The Greatest American Music: Talking Heads "(Nothing But) Flowers"

As you all know, last year I became enamored with Talking Heads. That has obviously shifted into the new year, and I am still playing plenty of their music at home, in the car and when I go running. By now I have heard every album at least twice. Some I listen to more, others less. The one I listen to the least is "Naked". It, for me, is a very discombobulated album. It is kind of all over the place. One minute it sounds like their classic stuff, then the next song is totally different, and seems like it shouldn't be on the record. It is a strange record

One song, the most famous one on the album by a mile, "(Nothing But) Flowers", that is an amazing song. It is pure Talking Heads, it has great vocals from Byrne, and the band is top notch. I wish the whole album was like this. What I love most about the song is the lyrics. In my many listens recently I have been paying more and more attention to the lyrics, and "(Nothing But) Flowers" has some of the best they've ever written. I also love the message of the song, and it kind of sounds like a place I would like to visit, if only it were real.

The song starts off very simple, ostensibly telling us about Adam and Eve, and how Byrne and the person he is talking about are them in this vision they wrote about. But it shifts pretty quick from so long ago to talking about how cars have no more gasoline. It puts the listener right back into the current world, or the world of the 80's when this song was written. The very next, very short verse is one of my all time favorites. After the Adam and Eve story, and cars being gone, Byrne sings, "there was a factory/now there are mountains and rivers/you got it you got it". I LOVE this ideal. There are far, far too many factories, especially now. Factories seem to go up yearly in the US, and they replace land that was covered with mountains, rivers, trees, grass, wildlife, all of these things and so much more. I kind of wish that there weren't so many factories. I want more mountains and rivers. The next part of the chorus is about them catching a rattlesnake and saying they have something for dinner. Again, the band is going back to ruffage and survival mode. I, again, like this idea. I am not big on hunting, I think it is quite barbaric in fact. But if you have to do it for sustenance, then it makes sense to me. That is what I envision this couple using hunting for. They may not want to, but to survive, they have to. Then we get the best part of the song to me, "there was a shopping mall/now it's all covered with flowers/you got it, you got it". I am seeing shopping malls go down left and right, and if they were covered in flowers, that would be beautiful. Unfortunately we do not get to see what it could grow into because when a mall goes down, they usually build some kind of factory in its place. I prefer the nature idea. Then the song takes a turn in the final part of the chorus. After saying all these things I think are wonderful and cool and would like to see, Byrne sings "if this is paradise/I wish I had a lawnmower/you got it, you got it". I mean, I get that grass needs to be mowed, but I feel like Talking Heads have made up this utopian type of forest life, then bam, they want it gone. I disagree with this, but it is another reason I like this song. The Talking Heads never ceases to amaze me with their writing, and this is a perfect example. They give us this wonderful, idealistic world, at least to me, and then smash it, saying they want it gone.

From here on out the song just gets better and better. In verse two Byrne talks about being an angry young man and pretending he was a billboard on the side of the road. He then tells us he fell in love with a road that used to be real estate which has now shifted to fields and trees. Again, my ideal version of a town. He goes on to say that the town used to be highways and cars, but it is now "sacrificed" for agriculture. He finishes up the second verse with, "I thought we'd start over/but I guess we were wrong". I love this. It is just like the chorus. I get this beautiful picture in my head of a former bustling city being turned into a tree and leaf covered forest. But then Bryne says he just figured they'd make more of the same, but he realizes he was wrong, but he still doesn't want the forest stuff that I do. The second chorus is to the same tune of the first, but it has different mentions. The Pizza Hut's have now all been covered with daisies and the honky tonks, Dairy Queens and 7-Eleven's are now all gone. I think that rules. We don't need all that convenience so easily available. I would like to see less stores and restaurants and more forest and greenery and wildlife. But Byrne almost opines for these things that are now gone. I don't. I think this world they have built up so far sounds awesome. It sounds like a place I want to see.

The band ends the song dreaming of cherry pies, chocolate chip cookies and candy bars. They used to microwave, but now they just eat nuts and berries. The discount store has turned into a cornfield. Again, I would miss these same things for a minute, but I feel like the alternate version they are posing, I could get used to rather quickly, especially the nuts and berries. I would love to do that. The final lyrics are the ultimate turn on this world they created that I love. Byrne sings, to end the song, "don't leave me stranded here/I can't get used to this lifestyle". I, again, disagree. Humans are so adaptable, and I love the world they created. I love the idea of a forest covered landscape, scourging for food, living like people used to in the old days. That sounds idyllic to me.

"(Nothing But) Flowers" is a classic Talking Heads song for a myriad of reasons. Number one for me, the place they have created, the one that Byrne doesn't want to be stranded in, sounds like Utopia to me. That is why I love this song so much. It talks about replacing all the stuff we don't need with stuff that would be so much better, and then the band gets all upset realizing they might have to live in a world like this. I would be stoked, and when I listen, I yearn for a world like the one they made up. It would be rad.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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