The Poetry of Rock n' Roll: "Burning Down The House"

To observe National Poetry Month, once a week I am posting song lyrics from different genres that double as interesting poetry.

This post features a song from Talking Heads. "Burning Down The House" was originally a 1983 studio jam without words. After just filling in the rhythm with random syllables, lead singer/songwriter David Byrne says he turned to a list of "loads and loads of phrases collected that I thought thematically had something to do with one another," and the song was born. These phrases all have roots in platitudes and old sayings but used in this post-modern context, they take on a strange, new resonance. The fact that these worn out banalities are strung together in such a relentless way, gives this found-object song a sinister twist.

Burning Down The House

by Talking Heads (words by David Byrne)

Watch out, you might get what you're after
Cool babies, strange but not a stranger
I'm an ordinary guy
Burning down the house

Hold tight, wait 'til the party's over
Hold tight, we're in for nasty weather
There has got to be a way
Burning down the house

 
Here's your ticket, pack your bags
Time for jumping overboard
The transportation is here
Close enough but not too far
Baby, you know where you are
Fighting fire with fire

 
All wet! Here, you might need a raincoat
Shakedown, dreams walking in broad daylight
Three hundred sixty five degrees
Burning down the house

It was once upon a place, sometimes I listen to myself
Gonna come in first place
People on their way to work and baby what did you expect?
Gonna burst into flame
Burning down the house

 
My house is out of the ordinary
That's right, don't wanna hurt nobody
Some things sure can sweep me off my feet
Burning down the house

 
No visible means of support and you have not seen nothin' yet
Everything's stuck together
And I don't know what you expect staring into the TV set
Fighting fire with fire

https://talking-heads.nl/