This Must Be The Place - The Talking Heads

I don’t know when I first heard it. I can’t even remember if I liked it. Even still, "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)" by The Talking Heads remains one of the songs that seem to be the perfect soundtrack for most any kind of mood I find myself in. 

The song was part of the Speaking In Tongues album and was released in November of 1983. Lead singer and writer David Byrne said that he wrote "This Must Be The Place" as a love song:

"That's a love song made up almost completely of non sequiturs, phrases that may have a strong emotional resonance but don't have any narrative qualities. It's a real honest kind of love song."

Byrne mentions the thing I love the most about the song, the phrases in the song have such wonderful emotion and vivid imagery but there is no narrative. They are stand alone pieces. I believe that is why I can always go back this song whenever I am happy, sad, in love, out of love, lost or found. I would say that over the course of the last six years whenever some important in my life seems to leave or exit I play this song on repeat. It just makes sense for me. 

There is always a line or lines in the song that can reflect the moment in my life. Music is magic. It’s the soundtrack to my life (all of our lives really). When I am in love I can connect with the following verse:

I got plenty of time

You got light in your eyes

And you're standing here beside me

I love the passing of time

Never for money, always for love

Cover up and say goodnight, say goodnight

There have been plenty of times since I came to New Jersey where I feel lost. Where I miss home and my friends. Then I realize the place I long for is 3000 miles away. Those people aren’t anywhere near. I remember that this is where I live. This is where my life is now. It’s at those times that I can hear Byrne singing:

Home, is where I want to be

But I guess I'm already there

When I was in my last relationship there was a line that reminded me of my girlfriend and how I felt like I belonged wherever I was because she was there with me.:

I come home, she lifted up her wings

I guess that this must be the place

I can't tell one from the other

I find you, or you find me?

There was a time before we were born

If someone asks, this is where I'll be, where I'll be

Tonight as I write this I am sad. A little more then deflated. I feel like I like a direction, purpose and energy that I had only a short time ago is lost and cannot find. It reminds me of one the final lyrics of the song.:

I'm just an animal looking for a home

And share the same space for a minute or two

It’s a sad notion. It’s how I feel tonight. Just a dumb animal looking for a place and time where I belong. But with the next line there is hope. Hope of finding that place, that time and that person who will make that place “home”. Of course there is hope, it is a love song after all:

And you love me till my heart stops

Love me till I'm dead

At the end of the interview that I quoted above David Byrne says this about his hesitation and approach to write a love song.

"I don't think I've ever done a real love song before. Mine always had a sort of reservation, or a twist. I tried to write one that wasn't corny, that didn't sound stupid or lame the way many do. I think I succeeded; I was pretty happy with that."

Well, Mr. Byrne thank you for this song. It has meant a lot to me the last few years. I am pretty happy with the way it came out too.

The video below is from the movie "This Must Be The Place" starring Sean Penn in what I can only imagine is Penn's attempt to look like Robert Smith from The Cure circa 1983.

Enjoy.