Talking Heads post-script
Last week, I wrote about “Once In A Lifetime” and cited a psychoanalytic reading of Remain In Light (pdf). I never mentioned the best part of that paper, which I’ve excerpted below. Emphasis mine.
Producer Brian Eno was highly influential in the achievement of this effect through the implementation of his personalized production style (Gans, 1985). His process was intended to promote the expression of instinct and spontaneity in the songwriting and disregarded preconceived notions of final product. Gans instructed the band that “the things one doesn’t intend are the seeds for a more interesting future” (p. 66) and so encouraged the musicians to come to the studio without anything prepared, to experiment and improvise with their instruments, and to capture and utilize “mistakes” (p. 77) in their songwriting as modalities for getting them to open up. He encouraged singer David Byrne to be freer with the album’s lyrics, helping him to embrace the idea that “rational thinking has its limits” (Emerson, 1985). Eno, in a sense, can be said to have functioned as psychoanalyst for the group, encouraging them to follow the fundamental rule for their songwriting and providing shape and coherence to their primary process material. Like an analyst, Eno would prove to be highly influential to the band and for a time appeared to become an object of identification for David Byrne, who was observed to be dressing like Eno for a time (Gans, 1985, p. 87).
