Song · Talking Heads
“Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)” by Talking Heads
From the album Remain in Light (1980)
“Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)” by Talking Heads appears on 7 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 2018 and 2024. It was first released in 1980 on the album Remain in Light. Its best result is #72 on The Best Opening Tracks of All Time. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,432 indie & aaa song of all time.
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"Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)" throws open Remain in Light, the fourth Talking Heads album, out on Sire in October 1980, and it sets the terms for the whole record: a big, pushy bassline, funk in the floorboards and African music threaded through the groove, picking up where "I Zimbra" left off. Brian Eno produced, sings backup behind David Byrne's lead and shares the lyric credit with him; the music is credited to both plus Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth.
The solo is the wild card: Byrne built it through a Lexicon Prime Time delay unit piece by piece, each fragment played back at a doctored speed, and on stage it fell to Adrian Belew, who played on the album. AllMusic's Bill Janovitz heard yet another alienated Talking Heads narrator, peering out through a fog of paranoia and delusion.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 800 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2019 | 274 | KEXP | KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time | 627 |
| 2020 | 1391 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2021 | 680 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s | 909 |
| 2023 | 441 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s | 850 |
| 2023 | 797 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time | 909 |
| 2024 | 72 | KEXP | The Best Opening Tracks of All Time | 738 |
Also listed as: Born Under Punches.
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