Talking Heads - Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)

All I want is to breathe.

Album: Remain in Light [4th album]
Recorded: Nassau, The Bahamas & New York City, New York
Genre: New Wave, Post Punk
Album Release: October 8th 1980
Single Release: August 1981 [3rd single]
Length: 5:49
Producer: Brian Eno [age 32]
Vocalist: David Byrne [age 28]
Label: Sire Records [subsidiary of Warner]

Official Audio


Live in Rome from 1980

Charts, Streams & Sales

Canada (albums): #6 [certified gold in 1981]
New Zealand (albums): #8
UK (albums): #21 [certified gold in 2016]
USA (albums): #19 [certified gold in 1981]
Spotify: 29,000,000 +
YouTube Music: 3,100,000 +
Melody Maker Best Albums of 1980: #1
Pitchforks Top 100 Albums of the 80's: #2
Rolling Stone Best Albums of the 80's: #4
Sounds Magazine Best Albums of 1980: #1

Credits & Gear

Bass, drums, guitar [x3], keyboards [x2], percussion [x2]

Details

• Talking Heads songs are often political. In their song 'Don't Worry About the Government', from 1977, Byrne tells of a people comfortable in their luxury unaware that their lifestyles are destroying the planet. The song reflected the anxieties of the time. People were already warning of the greenhouse effect but the dangers were taken far less seriously than they are today.
  
  'Born Under Punches' is about an ordinary man who lives under the weight of an oppressive government. The 70's was a decade that saw the erosion of trust in public institutions. The army that valiantly saved the world in the 40's was replaced by a tool of imperialism that spread democracy worldwide at the barrel of the gun.
  
  The optimism of Kennedy died when he did and was replaced by a criminal presidency in the form of Richard Nixon. People felt as if they couldn't trust their government and this sentiment is keenly reflected in the works of Talking Heads. The song title 'Born Under Punches' is a testament to the general feeling of being beaten down and the song also features the chorus "all I want is to breathe, I'm too thin." Here, breathing is used as a metaphor for life. Regular people were finding it difficult to live at the time and only wanted some space away from the iron-fisted powers that be. The deep recession of the 70's only made things worse.
  
  'Remain in Light' is an album made famous by its unique combination of state of the art technology and tribal polyrythms. On 'Born Under Punches' the mix seems to depict a culture which is not as advanced as it believes itself to be. Despite the leaps forward in technology and so-called progress the society is still barbaric, oppressive and tribal. There is the government man and everybody else. The haves and the have-nots. The tribal rhythms represent the urban jungle of Manhattan and sit next to the quasi-sophisticated metropolitan image of synthesizers and fancy suits.
  
  The album cover of 'Remain in Light' features Talking Heads with their faces obscured by red pixels that in one way indicates technological sophistication, using computers to manipulate an image, but also appears like tribal facepaint, which highlights the dichotomy of supposed sophistication and tribalism, reflecting back the juxtaposition of the music and vice-versa. The band on the cover are modern people of 1980 but are they really different from their tribal cousins? They merely adorn their faces in a new way.
  
  
  
  
  David Byrne would sometimes wear a comically over-sized suit, which mocks the clothing and the consumerism it represents. The outfit isn't natural, it's ill-fitting and uncomfortable. This choice in fashion also plays into the idea of modern people not being as sophisticated as they think they are. Byrne looks like a child wearing his fathers suit as he holds the prototypical, suburban, Simpsons-like home we were supposed to aspire to.
  
  The way he holds the home makes it look like a possession, like it's something small. It's as if he's saying the pursuit of money and status are childish and the real value of life is to be found away from mindless consumerism. Also note the colour grey, which suggests dull and boring, whereas the red on the album cover is immediate and vital.
  
  

  

  David Byrne wearing a comically oversized suit
  

  
  The idea that suburbia harboured dark secrets would be explored in great depth in the coming 80's, most notably in David Lynch's 1986 film 'Blue Velvet' but also comically in 1989's 'The Burbs'. As people moved into the suburbs the use of anti-depressents skyrocketed, especially among housewives.
  
  There is also a feeling that even though the consumerism was empty we had no choice but to partake in it as it was simply the way of life in the eighties. In 'Born Under Punches' the lyrics shifts from someone who is oppressed by the government, in the chorus, to being a government man himself in the verses. "Take a look at these hands... the hands of a government man." As if to say, the government man is really us wearing different clothes.
  
  
• The loops on the album are played live meaning that instead of recording a piece of music and looping it over and over an actual musician is playing the same thing repeatedly. This human approach makes the music interesting to the ear because, as it's performed live, each 'loop' will be slightly different whereas a machine would produce the exact same sound each time.
  
  
• The album was revolutionary as it combined the polyrythmic structure of African music with electric guitars. It was a mix of basic, tribal sounds with the music of electricity. This meeting of first and third worlds is also reflected in where the band chose to record the album: The Bahamas and New York City. The Bahamas for it's sun soaked good time vibes and New York for it's cosmopolitan sophistication. Before recording, the bands drummer, Chris Frantz, had holidayed in the Caribbean and became inspired by the way people drummed there. At first glance, the parts shouldn't fit together, but somehow the band made it work which is why the album sounded ahead of time even decades later.
  
  
• Brian Eno was a highly sought after producer who was also a part of Roxy Music. His production technique were so distinctive that they earned their own name: Enossification. He was inspired by world music and would brighten instruments by adding effects to them that other producers wouldn't think to use.
• The photo of the band at the top of the page looks like no-one told the guy on the right he was supposed to wear red.
  
  
• 'Remain in Light' was a major influence on Radiohead's 'Kid A'.
  
  

Artwork