From the mind of Byrne
November 13, 2013 9:19 AM   Subscribe

In 1984, the same year that Stop Making Sense was released, another meticulously crafted Talking Heads concert movie made its debut as well. Once in a Lifetime is a 69-minute piece of experimental television (originally broadcast on England's Channel 4) that Talking Heads fans (as well as those interested in mid-80s video montage stylings) will surely want to check out.
posted by flapjax at midnite (8 comments total) 57 users marked this as a favorite
 
Byrneaanisqatsi
posted by chavenet at 9:45 AM on November 13, 2013 [3 favorites]


On YouTube, there's a concert film of the Talking Heads performing Crosseyed and Painless that is intercut with clips of people dancing from many cultures and times. Just a beautiful video. I wondered where it was from, I bet it's from this movie.

We were recently discussing Stop Making Sense over on Metachat.
posted by jayder at 9:59 AM on November 13, 2013


Wow. As if True Stories wasn't enough evidence, this shows that David Byrne is an infinitely more interesting filmmaker than Jonathan Demme.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 11:33 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Looking forward to watching this. Thanks!
posted by mudpuppie at 12:51 PM on November 13, 2013


OH.

WOW.
posted by painquale at 1:46 PM on November 13, 2013


This is an incredible find!

The author notes that this video made him realize that Byrne's forehead-slapping dance referred to evangelical preachers. Well, there's also the weird arms-outstretched dance that Byrne does during the chorus to Life During Wartime in Stop Making Sense; hen he does it here, the video cuts to a man being patted down by an armed cop. All these crazy dances have iconic meaning! This video is a treasure trove of Talking Heads exegesis.
posted by painquale at 1:58 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


They reappropriated a lot of the general flavor for the video to Love For Sale.
posted by painquale at 2:02 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Great find, well done.
posted by Wolof at 5:15 AM on November 14, 2013


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