Road To Nowhere

I remember reading David Byrne commenting that this song was Talking Heads' anthem to celebrate the futility of our existence, i.e. we're born, we live, we die. Instead of postulating what lies beyond ('Nowhere') we should merely enjoy the ride along the way. Life is about the journey, not the destination.

Top Notch Song! What I love about it is its galloping drumbeat, as if the narrator is on horseback to his destination. But according to the lyrics, the destination is nowhere! How typically Bryne! Great Song! I also love the haunting female vox in the build up to the end.

I have nominated this song as the company that i work fors theme song: 'we're on the road to nowhere...' haha, love it.

I get the impression that he doesn't mean oblivion in this song. I think he's talking about how homogenized cities have become in the past couple of decades; it's gotten to the point where towns are no longer distinct from each other, don't have anything that gives them a sense of place. It's a bit like "True Stories," looking at the world and seeing that it's all the same and the feeling of freedom he gets from never having to be anyhwere, ever. He's always "nowhere" or on his way there.

That's just one interpretation, mind.

i love this song. we know where we're going. death is the only certainty in life. where on the road to nowhere <3

The real "road to nowhere" is the domination and destruction of the planet by our species. I realize the video is not the song, but the video makes it obvious. Picture a globe dripping with blood.

The plebes/proles endure a Sisyphean slog through life, straining towards some goal on the horizon that never materializes. Misery loves company, and all of us on the road to nowhere invite others to join us, and we assimilate them into our pointless, miserable journey that ends in death and nothingness.

There are two voices in this song, almost doppelgangers. One at the beginning and end, the voice of the narrator, and another in the middle, the voice of those on the road to nowhere, those who believe that "We're on the road to paradise."

The narrator takes the skeptical, outsider approach of one who has the wisdom to see the folly of pursuit. The other voice takes the role of the traveler on the road.

The narrator is part and apart of the travelers's journey on the road to nowhere. He can envision a different path, or a non-path, a movement off the road: "There's a city in my mind, come along and take that ride." He is one of them and not at the same time. He longs not to be part of this world and its unquenchable desires, but realizes he is also human and part of the collective insanity.

Bilocational shamanism. That's what the song is really about. And Zen Buddhism.

This song builds up towards a big climax in the end. And I think that is also what this song is about, a big climax in the end...

I heard an interview with the band when Little Creatures was being released. David Byrne was surprised the Road to Nowhere was proving so popular, and would thus become a single, as it was downbeat and about the road to oblivion.

yes it's in "little monsters" when fred savage and howie mandel are walking. that's all i remember. i used to like the song more but i have to skip it in the album now. that type of stuff is usually cyclical.

i love this song. even though its about the road to oblivion, it makes me happy. Good sound to the song.