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Cover of Speaking in Tongues by Talking Heads
Cover: Speaking in Tongues

Song · Talking Heads

“This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” by Talking Heads

From the album Speaking in Tongues (1983)

“This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” by Talking Heads appears on 38 radio countdowns from 13 stations between 1988 and 2026. It was first released in 1983 on the album Speaking in Tongues. Its best result is #2 on the KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,222 alternative song of all time.

38countdowns
13stations
#2best position
0#1 finishes
2top 10 finishes
1988–2026years charted

Watch

Talking Heads - This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody) (Official Video)

Video from YouTube (Talking Heads). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" closes Speaking in Tongues, Talking Heads' fifth album, from 1983, and it's the sound of the band unclenching. David Byrne wrote the words as a love song with the clichés stripped out, and the rest of the band built the music with him. The "naive" in the title owns up to how simple it is: one sparse, circling figure runs from the first bar to the last, a long way from the tangled, African-inspired polyrhythms and funk the band had been chasing.

The credits put Byrne on bass, guitar and keyboards, Tina Weymouth on guitar and backing vocals, Jerry Harrison on keyboards and Chris Frantz on drums, with guests Wally Badarou on synthesizer and David Van Tieghem on percussion. The band produced it themselves, Alex Sadkin mixed it, and Sire released it as a single that November.

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

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
– 156 WLIR / WDRE WLIR Top 200 Songs of the 1980s 200
1988 196 WLIR / WDRE WLIR Top 200 Songs of All-Time (1988) 200
1990 206 Live 105 Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1990) 299
1999 778 Q101 Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1017
1999 1292 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
2000 1293 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 1301 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2001 324 WFPK WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time 2000
2002 1300 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2003 1285 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2004 1285 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2004 283 WXPN WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) 885
2005 1285 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2007 131 WTMD WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time 897
2009 140 WXPN WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) 885
2010 762 WXPN WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) 885
2012 122 WYEP WYEP Top 500 Songs Countdown 500
2012 476 WXPN WXPN 885 Greatest Rock Songs (2012) 885
2014 35 WXPN WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) 885
2016 477 WYEP WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 913
2018 23 The Current The Current's 893 Essential Songs 892
2019 35 WYEP WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 1099
2019 2 KEXP KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time 627
2019 35 WYEP WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019 1017
2020 46 WXPN WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time 2020
2021 42 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s 909
2021 59 WYEP WYEP 2021 Labor Day Countdown 168
2022 56 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time 1055
2023 34 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s 850
2023 31 WYEP WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 1229
2023 16 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time 909
2023 76 Studio Brussel Studio Brussel De Tijdloze 100 (2023) 100
2023 4 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 800 Songs About Places 800
2024 59 Studio Brussel Studio Brussel De Tijdloze 100 (2024) 100
2024 23 WYEP WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years 1049
2025 81 Studio Brussel Studio Brussel De Tijdloze 100 (2025) 100
2025 31 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs 800
2026 31 WYEP WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time 1180

Also listed as: This Must Be the Place; This Must Be The Place; This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody); This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody); This Must Be the Place (naive Melody); This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody).

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