Editing Remain in Light (section)

==Music and lyrics==
[[File:Portrait of John Dean, counsel to the President - NARA - 194495.jpg|alt=Casual portrait of John Dean sitting in his office with his feet on the desk|thumb|upright|The testimony of [[Watergate scandal]] conspirator [[John Dean]] was one of several inspirations for the lyrics on ''Remain in Light''.]]
''Remain in Light'' has been variously described as [[New wave music|new wave]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/09/the-best-new-wave-albums.html?p=2 |title=The 50 Best New Wave Albums |last=Jackson |first=Josh |date=September 8, 2016 |website=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]] |access-date=October 31, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Kaufman|first=Gil|date=November 1, 1996|title=Phish Take on Remain in Light for Halloween|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/508497/phish-take-on-remain-in-light-for-halloween/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202014745/http://www.mtv.com/news/508497/phish-take-on-remain-in-light-for-halloween/|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 2, 2017|access-date=January 24, 2017|website=[[MTV News]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Cateforis|first=Theo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MVrM3zKrHQC&pg=PA14|title=Are We Not New Wave?: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s|date=2011|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=978-0-472-03470-3|page=14}}</ref> [[post-punk]],<ref name="vibe" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Reynolds|first=Simon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bAvy3S242wQC&pg=PA3|title=Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-78317-3|page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.treblezine.com/top-100-best-post-punk-albums/5/|title=The Top 100 Post-Punk Albums|date=October 22, 2018|website=Treble|access-date=August 28, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/the-50-best-post-punk-albums|title=The 50 Best Post-Punk Albums|first=Bonnie|last=Stiernberg|date=July 13, 2016|website=[[Paste Magazine|Paste]]|access-date=December 8, 2024}}</ref> [[worldbeat]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/726-invisible-hits-the-miracle-of-the-b52s-live-in-the-early-days/|title=Invisible Hits|last=Wilcox|first=Tyler|date=April 2, 2015|website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|access-date=December 5, 2016}}</ref> [[dance-rock]],<ref name="popm">{{cite web |last1=Mendelsohn |first1=Jason |last2=Klinger |first2=Eric |date=May 27, 2011 |title=Counterbalance No. 35 Talking Heads' 'Remain in Light' |url=http://www.popmatters.com/post/141627-talking-heads/ |access-date=January 24, 2017 |website=[[PopMatters]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|date=October 2005|title=The Definitive Guide to Dance-Rock|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOIh4tn8TGYC&pg=RA3-PA2|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|volume=21|issue=10}}</ref> [[art pop]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Cashen|first=Calvin|date=March 8, 2016|title=Top art pop albums of the '80s|url=http://theconcordian.com/2016/03/top-art-pop-albums-of-the-80s/|access-date=June 28, 2020|website=[[The Concordian (Montreal)|The Concordian]]}}</ref><ref name="Shep"/> [[art rock]],<ref name="Brooks">{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/talking-heads-remain-in-light/ |title=Talking Heads: Remain in Light |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=October 21, 2018 |access-date=October 21, 2018 |last=Brooks |first=Dan}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=10 records to introduce you to the world of art-rock|url=https://happymag.tv/10-records-to-introduce-you-to-the-world-of-art-rock/|last=Saunders|first=Luke|date=March 12, 2020|website=Happy Mag|access-date=June 28, 2020}}</ref> [[avant-pop]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecurrent.org/feature/2012/04/05/musicheads-essentials-talking-heads--remain-in-light|title=Musicheads Essentials: Talking Heads – Remain in Light|last=Seel|first=Steve|date=April 5, 2012|website=The Current|access-date=January 24, 2017}}</ref> [[Afrobeat]],<ref name="popm" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Helmore |first=Edward |date=March 27, 2009 |title='The business is an exciting mess': Edward Helmore Talks to Brian Eno and David Byrne |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/mar/27/brian-eno-david-byrne |access-date=January 24, 2017 |website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> and [[psychedelic funk]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Reynolds|first=Simon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dK-F43T8V0wC&pg=PT141|title=Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984|date=2009|publisher=[[Faber and Faber]]|isbn=978-0-571-25227-5|page=163|author-link=Simon Reynolds}}</ref> Critic [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] called the album a "dense amalgam of African percussion, funk bass and keyboards, pop songs, and electronics."<ref name="allmusic_bio">{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/talking-heads-mn0000131650/biography |title=Talking Heads |first=Stephen Thomas |last=Erlewine |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=December 3, 2016 }}</ref> ''[[Far Out (magazine)|Far Out]]'' described the album as containing "[[funk-rock]] musings".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Potter |first1=Jordan |title=Talking Heads – ‘Speaking in Tongues’ |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/talking-heads-speaking-in-tongues-album-review/ |website=Far Out |access-date=24 April 2025}}</ref> It contains eight songs with a "striking [[free association (psychology)|free-associative]] feel", according to [[Psychoanalysis|psychoanalyst]] Michael A. Brog, in that there is no extended thought process that can be followed in its [[stream of consciousness writing|stream-of-consciousness]] lyrics. Gans instructed Byrne to be freer with his lyrical content, advising him that "rational thinking has its limits".<ref name=brog166>Brog, p. 166</ref>

Byrne included a bibliography with the album press kit along with a statement that explained how the album was inspired by African mythologies and rhythms. The release stressed that the major inspiration for the lyrics was John Miller Chernoff's ''African Rhythm and African Sensibility'',{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=182}} which examined the musical enhancement of life in rural African communities.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=183}} Chernoff travelled to [[Ghana]] in 1970 to study native percussion and wrote about how Africans have complicated conversations through drum patterns.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=173}} One song, "The Great Curve", exemplifies the African theme with the line "The world moves on a woman's hips", which Byrne used after reading [[Robert Farris Thompson]]'s book ''African Art in Motion''.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=374}} He also studied straight speech, from [[Watergate scandal]] co-conspirator [[John Dean]]'s testimony to the stories of [[African Americans|African American]] former slaves.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=172}}

Like the other tracks, album opener "[[Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)]]" borrows from "preaching, shouting and ranting".<ref name=TGINT>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/mar/27/brian-eno-david-byrne|title=The business is an exciting mess|last=Helmore, Edward|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=March 27, 2009|access-date=August 25, 2009}}</ref> The expression "And the Heat Goes On", used in the title and repeated in the chorus, is based on a ''[[New York Post]]'' headline Eno read in the summer of 1980, while Byrne rewrote the song title "Don't Worry About the Government" from Talking Heads' debut album, ''[[Talking Heads: 77]]'', into the lyric "Look at the hands of a government man".{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=171}} Although the unorthodox guitar solo has often been credited to Adrian Belew, it was in fact performed by Byrne (manipulating a Lexicon Prime Time [[Digital delay line|digital delay]] unit).<ref name="gp10252022" />

The "rhythmical rant" in "Crosseyed and Painless"—"Facts are simple and facts are straight. Facts are lazy and facts are late"—was influenced by [[Old-school hip hop|early hip-hop]], specifically [[Kurtis Blow]]'s "[[The Breaks (song)|The Breaks]]", which was given to Byrne by Frantz. "Once in a Lifetime" borrows heavily from preachers' diatribes.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=172}} While some critics deemed the song "a kind of prescient jab at the excesses of the 1980s", Byrne disagreed with this categorization and commented that its lyrics were meant to be taken literally: "We're largely unconscious. You know, we operate half awake or on autopilot and end up, whatever, with a house and family and job and everything else, and we haven't really stopped to ask ourselves, 'How did I get here?'."<ref name=NPR />

{{Listen
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 |title="The Great Curve"
 |description="The Great Curve" includes two lengthy solos by Adrian Belew's synthesiser-treated guitar, African-inspired percussion, and brass interludes.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=170}} It features the line "The world moves on a woman's hips", inspired by [[Robert Farris Thompson]]'s 1974 book ''African Art in Motion''.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=374}}
}}

Byrne has described the album's final mix as a "spiritual" piece of work, "joyous and ecstatic and yet it's serious"; he has pointed out that, in the end, there was "less Africanism in ''Remain in Light'' than we implied ... but the African ideas were far more important to get across than specific rhythms".{{sfn|Pareles|1982|p=39}} According to Eno, the record uniquely blends funk with [[punk rock]] and new wave.<ref name=TGINT /> None of the compositions include chord changes, relying instead on the use of different harmonies and [[Counter-melody|counter-melodies]] over [[pedal point]]s.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=171}} "Spidery riffs" and layered tracks of bass guitar and percussion are used extensively.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=169}}

The first side contains the more rhythmic songs, "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)", "Crosseyed and Painless", and "The Great Curve", which include long instrumental interludes.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=178}} "The Great Curve" contains extended guitar solos by Belew, the first contributions that he made during his day in the studio.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=170}} Belew performed the solo with the aid of four effects: an [[Electro-Harmonix]] [[Big Muff]] [[Distortion (music)|distortion]] unit, an [[Alembic Inc|Alembic]] Strat-o-Blaster preamp circuit, an [[Equalization (audio)|equalizer]], and an Electro-Harmonix [[Electric Mistress]] [[Flanging|flanger]].<ref name="gp10252022" />

The second side features more introspective songs.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=178}} "Once in a Lifetime" pays homage to early rap techniques and the music of [[the Velvet Underground]].<ref name=NPR /> The track was originally called "Weird Guitar Riff Song" because of its composition.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=172}} It was conceived as a single [[riff]] before the band added a second; Eno alternated eight [[bar (music)|bars]] of each riff with corresponding bars of its counterpart.{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=169}} "Houses in Motion" incorporates long brass performances by Hassell, while "Listening Wind" features [[Arabic music]] influences, with Belew adding textural content via the Electric Mistress and "[<nowiki/>[[String bending|bending]]] the sound up and down while working a [[Delay (audio effect)|delay]] and the volume control on my guitar".<ref name="gp10252022" /> Closing track "The Overload" features "tribal-cum-[[industrial music|industrial]]" beats created primarily by Harrison and Byrne alongside Belew's "growling guitar atmospherics".<ref name="gp10252022" />{{sfn|Bowman|2001|p=178}}