In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Oh oh, baby you can walk, you can talk just like me
You can walk, you can talk just like me
You can look, tell me what you see
You can look, you won't see nothing like me
If you look around the world
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, baby you can walk, you can talk just like me
With a little practice, you can walk, you can talk just like me
If that's what you wanna do
Well, you can look, you'll walk in circles around me
But first I'll walk in circles 'round you, but first I'll walk around the world
I'm walking 'round the world, here we go
I, you can walk a little, I'll walk in circles 'round you
But first, show me what you can do
You can walk, you can talk just like me
You can look, tell me what you see
You can look, you won't see nothing like me
If you look around the world
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, baby you can walk, you can talk just like me
With a little practice, you can walk, you can talk just like me
If that's what you wanna do
Well, you can look, you'll walk in circles around me
But first I'll walk in circles 'round you, but first I'll walk around the world
I'm walking 'round the world, here we go
I, you can walk a little, I'll walk in circles 'round you
But first, show me what you can do
Lyrics submitted by FreddieIsMyIdol
Thank You For Sending Me an Angel Lyrics as written by David Byrne
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I put this song in a mix of songs I made about babies, kids, etc., as we prepared for the birth of our daughter. I see this scene as a dad talking to his kid about life and the world. Except the dad is on speed, pretty amped up, and the baby is sitting there in the high chair just staring at him...
I've been listening to this song off-and-on for almost 30 years, and this interpretation never once occurred to me not even vaguely...and it's so dead on! it's perfect.<br /> <br /> the key is to recognize that--assuming this really was the intention--David is subverting the pop-music convention of referring to your loved one as "baby," by taking it literally.<br /> <br /> actually I still find it kinda difficult to believe this was his intent (I don't think David at that age could hardly conceive--no pun intended--of himself as a father), but it works better than any alternate explanation I could come up with.<br /> <br /> another good song for such a mixtape would be "Learning to Hunt" by Guided By Voices, in which a father expresses awe and wonder while he watches his young child engaged in fairly ordinary activities: which--for the kid, in his/her inexperience, are wondrous adventures:<br /> <br /> You were a child reaching out brave and true<br /> For big things in the next room and I<br /> Couldn't step into such open sky<br /> Where on the crest of uncertainty you loom<br /> <br /> also there's tension between his wish to put a protective cocoon around his beloved offspring forever vs. the knowledge that if he truly loves them, he must allow them the space in which they can explore the world despite the inherent risk.<br />
when he sings 'but first I walk in circles around you/ but first I walk around the world' is a contradiction that even Byrne can't even make sense of in his 'non-sensicle' lyrics
yeah, this song is great. i mean, seeing this performed at the start of the Stop Making Sense movie totally revs up the action, like it just comes out of nowhere after those slow versions of Psycho Killer and Heaven. And the guitar parts are great, and Mr. Byrne is so... energized in his own quirky way... and he really is walking circles around the rest of us. Who wouldn't envy such a crazy man?