After a lengthy break in which David Byrne and Jerry Harrison released solo albums and Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth formed Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads released their fifth album, Speaking In Tongues, on May 31st, 1983.
"Burning Down the House" was released in July of 1983 as the first single from the album, and their only top ten hit on the US charts.
"This song started from a jam," says bassist Tina Weymouth in the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads. "Chris [Frantz] had just been to see Parliament-Funkadelic in its full glory at Madison Square Garden, and he was really hyped. During the jam, he kept yelling 'Burn down the house!' which was a P-Funk audience chant, and David [Byrne] dug the line, changing it to the finished version, 'Burning down the house'."
Bernie Worrell of Parliament-Funkadelic later joined Talking Heads' live incarnation.
The video was produced and directed by David Byrne.
