And She Was by Talking Heads

The Beatles weren’t the only band who quit touring midway through their career: Talking Heads toured for the last time in 1983, a tour captured on the classic concert film Stop Making Sense. Deciding they couldn’t top that, they became a strictly studio band for the last stage of their career, which produced three more albums plus David Byrne’s debut as a film director, True Stories.

“And She Was” was the leadoff track from their first-post Sense album, Little Creatures, which found the band exploring a different sound, more acoustic with more vocal harmonies. The song tells of a woman who has an alien abduction in her backyard and finds it a good experience. Byrne said at the time that doing Stop Making Sense put him in the mode of writing songs with characters and storylines. “They could all be mistaken for ordinary songs, except for the words.”

The cover art for Little Creatures was done by Summerville, GA folk artist the Rev. Howard Finster, who also befriended the members of R.E.M. and the cover art for Reckoning.

Nothing is physically demanding in this song, so go for the feel. The section of guitar 16th notes grouped in three is hard to streak, but concentrate on your strumming and you’ll be fine. On drums, take note that the snare beat is not always on the 2 and 4.

Broke up in 1991 and have never reunited, other than one appearance at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction in 2002. David Byrne has a successful solo career; Jerry Harrison is a producer; Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz are in Tom Tom Club.