This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

Infobox Single
Name = This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)


Artist = Talking Heads
from Album = Speaking in Tongues
Released = 1983
Format = 7"
Recorded = 1982
Genre = New Wave
Length = 4:56
Label = Sire Records
Writer = David Byrne
Producer = Talking Heads
Last single = "Burning Down the House" (1983)
This single = "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" (1983)
Next single = "Slippery People" (1984)

"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" is a song by Talking Heads, from their fifth album "Speaking in Tongues". The lyrics were written by David Byrne, and the music was written by Byrne and the other members of the band, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison. In the "Self Interview" on the DVD of the concert film "Stop Making Sense", Byrne admits that it is a love song, a topic he tends to avoid because it is "kinda big". Throughout the "Stop Making Sense" version, Byrne and his bandmates perform by a standard lamp, while close-up images of various body parts are projected onto a screen behind them. When the song reaches a bridge, the musicians step back and Byrne dances with the lamp, a reference to Fred Astaire's similar dance with a coat-rack in "Royal Wedding".

According to the "Stop Making Sense" commentary track, the title "Naive Melody" refers to the music. On the track, the guitar part and the bass part are doing the same thing throughout the whole song. According to David Byrne, many professional musicians would not play a song written in that fashion, and that is what makes the melody naive. Byrne played the lead keyboard solo.

The song was covered by the Montreal-based band Arcade Fire as a B-side to their single Neighborhood #3 (Power Out). The version on the single is live, with David Byrne on guest vocals. It has also been recorded by Shawn Colvin and covered by Perpetual Groove, Mysteries of Life and String Cheese Incident.

This song is also featured twice in the Oliver Stone movie "Wall Street", playing over a scene in which Bud Fox, the protagonist, decorates his upscale apartment as well as over the closing credits. Shawn Colvin's version was featured on the movie "Wordplay" (2006). The song also appeared in TV series "Northern Exposure", and appears in the 2007 film "Lars and the Real Girl".

External links

* [http://www.videocodezone.com/videos/t/talking_heads/this_must_be_the_place.html This Must Be the Place at Video Code Zone] provides a decent copy of the live performance from Stop Making Sense.