When I woke up this morning, I had a mad desire to hear the Talking Heads song "Cities," so I grabbed my "Fear of Music" CD on the way to work and listened to it several times over.
There's a ton that could be said about it musically - the disco feel, the anticipation of "Remain in Light," the anticipation (in the third verse) of "True Stories" - but I'll confine myself to the question that's been puzzling me for decades - how many cities are mentioned in "Cities"?
Of course, we can start with the super-secret third verse. If you've heard the album version of the song, you know that David Byrne sings about London and Birmingham, but then there's this little country-like instrumental break before he wraps up and sings about Memphis. But if you've read the album lyrics, or if you've heard a version other than the album version, then you've been exposed to an unsung verse:
DOWN EL PASO WAY THINGS GET PRETTY SPREAD OUT
PEOPLE GOT NO IDEA WHERE IN THE WORLD THEY ARE
THEY GO UP NORTH AND COME BACK SOUTH
STILL GOT NO IDEA WHERE IN THE WORLD THEY ARE
Note the third line above, and compare it to a few other unusual lines from the song:
THINK OF LONDON, A SMALL CITY
And, in reference to Memphis:
HOME OF ELVIS AND THE ANCIENT GREEKS
If you haven't figured it out by now, "Cities" is about more than three (or four) cities. When I first heard the song I was unaware of any "El Paso" outside of Texas, but I did know about the Londons in England and Ontario (see Mark Drewe's picture above), the Birminghams in England and Alabama, and the Memphises in Tennessee (as featured in Empoprise-NTN) and Egypt. (And, for the record, there are El Pasos in the north, including cities with that name in Illinois and Wisconsin.)
Ian Gittins doesn't delve into this multi-city confusion, instead wondering at the absurdity of it all (see pages 54-55). And as far as I can tell Byrne or the Heads have never talked about it. But even if they're just wild mistakes in the lyrics, it's still enjoyable speculation.
P.S. Yes, the phrase "Byrne or the Heads" was intentional, if you're familiar with the band the Heads.
