This is going to be a long comment, the result of years - decades, actually- of listening to Naked, which is one of my all-time favorite albums. Not the first Talking Heads album I would play for someone ('77, Remain in Light, or Stop Making Sense depending on the person), but a criminally under-rated album nonetheless. I'm putting my analysis here because 'Blind' is the first song on the album.
I think its a 'concept album', where all of the songs have subtle links to each other. The theme is the duality of human nature, instinctive genetic programming meeting conscious thought and the systems this meeting gives rise to. There are some very notable song pairings which are linked thematically by giving different perspectives on the same broad themes. On the whole, its an incredibly lyrically dense and sinister album. I'm still trying to figure out some of it after all these years, and that's a testament to its density and brilliance.
'Blind' leads the album with an examination of instinctive violence and ignorance in a specifically political context ('torn all apart, all in the name of democracy'). I agree with other interpretations here, especially speakingintongues. It pairs with 'Democratic Circus', the other explicitly political song on the album -which, I believe, leads off side 2 of the LP as 'Blind' leads side one - but 'Blind' focuses on ignorance and seemingly random violence from the bottom up while 'Circus' deals with the intentional deception that creates this from the top down. With the worldwide rise in 'populism' in the last 10-15 years, these songs are more relevant than ever.
Next song is Mr. Jones, which stands alone . . . sort of. It follows from 'Blind', moving from ignorance in a broad political context to a personal portrait of an ignorant out of control 80s businessman. More important is the link between the title character and Bob Dylan's Mr. Jones in his famous 1965 song 'Ballad of a Thin Man'. 'Mr. Jones is back' shows that we've seen him before, as the clueless character in that song who doesn't understand what's happening to society- but now its a couple decades later, and Mr. Jones is in charge. Definitely a comment on Reagan-era yuppies, who took over from the dreams of 60s flower children - but also an illustration of the general theme of instinctive behavior supported by our social and economic systems and driven beyond control. 'Watch out! This time, they've gone too far.'
Then track 3, Totally Nude. No lyrics here, oddly. But this pairs with the single, 'Nothing But Flowers', to be one of the most obvious song couplings on the album. Two different views of the 'state of nature' - as absolute joyous freedom taken almost to the point of absurdity versus the exaltation of modern life above a state of nature that we couldn't deal with if we had it. I don't think Byrne actually subscribes to either point of view - he's deliberately showing the ambivalence and duality. This is the upside of ignorance, and it makes you want to say ''But . . .''
Track 4, Ruby Dear, separates those two songs, and is full of references to pollution. 'breathing in that rotten air', 'Nothing lives in this dirty little river'. Lines like 'looking like we'll never learn/we've lost control' and 'fox among the chickens' show how our instinct plus technology is driving us to destroy our environment. Between songs about natural paradise, this one shows how far we are.
Those who think 'Nothing But Flowers' is an anti-environmentalist song should listen to the last two tracks first, which is one reason they are arranged that way. It isn't pure irony, though. Most of us really would miss DQ, 7-11s, and lawnmowers.
Track 6 is 'Democratic Circus', a direct indictment of the politicans and media who have 'dreams for sale/stealing all of our dreams/we'll sell them back to you'. As I mentioned before, it pairs with 'blind'. The rain at the end of the song also fits perfectly with the last track, 'Cool Water'.
Track 7, 'The facts of life' is the closest thing to a thesis statement on the album. 'ı believe that God has no master plan/He only takes what he can use'. We are caught between our genetic programming as anımals and the fevered reason that buılt our systems and technology. It doesn't really need a companion song, because the ambivalence is embedded: 'If chımpanzees are smart than we will close our eyes, and let our instincts guıde us/ Oh no!'. But it does go nicely with track 8, 'Mommy Daddy You and I'
Track 8, 'Mommy, Daddy, You, and I', goes with 'Facts of Life'. Both songs take aim at the human condition in general, but 'Facts' starts with our natural anımal heritage and speaks in general terms, where 'Mommy' uses one immigrant family as a symbol of the journey we all go through in a strange foreign land that is the whole world. The other link is to 'Cool Water' - the lıne 'changing the water of life' makes the water metaphor explicit, whıle the cold frequently referenced in the song ('Chilly willy', 'colder the further we go', 'up North it gets cold') shows the hostile aspect of 'cool'
Track 9, 'Big Daddy', is the first of two back to back tragic stories of relationships, along with 'Bill'. This one is a narrative of false, possessive love - and its failures. The brıdge ('mesmerized lıke horny toads/shiny things like jewels and gold . . . ') makes the link between materialism and dehumanization in relationships too strong of a theme to deny. This is what our instinctive acquisitiveness does to us. It may also have a tentative link to Mr. Jones, who seems like he might almost be the same character as Big Daddy. The last verse predicts an explosion from his cheating, equally acquisitive wife/girlfriend - leading up to the apocalyptic song, Cool Water.
Bill is one of the most interesting songs here, and one of the hardest to figure out. It begins with a large boy being humiliated by peers, morphs into an nearly idyllic love story, and ends with references to guns, Jesus Christ, prices paid, secrets . . . the 'angel of God' refrain, soft and sweet as it is, still hints at a dark (and probably lethal) destiny. Musically, this is the calm before the storm. Lyrically, it might be the most sinister song on the album. Compared to the previous song, Bill is definitely talking about real love as opposed to the materialism of 'bıg Daddy' - but real love has its horrors as well. Because there are some serious flaws in the 'machines of love' that create these relationships. We may never understand how the ambiguous events in Bill connect together, but something is definitely wrong here. Perhaps its a case of being careful what you wish for.
And Cool Water is the climax. Both the music and the words suggest a devastating war of some kind ('Human battle stations and the big one's coming in) ... (to be continued)
This is going to be a long comment, the result of years - decades, actually- of listening to Naked, which is one of my all-time favorite albums. Not the first Talking Heads album I would play for someone ('77, Remain in Light, or Stop Making Sense depending on the person), but a criminally under-rated album nonetheless. I'm putting my analysis here because 'Blind' is the first song on the album.
I think its a 'concept album', where all of the songs have subtle links to each other. The theme is the duality of human nature, instinctive genetic programming meeting conscious thought and the systems this meeting gives rise to. There are some very notable song pairings which are linked thematically by giving different perspectives on the same broad themes. On the whole, its an incredibly lyrically dense and sinister album. I'm still trying to figure out some of it after all these years, and that's a testament to its density and brilliance.
'Blind' leads the album with an examination of instinctive violence and ignorance in a specifically political context ('torn all apart, all in the name of democracy'). I agree with other interpretations here, especially speakingintongues. It pairs with 'Democratic Circus', the other explicitly political song on the album -which, I believe, leads off side 2 of the LP as 'Blind' leads side one - but 'Blind' focuses on ignorance and seemingly random violence from the bottom up while 'Circus' deals with the intentional deception that creates this from the top down. With the worldwide rise in 'populism' in the last 10-15 years, these songs are more relevant than ever.
Next song is Mr. Jones, which stands alone . . . sort of. It follows from 'Blind', moving from ignorance in a broad political context to a personal portrait of an ignorant out of control 80s businessman. More important is the link between the title character and Bob Dylan's Mr. Jones in his famous 1965 song 'Ballad of a Thin Man'. 'Mr. Jones is back' shows that we've seen him before, as the clueless character in that song who doesn't understand what's happening to society- but now its a couple decades later, and Mr. Jones is in charge. Definitely a comment on Reagan-era yuppies, who took over from the dreams of 60s flower children - but also an illustration of the general theme of instinctive behavior supported by our social and economic systems and driven beyond control. 'Watch out! This time, they've gone too far.'
Then track 3, Totally Nude. No lyrics here, oddly. But this pairs with the single, 'Nothing But Flowers', to be one of the most obvious song couplings on the album. Two different views of the 'state of nature' - as absolute joyous freedom taken almost to the point of absurdity versus the exaltation of modern life above a state of nature that we couldn't deal with if we had it. I don't think Byrne actually subscribes to either point of view - he's deliberately showing the ambivalence and duality. This is the upside of ignorance, and it makes you want to say ''But . . .''
Track 4, Ruby Dear, separates those two songs, and is full of references to pollution. 'breathing in that rotten air', 'Nothing lives in this dirty little river'. Lines like 'looking like we'll never learn/we've lost control' and 'fox among the chickens' show how our instinct plus technology is driving us to destroy our environment. Between songs about natural paradise, this one shows how far we are.
Those who think 'Nothing But Flowers' is an anti-environmentalist song should listen to the last two tracks first, which is one reason they are arranged that way. It isn't pure irony, though. Most of us really would miss DQ, 7-11s, and lawnmowers.
Track 7, 'The facts of life' is the closest thing to a thesis statement on the album. 'ı believe that God has no master plan/He only takes what he can use'. We are caught between our genetic programming as anımals and the fevered reason that buılt our systems and technology. It doesn't really need a companion song, because the ambivalence is embedded: 'If chımpanzees are smart than we will close our eyes, and let our instincts guıde us/ Oh no!'. But it does go nicely with track 8, 'Mommy Daddy You and I'
Track 8, 'Mommy, Daddy, You, and I', goes with 'Facts of Life'. Both songs take aim at the human condition in general, but 'Facts' starts with our natural anımal heritage and speaks in general terms, where 'Mommy' uses one immigrant family as a symbol of the journey we all go through in a strange foreign land that is the whole world. The other link is to 'Cool Water' - the lıne 'changing the water of life' makes the water metaphor explicit, whıle the cold frequently referenced in the song ('Chilly willy', 'colder the further we go', 'up North it gets cold') shows the hostile aspect of 'cool'
Track 9, 'Big Daddy', is the first of two back to back tragic stories of relationships, along with 'Bill'. This one is a narrative of false, possessive love - and its failures. The brıdge ('mesmerized lıke horny toads/shiny things like jewels and gold . . . ') makes the link between materialism and dehumanization in relationships too strong of a theme to deny. This is what our instinctive acquisitiveness does to us. It may also have a tentative link to Mr. Jones, who seems like he might almost be the same character as Big Daddy. The last verse predicts an explosion from his cheating, equally acquisitive wife/girlfriend - leading up to the apocalyptic song, Cool Water.
Bill is one of the most interesting songs here, and one of the hardest to figure out. It begins with a large boy being humiliated by peers, morphs into an nearly idyllic love story, and ends with references to guns, Jesus Christ, prices paid, secrets . . . the 'angel of God' refrain, soft and sweet as it is, still hints at a dark (and probably lethal) destiny. Musically, this is the calm before the storm. Lyrically, it might be the most sinister song on the album. Compared to the previous song, Bill is definitely talking about real love as opposed to the materialism of 'bıg Daddy' - but real love has its horrors as well. Because there are some serious flaws in the 'machines of love' that create these relationships. We may never understand how the ambiguous events in Bill connect together, but something is definitely wrong here. Perhaps its a case of being careful what you wish for.
And Cool Water is the climax. Both the music and the words suggest a devastating war of some kind ('Human battle stations and the big one's coming in) ... (to be continued)