“I Zimbra” by Talking Heads

"I Zimbra", from Talking Heads' 1979 album Fear of Music, went out on Sire as a single early in 1980, and it's the sound of a nervous art-rock band deciding to quit fretting and dance. The words aren't really words at all: David Byrne chants an adaptation of Gadji beri bimba, a nonsense poem by the German Dadaist Hugo Ball, over a rhythm steeped in the African pop he was listening to at the time.

Brian Eno co-produced with the band and adds electronics and backing vocals, Robert Fripp slashes in as a guest guitarist, and a crew of percussionists piles on djembe, talking drum, surdo and congas. Jerry Harrison later named it his favorite Talking Heads song and said the sound of Remain in Light grew straight out of it.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.