3 Must-Hear Tracks from New Tribute Album Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Talking Heads’ ‘Stop Making Sense’

On May 17, A24 Music released a Talking Heads tribute album called Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense.

The album celebrates the 40th anniversary of the 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense. The film chronicles the band as they toured to promote Speaking in Tongues, capturing their (four-night) appearance at Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. (A24 restored and rereleased the film last year.)

Songs from Talking Heads’ iconic film are covered in the new album by a star-studded roster featuring Miley Cyrus, Lorde, The National, Paramore, Norah Jones, and others. Below are three standout tracks from the project.

“Psycho Killer” by Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus takes on “Psycho Killer” and transforms Talking Heads’ art-punk jam into a modern club banger. Tina Weymouth’s pulsing bass drove the original, but Cyrus uses her striking voice to bring a late-’70s New York classic into the future. This version wouldn’t sound out of place on Lady Gaga’s The Fame.

You start a conversation, you can’t even finish it
You’re talking a lot, but you’re not saying anything
When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed
Say something once; why say it again?

“Take Me to the River” by Lorde

Lorde accomplishes two things with her cover: She stays true to the original while somehow making it sound like something she’s written. The New Zealand singer first heard “Take Me to the River” when she was 12. “I don’t understand what I’m feeling, but I do understand that the band in the grainy video lives with the same strangeness that I do,” she said about a low-quality video of Talking Heads her mother played for her in 2008.

I don’t know why I love her like I do
All the changes you put me through
Take my money, my cigarettes
I haven’t seen the worst of it yet

“Burning Down the House” by Paramore

Hayley Williams connects a thread from CBGB to modern emo on Paramore’s fiery version of “Burning Down the House.” Like David Byrne, Williams is a cultural icon whose influence lives in current pop stars like Olivia Rodrigo. Paramore’s cover is an album highlight, and they merge drum machines and synths with a live band showcasing the groundbreaking work of Talking Heads. Hayley Williams rules, OK?

Watch out you might get what you’re after
Cool babies, strange but not a stranger
I’m an ordinary guy
Burning down the house

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Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for BAM