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"Road to Nowhere" is a rock song written by David Byrne for the 1985 Talking Heads album Little Creatures.[2][3] It also appeared on Best of Talking Heads, Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites, the Once in a Lifetime box set and the Brick box set. The song was released as a single in 1985 and reached No. 25 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and No. 6 on the British, German and South African[4] singles charts. It also made No. 8 on the Dutch Top 40.[5]

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"Road to Nowhere"
Single by Talking Heads
from the album Little Creatures
B-side	"Television Man"
Released	30 September 1985[1]
Recorded	October 1984 – March 1985
Genre	Pop rock new wave
Length	4:19 (album version) 3:59 (single edit)
Label	Sire
Songwriter(s)	David Byrne
Producer(s)	Talking Heads
Talking Heads singles chronology
"The Lady Don't Mind" (1985) "Road to Nowhere" (1985) "And She Was" (1985)

Production

"I wanted to write a song that presented a resigned, even joyful look at doom," recalls David Byrne in the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads. "At our deaths and at the apocalypse... (always looming, folks). I think it succeeded. The front bit, the white gospel choir, is kind of tacked on, 'cause I didn't think the rest of the song was enough... I mean, it was only two chords. So, out of embarrassment, or shame, I wrote an intro section that had a couple more in it."

Reception

Cash Box said that "this marching single which features David Byrne's soothing lead vocal is a curious and circus-ride look at life."[6] Billboard said that within the song "a cappella gospel leads into Louisiana hootenanny."[7]

Music video

The video for the song was directed by Byrne and Stephen R. Johnson and features the band and various objects revolving, including boxes revolving around David Byrne's head, as well as a couple growing older, masked businessmen pummeling each other with briefcases and a runaway shopping cart, as if in their own "road to nowhere".

Some parts were shot in the back yard and pool of actor Stephen Tobolowsky, who was co-writing Byrne's film True Stories at the time.[8] Director Johnson re-used some of the effects techniques in award-winning videos for Peter Gabriel the following year: "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time".

It was nominated for Best Video of the Year at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards, losing out to "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits.

Personnel

Talking Heads

• David Byrne – lead vocals and backing vocals, electric guitar
• Jerry Harrison – organ and backing vocals
• Tina Weymouth – bass and backing vocals
• Chris Frantz – drums

Additional musicians

• Andrew Cader – washboard
• Erin Dickens – backing vocals
• Diva Gray – backing vocals
• Gordon Grody – backing vocals
• Lani Groves – backing vocals
• Jimmy Macdonell – accordion
• Lenny Pickett – saxophone
• Steve Scales – tambourine
• Kurt Yaghjian – backing vocals

Cover versions and other uses

• The Kalamazoo, Michigan based bluegrass band Greensky Bluegrass recorded a version of this tune on their 2007 release Live at Bell's.
• The British a cappella group The Flying Pickets covered the song on the album The Original Flying Pickets.
• The French band Indochine recorded a cover to support Reporters Sans Frontières.
• The French band Nouvelle Vague recorded a cover for their 2009 album 3.
• The song was featured in the 2008 documentary Young@Heart.
• Australian singer-songwriter Sarah Blasko uses the lyrics and composition to end her song "Over & Over" on her 2009 album As Day Follows Night.
• The song appeared during the ending credits to the 1989 movie Little Monsters.
• The song also appears in the 1994 movie Reality Bites.
• The Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring the film Hobgoblins has Tom Servo crooning the first verse over the background music playing inside a room (a trap) as the movie lot security guard runs inside to fulfill his rock-star fantasy.
• The song accompanies the end-credits of the 2008 movie Religulous.
• John Nolan of Straylight Run and Taking Back Sunday covered the song on his 2010 EP, Songs I Didn't Write.
• Charlie Crist, in his unsuccessful 2010 run for the U.S. Senate in Florida, used the song in a campaign video without obtaining permission. David Byrne sued for copyright infringement and, in a legal settlement, Crist issued a video apology for his improper use.
• A cover of the song was used in the Season 1 finale of Shameless.
• A cover of the song by Release the Sunbird was featured in the series finale of the television series Gossip Girl,[9] as well as their 2012 album Imaginary Summer.
• The song plays at the end credits of Christian Petzold's 2018 film Transit, based on Anna Seghers' novel of the same name.
• German band Bananafishbones released a cover the song in 2002.
• A cover of the song was released by New York City based rock band Linfinity in 2010.

[10]

References

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