Burning Down the House

"Burning Down the House" is a song by new wave band Talking Heads, released in July 1983 as the first single from their fifth studio album Speaking in Tongues.

For other uses, see Burning Down the House (disambiguation).

"Burning Down the House"
Standard cover art
Single by Talking Heads
from the album Speaking in Tongues
B-side"I Get Wild / Wild Gravity"
ReleasedJuly 1983
Genre
Length4:00
LabelSire
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Talking Heads
Talking Heads singles chronology
"Life During Wartime (live)"
(1982)		 "Burning Down the House"
(1983)		 "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)"
(1983)
Official Video
"Burning Down the House" on YouTube

Inspiration and composition

"Burning Down the House" is a new wave,[1] funk,[2] and art rock[3] song. "This song started from a jam," says bassist Tina Weymouth in the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads. "Chris [Frantz] had just been to see Parliament-Funkadelic in its full glory at Madison Square Garden, and he was really hyped. During the jam, he kept yelling 'Burn down the house!' which was a P-Funk audience chant, and David [Byrne] dug the line, changing it to the finished version, 'Burning down the house'." (Bernie Worrell of Parliament-Funkadelic joined Talking Heads' live incarnation.)

The initial lyrics were considerably different, however. In an interview on NPR's All Things Considered aired on December 2, 1984, David Byrne played excerpts of early worktapes showing how the song had evolved from an instrumental jam by Weymouth and Frantz. Once the whole band had reworked the groove into something resembling the final recording, Byrne began chanting and singing nonsense syllables over the music until he arrived at phrasing that fit with the rhythms—a technique influenced by former Talking Heads producer Brian Eno: "and then I [would] just write words to fit that phrasing... I'd have loads and loads of phrases collected that I thought thematically had something to do with one another, and I'd pick from those."

According to Byrne in the NPR interview, phrases that he tried but ultimately did not use in the song included "I have another body," "Pick it up by the handle," "You travel with a double," and "I'm still under construction." As for the title phrase in the chorus, one early attempt (as heard on a worktape) had him singing a different line, "What are we gonna do?", and at another point in the process, "instead of chanting 'Burning Down the House,' I was chanting 'Foam Rubber, USA.'"[4]

Music video

The video, produced and directed by Byrne, alternates primarily between footage of the band performing the song in an empty ballroom, Byrne playing while facing a projection screen that displays a concert crowd or a wall of flames at different times, and images projected on the outside wall of a house. A young boy resembling Byrne takes his place from time to time; eventually, younger counterparts start moving the arms of all four band members to play the music. After the screen goes blank, both young and adult Byrne leave the stage, and the video ends with an extended close-up of Byrne's face projected on a highway at night.

The house used in the video is located on Myrtle Street in Union, New Jersey. Max Illidge (credited as Max Loving), vocalist of the band 40 Below Summer, and Rockets Redglare appear as the younger selves of Byrne and Jerry Harrison, respectively.

Chart performance

"Burning Down the House" became Talking Heads' highest-charting hit single in North America, becoming their only top ten single on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 9, as well as reaching the top ten in Canada.[5] Despite this success, the song was not a hit outside of North America. In Australia it peaked at a modest No. 94, while in the UK, where Talking Heads would release 14 charting singles, it failed to chart.

Track listings

7-inch single[6]

A. "Burning Down the House" – 4:00
B. "I Get Wild / Wild Gravity" – 4:06

UK 12-inch single[7]

A1. "Burning Down the House" (album version)
A2. "I Get Wild / Wild Gravity" (cassette version)
B1. "Moon Rocks" (cassette version)

Personnel

Talking Heads

Additional personnel

Charts

Tom Jones and the Cardigans version
"Burning Down the House"
Single by Tom Jones and the Cardigans
from the album Reload
B-side
ReleasedSeptember 13, 1999 (1999-09-13)[13]
StudioTambourine (Malmö, Sweden)
Length3:40
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Tore Johansson
Tom Jones singles chronology
"You Can Leave Your Hat On"
(1997)		 "Burning Down the House"
(1999)		 "Baby, It's Cold Outside"
(1999)
The Cardigans singles chronology
"Hanging Around"
(1999)		 "Burning Down the House"
(1999)		 "For What It's Worth"
(2003)
Music video
"Burning Down The House" (Official Video) on YouTube

Welsh singer Tom Jones recorded a version of "Burning Down the House" with Swedish pop band the Cardigans for his 1999 collaborations album, Reload. In common with the other tracks on the album, the recording was made with the collaborators' choice of producer and studio, in this case Tore Johansson and Tambourine Studios in Malmö, Sweden.

The track was released as the lead single from Reload on September 13, 1999, and became a hit across Europe and Australia, reaching No. 1 in Iceland, No. 2 in Sweden, and the top ten in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Norway and the United Kingdom. The single was backed with Jones' live recordings of the EMF song "Unbelievable" and the Beatles' "Come Together", as well as remixes of "Burning Down the House" by Delakota, Pepe Deluxé and DJ Scissorkicks.

As one of the major hits of Jones' later career, it appears on numerous compilations of Jones' work. It also features on the Cardigans' 2008 Best Of album.

Track listings

UK CD1; Australian CD2; Japanese CD single[14][15][16]

  1. "Burning Down the House"
  2. "Burning Down the House" (Delakota mix)
  3. "Burning Down the House" (Pepe Deluxé mix)
  4. "Burning Down the House" (DJ Scissorkicks instrumental mix)

UK CD2[17]

  1. "Burning Down the House"
  2. "Unbelievable" (Tom Jones live)
  3. "Come Together" (Tom Jones live)

UK cassette single[18]

  1. "Burning Down the House"
  2. "Burning Down the House" (Delakota mix)
  3. "Burning Down the House" (Pepe Deluxé mix)

European CD single[19]

  1. "Burning Down the House" (album version) – 3:38
  2. "Come Together" (Tom Jones live) – 4:14

European maxi-CD single[20]

  1. "Burning Down the House" (album version) – 3:38
  2. "Unbelievable" (Tom Jones live) – 4:10
  3. "Come Together" (Tom Jones live) – 4:12
  4. "Burning Down the House" (Delakota mix) – 5:00
  5. "Burning Down the House" (Pepe Deluxé mix) – 4:10

Australian CD1[21]

  1. "Burning Down the House"
  2. "Burning Down the House" (Delakota mix)
  3. "Burning Down the House" (Pepe Deluxé mix)
  4. "Burning Down the House" (DJ Scissorkicks instrumental mix)
  5. "Unbelievable" (Tom Jones live)
  6. "Come Together" (Tom Jones live)

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the Reload album booklet.[22]

Studio

  • Recorded at Tambourine Studios (Malmö, Sweden)
  • Mastered at The Soundmasters (London, England)

Personnel

  • David Byrne – writing
  • Tina Weymouth – writing
  • Chris Frantz – writing
  • Jerry Harrison – writing
  • Tom Jones – vocals
  • Nina Persson – vocals
  • Tore Johansson – backing vocals, additional keyboards, production
  • Lynette Koyana – backing vocals
  • Per Sunding – backing vocals
  • Patrik Bartosch – backing vocals
  • Maurits Carlsson – backing vocals
  • Peter Svensson – guitar
  • Lasse Johansson – guitar, keyboards
  • Pece Masalkovski – additional guitars
  • Magnus Sveningsson – bass
  • Bengt Lagerberg – drums
  • Jens Lindgård – horns
  • Petter Lindgård – horns
  • Sven Andersson – horns
  • Hello Bobadee – horn arrangement
  • Kevin Metcalf – mastering

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[47] Gold 35,000^
Sweden (GLF)[48] Gold 15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[49] Silver 200,000‡

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References
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  2. Crouse, Richard (1998). Who Wrote The Book Of Love?. Doubleday Canada. ISBN 0385257325.
  3. Gerard, Chris (July 7, 2015). "The 50 Greatest Pop Songs of the '80s, Nos. 40-31". Metro Weekly. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  4. "Here at the NPR Library and Archives, we've been..." nprchives. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  5. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 4385." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
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  7. Burning Down the House (UK 12-inch single vinyl disc). Talking Heads. Sire Records. 1983. W 9565 (T), 920136-0.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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  15. Burning Down the House (Australian CD2 liner notes). Tom Jones, the Cardigans. Gut Records, Mushroom Records. 1999. MUSH01917.5.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  16. Burning Down the House (Japanese CD single liner notes). Tom Jones, the Cardigans. Gut Records, V2 Records. 1999. V2CI 53.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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  19. Burning Down the House (European CD single liner notes). Tom Jones, the Cardigans. Gut Records, V2 Records. 1999. VVR5010203.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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  21. Burning Down the House (Australian CD2 liner notes). Tom Jones, the Cardigans. Gut Records, Mushroom Records. 1999. MUSH01917.2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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