"Cities" is a single, released in 1980, by the American new wave band Talking Heads. It is the fourth track on the 1979 album "Fear of Music".
When the concert film "Stop Making Sense" was first released on home video, the songs "Cities", together with "Big Business"/"I Zimbra" were restored to the performance, thus forming what was dubbed the "special edition" of the film. For the 1999 re-release, these songs were no longer included in sequence with the rest of the footage. It and subsequent video and DVD releases have placed these songs after the film in an unrestored full-frame version.
Song style.
"Cities" is a fast-paced bass and keyboard-led song. Tina Weymouth's bass playing in the song is described by AllMusic as both "melodic" and "funky", while David Byrne's guitar is said to be jittery, but clean-sounding. The song fades both in and out with a very aggressive funky rhythm and the fade-out serves as a build-up to the next song on the album, "Life During Wartime".
Lyrics.
The song's is mainly about a man looking for a city to live in. Deadpan humor can be seen in lyrics such as "Did I forget to mention, forget to mention Memphis, home of Elvis and the ancient Greeks."
Other versions.
The rock band Phish covered "Cities" on their 1997 album "Slip, Stitch and Pass" and it has been played frequently at their concerts.
Track listing.
7" release
12" release
References.
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