Talk:Psycho Killer

To delete or not to delete
I could go either way on this--keep the article and expand it, or fold it back into the Talking Heads 77 article. On the one hand, I do feel that Psycho Killer is a notable song--one of the key songs of the New Wave, and certainly one of a handful of songs that define the Talking Heads. On the other hand, there isn't much of an article for the album it comes from; we could put it there and make that page more worth reading. There's more to say about Psycho Killer but not a heck of a lot more. (On the third hand, maybe Psycho Killer is more notable than Talking Heads 77?)

Anyway, I don't think it's a question of whether the info here is worth saving--it's just a question of where to put it. (We could make Psycho Killer into a redirect to Talking Heads 77, if we move the info there.)

If anyone feels like Psycho Killer should definitely be an article, they should remove the delete tag--otherwise it'll automatically get deleted. Nareek 23:14, 9 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I rather value this page as a unique page. A lot of songs less notable than this one have their own pages - and this is one of Talking Heads' biggest songs. (Kind of.) But seriously, we have a fair amount of info here already; I think it works well as it's own page. Where's the delete tag? I didn't see it... Folkor 09:01, 10 March 2006 (UTC)


 * It's been deleted. Nareek 12:14, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Barbara Conway
Can anyone check whether or not this is a true story? It has something of the feel of an urban legend, but I suppose it could be true. It doesn't seem to be on Google anywhere that isn't derived from IMDB or WP, and that seems like kind of a bad sign. Nareek 12:25, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

So wait...did it get un-deleted? 'Cause it's still here. Oh and

Story is true ... Barbara Conway was from Barrington R.I. and was a frequent habitué of the Providence bar scene (not sure if she attended R.I.S.D.). She was shot in the kitchen of where she was living by the wife of a man she was having an affair with.

Allegedly, the woman who shot Conway became aware of her husband’s affair and bought a .38 revolver from a gun shop in North Providence (after taking a Hunter Safety Course and practicing on the range).

She then rode her bike across town and stopped at Conway’s residence … knocked on the door and asked if she could have a drink of water … when Conway went to the kitchen to get the water, she shot her!

The crime was initially unsolved, until the owner of the gun shop contacted authorities to tell them that a woman who had purchased a gun from the shop had returned it saying she decided not to keep it … she was from the same town as Conway (Barrington) and the gun was the same caliber used in the shooting – ballistics confirmed it was the gun.

The whole incident makes the song Psycho Killer even more disturbing! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.110.145.180 (talk) 18:50, 13 June 2021 (UTC)

Merge
There's not much point in adding a merge tag without proposing an argument for why there should be a merge. The discussion above, while not particularly in-depth, concluded that the song was important enough to merit its own article. If you feel differently, please explain why. Nareek 19:26, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Okay, the argument for merge is: this article is a collection of random facts, misuses the word "schizophrenic," is poorly written, and doesn't mention that The Fools doped the song in "Psycho Chicken." The song is notable because (1) it broke Talking Heads, (2) for a potential murder song it is disturbingly danceable, and (3) if you ask a random person to name a Talking Heads song, this would be it. It needs a song or single box, and decent writing explain the song's notability. --Fantailfan 20:00, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
 * You make a good argument for improving the article--but not for a merge. You could make an argument, actually, that "Psycho Killer" is more notable than Talking Heads 77. Really, which could more people identify? Nareek 20:33, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Perhaps to inspire someone to write the article properly. I'm not much of a writer myself, more of an research librarian. I would venture to do it myself except that I encountered the song in 1979 when I bought 77, More Songs and a bunch of other "New Wave" records all at once and don't consider myself properly qualified, I suppose. --Fantailfan 20:47, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Removed merge proposal. --Fantailfan 19:26, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Translation

 * Ce que j'ai fait, ce soir la
 * Ce qu'elle a dit, ce soir la
 * Realisant, mon espoir
 * Je me lance vers la gloire

The preceding lyrics translate roughly to:
 * It's what I did that night
 * It's what she said that night
 * Realizing my hope
 * I leaped toward glory

Someone else may want to check that, but it seemed like something that should be mentioned somewhere for those who want to know. Anon 03:57, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Actual lyrics;
Are the lyrics given in the article official lyrics, as per on a lyric sheet released with the medium? The first & only two online lyric sites I checked say the lyrics are "Far better"  (first link "blacklisted" add oldie lyrics . com ; no spaces, for it to work), however I personally have always thought the lyrics were "fa fa fa .... Better run away", like a warning; you'd "better run away", and not "far better". Which is correct? 67.5.156.6 07:58, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Bullseye
Worth mentioning? Bullseye sings this song in Moon Knight vol. 4 no. 25 XD 69.171.144.95 (talk) 02:42, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

This is an encylcopedia, not a review!
Can we delete the clearly non-encyclopedic descriptions such as the one that appears in the write-up for the Stop Making Sense version? (The drum machine "fires" machine gun riffs that causes Byrne to stagger "like Jean Paul Belmondo in the final minutes of 'Breathless,' a hero succumbing, surprised, to violence that he'd thought he was prepared for." ) Or at least credit it within the text? In the absence of that it just sounds like an over-flowery description that smacks of original research (which, being one writer's description based on nothing in particular, it essentially is).70.91.35.27 (talk) 19:46, 13 May 2009 (UTC)Tim

Someone keeps adding this back in. The comment being deleted doesn't belong, it's a flowery description made by someone (a reviewer) that has no indication that that is what David Byrne was going for. If Byrne described it as such than fine, but since he didn't it's no different than someone writing in the description themselves, in which case it would be deleted since it's original research. If you MUST include it then indicate where the quote comes from as was done earlier in the article. But really, what is the point? If you're not familiar with Breathless (and I would guess most people wouldn't be) then it's meaningless. Just say he staggered around at leave it at that, save the flowery prose for the fan magazines.70.91.35.27 (talk) 16:37, 15 May 2009 (UTC)Tim

Dead external links to Allmusic website – January 2011
Since Allmusic have changed the syntax of their URLs, 1 link(s) used in the article do not work anymore and can't be migrated automatically. Please use the search option on http://www.allmusic.com to find the new location of the linked Allmusic article(s) and fix the link(s) accordingly, prefereably by using the Allmusic template. If a new location cannot be found, the link(s) should be removed. This applies to the following external links: --CactusBot (talk) 18:16, 1 January 2011 (UTC)
 * http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=17:1233873~T00C

Alternate versions of Stop Making Sense
Surprised not to see any mention of this on either this article or the Stop Making Sense articles, but there are two versions of this song - the original vinyl and early CD copies of Stop Making Sense (with the original, heavily-abridged tracklist) feature a different drum machine program (not just a remix - the best place to hear this is during the end, where instead of the "machine gun bursts", the machine continues with the standard rhythm, just with added volume on the "cymbal crash" (an "arena rock" sort of effect, as opposed to the movie's very-Latin-African feel). The "restored" version of the soundtrack uses the same drum pattern as found in the movie. 108.45.142.234 (talk) 03:15, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

Category:Franglais songs?
I had always assumed it was just "an English-song-with-some-French-in-it". What's the exact criterion? I see that it does not appear at Franglais. But then none of the seven songs currently listed there have any sources to support that description anyway. So we can just guess? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 13:03, 12 March 2021 (UTC)