And She Was

"And She Was" is a song by the American band Talking Heads, from their 1985 album Little Creatures. The song was written by David Byrne, who also provides the lead vocals.

"And She Was"
Single by Talking Heads
from the album Little Creatures
ReleasedAugust 1985 (US)[1]
GenreRock, new wave
Length
  • 3:36 (album version)
  • 3:26 (single mix)
  • 3:38 (Dub version)
  • 4:32 (E.T. version)
Label
Songwriter(s)David Byrne
Producer(s)Talking Heads
Talking Heads singles chronology
"Road to Nowhere"
(1985)		 "And She Was"
(1985)		 "Once in a Lifetime (Live)"
(1986)
Audio
"And She Was" on YouTube

The song is musically notable for its unusual use of modulation. The overall key of the song is E major; however, the bridge to the chorus is in F major. The second bridge back to the verse is in the key of G major (Chords B minor to G major, "She was glad about it...")

It reached No. 54 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 17 on the British singles chart. The accompanying music video was directed by avant-garde filmmaker Jim Blashfield, who cites the style of Terry Gilliam as one of his major influences.[2][3]

Background

"I used to know a blissed-out hippie-chick in Baltimore," recalled Byrne in the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads. "She once told me that she used to do acid (the drug, not music) and lay down on the field by the Yoo-hoo chocolate soda factory. Flying out of her body, etc etc. It seemed like such a tacky kind of transcendence… but it was real! A new kind of religion being born out of heaps of rusted cars and fast food joints. And this girl was flying above it all, but in it too."

Drummer Chris Frantz said of the song, "It's a story about a woman who has the power to levitate above the ground and to check out all her neighbors from a kind of bird's eye view. And the guy who's writing the song is in love with her and he kinda wishes she would just be more normal and, like, come on back down to the ground [Laughs], but she doesn't. She goes floating over the backyard and past the buildings and the schools and stuff and is absolutely [upside-down] to him in every way."[4]

Reception

Cash Box said that the song "displays David Byrne’s discreet pop ingenuity and Talking Heads' inimitable rhythmic pump" and has "a strangely surrealistic lyric and a singalong chorus."[5]

The song was featured in the 1989 film Look Who's Talking, in the 2005 films Bewitched and Sky High, and the 2016 film Storks.[6]

Charts

Weekly Charts
Weekly chart performance for "And She Was"
Chart (1985/1986) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[7] 10
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [8] 54
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[8] 33
UK Singles Chart[9] 17
New Zealand Singles Chart[10] 16
Dutch Singles Chart[11] 31
Irish Singles Chart[12] 9

Year-end charts
Year-end chart performance for "And She Was"
Chart (1986) Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[13] 90

Notes
  1. Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. p. 809. ISBN 9780862415419.
  2. Bryan Thomas (June 29, 2015). "Jim Blashfield's 'Suspicious Circumstances': 'Salvador Dalí and Betty Crocker' collage animation geniusness". Nightflight. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
  3. Barry Johnson (October 24, 2012). "Jim Blashfield: And He Was". Oregon Artswatch. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
  4. "The Daily Cut: Talking Heads "And She Was"". 98.5 WNCX. CBS. Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  5. "Single Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. August 31, 1985. p. 9. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  6. David Byrne at IMDb
  7. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  8. | Billboard Magazine
  9. The Official Charts Company. "UK Albums Chart". Every Hit. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  10. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (February 6, 1986). "New Zealand Singles Chart". New Zealand Charts. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  11. MegaCharts (February 8, 1986). "Dutch Singles Chart". Dutch Charts. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  12. Irish Recording Music Association (January 30, 1986). "Irish Singles Chart". Irish Charts. Archived from the original on 2 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  13. "National Top 100 Singles for 1986". Kent Music Report. No. 650. December 1986. Retrieved January 24, 2023 – via Imgur.
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