Is it the realisation that time passes and you'd better not let a day go by without grabbing life by the short and curlies? A sort of midlife crisis? Are Talking Heads poking fun at the archetypal American "perfect life" of the 50s and 60s? Or are they talking about nuclear power? The melting ice-caps? Deforestation in the Amazon basin? Does it matter? There are probably as many interpretations to this as there are copies of the album knocking around. And that's just fine.

1 comment:

Russell CJ Duffy said...

its about waking up one day and finding that you have a beautiful women laying beside you and that you have a great job and a great car and a fucking excellent lifestyle but when you think about it how did it happen?
did you make it happen?
are you in control?
or is someone(s) else running the show?
excellent choice.