Talking Heads » Tracks » Psycho Killer

Talking Heads – Psycho Killer (4:28)

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About This Track

“Psycho Killer” is a song by Talking Heads from their 1977 album Talking Heads: 77, written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth. The band’s “signature debut hit” features lyrics which seem to represent the thoughts of a serial killer. Allmusic calls it a “deceptively funky New Wave/No Wave song … an insistent rhythm, and one of the most memorable, driving bass lines in rock & roll.”

“Psycho Killer” was the only song from the album to appear on the Billboard charts, peaking at 92 among Billboard Pop Singles. It placed 32nd on the Triple J Hottest 100 in 1989. It almost made the top ten in the Netherlands, peaking at #11 in 1977.

Lyrics

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. Byrne has said of the song:
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 and include the prominent chorus line, “Qu’est-ce que c’est ?”, which translates in English to “What is it?”. The rest of the French lyrics are:
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 evening
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Albums featuring this track

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  • whiteheat_

    i hate people when they're not polite!

    Thursday evening

  • chromiumnumbers

    Clean and simple. Great song.

    December 2011

  • RemoteRemote

    the bass line is simple but effective

    December 2011

  • Apoelistas

    Should be the opening song for Dexter

    November 2011

  • kikikirsche

    Run Run Run Run Run Away OH OH OH

    November 2011

  • Stevenl95

    FA FA FA FA FAR BETTER

    October 2011

  • irfanh23

    fap fap fap fap fap [3]

    October 2011

  • Desoriental

    Run run run run run run run AWAYYYY OOOOOOHHHH OH AIAIAIAIA

    September 2011

  • spotpatty

    We brought our guitars to visit a friend, Vick, who had been committed o Western State Hospital for the Insane. We sat in a tiled room and sang this song and plotted his escape. A friend of ours was yelled at because she brought the Bolex and was filming the insanity of the insane. A great song memory.

    September 2011

  • James_Hartley

    que est-ce que ce est

    September 2011

  • JemimahPutnam

    SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT NOW?

    September 2011

  • ElfriedaRains

    !Epic.-

    August 2011

  • LinetteOrosco

    So good

    August 2011

  • wi-lll

    Velvet Revolver's version is definitely not better.

    August 2011

  • haushi

    fap fap fap fap fap [2]

    August 2011

  • katjoaz91

    i loooove that song but i think 'slippery people' is so much better ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnu3TqDKXZY )

    August 2011

  • Kajek1993

    Velvet Revolver's version is better.

    August 2011

  • Prowlersfi

    fap fap fap fap fap

    August 2011

  • Yasmin_Ap

    qu'est-ce que c'est?

    July 2011

  • CureVaNiNawl

    classic song

    July 2011
See all 608 shouts

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