Songbook #14: Psycho Killer
I can't seem to face up to the facts
I'm tense and nervous and I can't relax
I can't sleep, 'cause my bed's on fire
Don't touch me, I'm a real live wire
The Talking Heads. Covered by many, notably Moxy Früvous.
Pyscho Killer
The staff of my radio station has always been extraordinarily musically diverse, and picking a single band representative of the station, or of college radio in general, is essentially impossible. However, I suspect that The Talking Heads come as close as anybody can to being the stereotypical college radio staple. And Psycho Killer is almost certainly the most popular and influential Talking Heads song.
Naturally, I came to enjoy Talking Heads not from my time at WRUW, but because I am a big fan of Moxy Früvous. I saw them six times during college, including three shows in four nights in three cities one summer. Früvous did a pretty straight up live cover of Psycho Killer which I really enjoyed. This led me to dig into the Talking Heads catalog, and I liked what I found.
As excellent as Byrne and company are, to me the song is always a Früvous track. Jian, Murray, Dave & Mike put on consistently excellent live shows. I saw them twice in Cleveland, once in Oberlin, once in Detroit, once in Toronto and most memorably at a free show in Pittsburgh which is probably the best damn live show I've ever been to in my entire life.
A core group of four of us went to the last five of the Früvous shows. My fraternity brothers John & Bybluk and my sister and I caught them in Cleveland and drove to Detroit the next day. After an off day we went to Pittsburgh. Later that year we caught their last American show ever at Oberlin (my parents came) and we closed it out with a trip to Toronto for what was their last show before they announced their now permanent hiatus. This sort of obsessive behavior was pretty normal for Moxy Früvous fans (aka Frü-heads). We carved out a small niche identity as "the people with the fish". Früvous has a song called "Pisco Bandito" about a fish who robs people while they're swimming. From the Detroit show onward we would build a giant fish out of green construction paper. We'd stuff it with newspaper and tape a dollar bill to its mouth. Then when Pisco Bandito started playing we'd put the fish on a collapsible tent pole and wave it around in the air near the stage. At the end of the song it would end up on stage. People started recognizing us (or at least John) as "the fish people," which is a weird thing to be known for.
For years after I tried to have cash on hand so I could get to Toronto in a hurry if Früvous ever did another show. I've sort of accepted that it won't happen, but hope springs eternal. The albums, even the live album, aren't nearly as good. There's not a one of them where I could give it to someone and reasonably expect them to fall madly in love with the band. I mostly saw them because another PhiKap convinced me to go. Good call on his part. They actually played on campus one time, but I was on co-op in another state so I missed it.
Anyway, I digress. Moxy Früvous got me into Talking Heads by way of Psycho Killer. When I sing my loud enthusiastic version of Psycho Killer while playing Rock Band, that's all Früvous. And when I tried and failed to get the vanity license plate SYCOKLR, that was because of Früvous (my sister was going to condense "qu'est-ce que c'est" to KAZKASE or something similar; then we'd park next to each other to see if anybody got it). Clearly this song made an impression on me; to say otherwise would to demonstrate that I just can't face up to the facts...
Tracklist
#1 - Welcome to the Jungle
#2 - Runnin' Blue
#3 - Cryin'
#4 - Mr. Jones
#5 - Blinded by the Light
#6 - Piano Man
#7 - Romeo & Juliet
#8 - Ecstasy
#9 - Seasons of Love
#10 - Red Sweater!
#11 - Insomniac
#12 - It Had to Be You
#13 - Cabaret
#14 - Psycho Killer
I'm tense and nervous and I can't relax
I can't sleep, 'cause my bed's on fire
Don't touch me, I'm a real live wire
The Talking Heads. Covered by many, notably Moxy Früvous.
Pyscho Killer
The staff of my radio station has always been extraordinarily musically diverse, and picking a single band representative of the station, or of college radio in general, is essentially impossible. However, I suspect that The Talking Heads come as close as anybody can to being the stereotypical college radio staple. And Psycho Killer is almost certainly the most popular and influential Talking Heads song.
Naturally, I came to enjoy Talking Heads not from my time at WRUW, but because I am a big fan of Moxy Früvous. I saw them six times during college, including three shows in four nights in three cities one summer. Früvous did a pretty straight up live cover of Psycho Killer which I really enjoyed. This led me to dig into the Talking Heads catalog, and I liked what I found.
As excellent as Byrne and company are, to me the song is always a Früvous track. Jian, Murray, Dave & Mike put on consistently excellent live shows. I saw them twice in Cleveland, once in Oberlin, once in Detroit, once in Toronto and most memorably at a free show in Pittsburgh which is probably the best damn live show I've ever been to in my entire life.
A core group of four of us went to the last five of the Früvous shows. My fraternity brothers John & Bybluk and my sister and I caught them in Cleveland and drove to Detroit the next day. After an off day we went to Pittsburgh. Later that year we caught their last American show ever at Oberlin (my parents came) and we closed it out with a trip to Toronto for what was their last show before they announced their now permanent hiatus. This sort of obsessive behavior was pretty normal for Moxy Früvous fans (aka Frü-heads). We carved out a small niche identity as "the people with the fish". Früvous has a song called "Pisco Bandito" about a fish who robs people while they're swimming. From the Detroit show onward we would build a giant fish out of green construction paper. We'd stuff it with newspaper and tape a dollar bill to its mouth. Then when Pisco Bandito started playing we'd put the fish on a collapsible tent pole and wave it around in the air near the stage. At the end of the song it would end up on stage. People started recognizing us (or at least John) as "the fish people," which is a weird thing to be known for.
For years after I tried to have cash on hand so I could get to Toronto in a hurry if Früvous ever did another show. I've sort of accepted that it won't happen, but hope springs eternal. The albums, even the live album, aren't nearly as good. There's not a one of them where I could give it to someone and reasonably expect them to fall madly in love with the band. I mostly saw them because another PhiKap convinced me to go. Good call on his part. They actually played on campus one time, but I was on co-op in another state so I missed it.
Anyway, I digress. Moxy Früvous got me into Talking Heads by way of Psycho Killer. When I sing my loud enthusiastic version of Psycho Killer while playing Rock Band, that's all Früvous. And when I tried and failed to get the vanity license plate SYCOKLR, that was because of Früvous (my sister was going to condense "qu'est-ce que c'est" to KAZKASE or something similar; then we'd park next to each other to see if anybody got it). Clearly this song made an impression on me; to say otherwise would to demonstrate that I just can't face up to the facts...
Tracklist
#1 - Welcome to the Jungle
#2 - Runnin' Blue
#3 - Cryin'
#4 - Mr. Jones
#5 - Blinded by the Light
#6 - Piano Man
#7 - Romeo & Juliet
#8 - Ecstasy
#9 - Seasons of Love
#10 - Red Sweater!
#11 - Insomniac
#12 - It Had to Be You
#13 - Cabaret
#14 - Psycho Killer