Lyrics for Heaven as interpreted by punchyk

Heaven Lyrics
Everyone is trying to get to the bar.
The name of the bar, the bar is called Heaven.
The band in Heaven, they play my favorite song.
They play it once again, play it all night long.

Heaven, Heaven is a place
a place where nothing, nothing ever happens.
Heaven, Heaven is a place
a place where nothing, nothing ever happens.


There is a party, everyone is there.
Everyone will leave at exactly the same time.
Its hard to imagine that nothing at all
could be so exciting, could be so much fun.

Heaven, Heaven is a place
a place where nothing, nothing ever happens.
Heaven, Heaven is a place
a place where nothing, nothing ever happens.


When this kiss is over it will start again.
It will not be any different, it will be exactly
the same.
It's hard to imagine that nothing at all
could be so exciting, could be this much fun.

Heaven, Heaven is a place
a place where nothing, nothing ever happens.
Heaven, Heaven is a place
a place where nothing, nothing ever happens.

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roger wilco
05-19-2002

Rated +1 
i don't think David Byrne is suggesting that Heaven is a boring place where "nothing ever happens". rather, i think, compared to the agonizingly stressful lifetime here, he is suggesting that Heaven is free from all stress and pain.

time doesn't matter in Heaven, hence the seeming repetition of events like the party and such.

one of the better, yet underrated, Talking Heads choons.

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zooey74
06-29-2004

Rated 0 
I have to disagree with the previous post. In fact take the opposite of everything he said and that's pretty much how i feel.

Except I do think its a great song.

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Zeppelyn
11-29-2004

Rated 0 
this by far is my favorite. it's touching. love it on stop making sense. such a creative band.

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GTKarber
12-22-2004

Rated +1 
Roger Wilco, you are correct.

Zooey74, I'm not even sure what that means.

It's about how stressed out they were, how their lives were all sense input, intense, constantly changing psychadelia, Heaven must be an escape.

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PursuitofLife
02-08-2005

Rated 0 
Note on "nothing ever happens": The meaning is that Heaven is purely an emotional experience. Remember, even though nothing ever happens, "nothing ever could be so exciting, could be this much fun

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TheGreatCurve
06-29-2005

Rated 0 
I could see this song meaning both. Heaven can mean the escape of the hectic world we always live in. I think I more see it as this place where nothing ever changes. Kind of like too much paradise or something. Everything seems perfect, yet perfect isn't really what we want, because perfect can't change because it's perfect. If things don't change, boredom will eventually set in.

Whether you want to take it literally or ironically is up to you. Both meanings hold water to me.

This is why I love music.

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Boss Man
07-03-2005

Rated 0 
Perfection = Boredom.

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PursuitofLife
07-03-2005

Rated 0 
"Its hard to imagine that nothing at all
could be so exciting, could be so much fun."

I always thought that this meant that there was nothing that could be so exciting as Heaven. I now realise that it means that Heaven is exciting and fun, eventhough literally nothing happens.

Ingenius.

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mrcinnamon
08-01-2005

Rated 0 
"Its hard to imagine that nothing at all
could be so exciting, could be so much fun."

Rather means that it is hard to imagine that heaven, where nothing happens, could be eventually exciting. In this sense, it is the voice of doubt.

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Ana Byrd
01-05-2006

Rated 0 
Just reading the words, either interpretation fits. I think DB left it ambiguous on purpose. The music, however, makes me think it's saying that nothing ever happening would be a good thing (especially considering how many other Talking Heads songs seem to have to do with being overwhelmed by too much going on).

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dross
02-07-2006

Rated 0 
I've got to agree with Boss Man.

I think this song is about getting too much of what you want. Like hearing your favorite song on loop for an entire night.

I love the beginning of this song, though. Everyone's trying to get to a bar... a bar named Heaven.

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pearlsboy
02-15-2006

Rated 0 
I think this song is saying that mankind has invented this fiction called heaven that everyone is seeking. By heaven, Byrne means immortality. Byrne is saying that an eternal life is boring and by implication, what is interesting is what is going on on this planet, now. What makes life worth living is that it is finite. It's a great song.

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Mad Slanted Powers
03-06-2006

Rated 0 
This quote from Chris Frantz is in the liner notes of Sand in the Vasoline.

"Sometimes rock stars get over-stimulated and the idea of a place where nothing ever happens sounds pretty appealing."

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skibum8713
05-15-2006

Rated 0 
In the Stop Making Sense commentary, Byrne says this song is about a gay bar called "Heaven" somewhere out west. (I forget where, watch the commentary if you really want to know.) Thus, a bar where homosexuals can live normally and not be ridiculed or oppressed (i.e. where "nothing ever happens") is truly "so exciting...this much fun."

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InSilenceEasy
06-27-2006

Rated 0 
At the end of Dante's Divine Comedy, specifically Paradiso, there is a moment where Dante is experiencing Heaven and it just kind of this warmth, this light, and people just stand all day basking in the light of God. It's an interesting literary tie in to think about.

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Painbearer
10-24-2006

Rated 0 
I think that Heaven is just this: a boring place :).

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Santiagof
11-01-2007

Rated 0 
In my opinion he's being ironic, just like in several other TH songs.

"It's hard to imagine..." fits perfectly as an ironic statement.

After all, who could take an endless replay of events, even if they were pleasing to you the first time or couple of times (like your favorite song or one specific kiss)? At some point it's gonna end up letting you sick of it.

"Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens": Yeah, he's got it right. He saying the truth opinionlessly for us to avaliate it. Maybe this freakish, neurotic, ever-changing life we have every day is way better than that eternal nothingness. Unless boredom doesn't exist up there...

Or maybe he isn't being ironic at all and it's just plain surprised that the fact that "nothing ever happens" it's great up there in Heaven, although with the examples he gives (the song, the party, the kiss) it sounds like torture.

I'm surprised no one has commented about the music yet. It's the same melody all the time, except for the typical verse-chorus division. The version on Stop Making Sense (great version, by the way. The lack of percussion moves the bass to the front and David's vocals are some of his finest) showcases this clearly. Kinda the same endless replay that happens on Heaven, the place. And yet the song ain't boring - another irony - although it lasts only a few minutes, which is nothing compared to the eternity Byrne talks about.

My conclusion is that eternity can be quite a scary, ominous thing for us mortals, at least when paired with repetition and nothingness, as portrayed by David. And even then.. many desire it.

PD: As usual, Tina doesn't disappoint me and delivers quite a bass performance, up there with her best. She's one of the best bass players of rock... period.

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FoRevEr_SPooNer
11-05-2007

Rated 0 
I love Talking Heads and their songs... But this is different... Special. It's touching and only the music paints a picture of what love is. When he says "Heaven, Heaven is a place, a place where nothing, nothing ever happens", the music is great. Kinda Heaven, in fact. I feel the same about "This Must Be The Place [Naive Melody]" ... Both songs are wonderful. Great band, great lyrics, great music.

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THE!!!
11-26-2007

Rated 0 
Great song. I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think it's leaning more towards the "heaven is monotonous and repetitive" interpretation. I understand the argument that the song is about how a place where nothign happens would be a relief in comparison to the toils of earthly existence, BUT I don't think that's the point the song is making. It puts this eternity in human perspective: the kiss that happens over and over again. It's bliss, but it's a kind of eery, mindless bliss. Love the irony here.

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JEdge112
02-08-2008

Rated 0 
The entire meaning of the album is the same... all things that we can fear.

"heaven" is simply asking the question... what if heaven isnt perfect? what if it's repetitive and boring?

Read the verses... they all repeat, they describe beautiful cliches of heaven, but then repeat them to monotomy until they lose their glory.

I feel like this song (like the theme of the album) is describing the FEAR of heaven... what if it's boring and repetitive?

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PencilNeckedGeek
05-10-2008

Rated 0 
“Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens.”

This gets me thinking about our conceptions of Heaven and Hell. Heaven is a place that’s always great and wonderful and perfect, and Hell is a place that’s always awful and horrible and rotten.

Then it gets me thinking about my concept of the universe and the “afterlife” (if that’s a reasonable term). If the universe in sum contains all that was, all that is, and all that will be, then the afterlife is outside of all that — it’s outside of time. So it occurs to me that if you have any consciousness outside of the universe, outside of time, then it’s consciousness that includes everything you were in the universe, throughout the course of time. In other words, in the afterlife, you are simultaneously everything you were in the universe, across your life. You are everything you were in life. If you led a life that is generally happy and loving, then you are happy and loving in the afterlife and you’re in Heaven. If you led a generally miserable life, then you are miserable in the afterlife and you’re in Hell. Most of us lead lives of variation: Sometimes we’re good and positive and contributional, sometimes we’re bad and sad and self-centered, so we end up someplace in the middle. The life that we lead leaves us in a place between Heaven and Hell. There is no change, because change can only exist across time. So maybe when we’re in Hell, we can’t choose to come back and try again. When we’re in Heaven, we’ve Made It and there’s no need or interest in coming back, and when we’re in the middle we want to come back and take a better stab.

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Santiagof
05-11-2008

Rated 0 
I have to agree with JEdge 112. That's the point of the song.
Great album, a masterpiece.

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Dazed_N_Confused
06-12-2008

Rated 0 
I think this song is about how the thought of heaven and everlasting life can bring so much joy to people's lives, even though the place may not actually exist.

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dear_prudence
07-03-2008

Rated 0 
This song was my best friend's favourite. He passed away, not too long ago.
I think David Byrne wrote this song, because he probably lost someone close to him too.
The line "a place where nothing, nothing ever happens" means a great deal to me. It speaks of a place where the sorrow that comes from losing someone doesn't exist.

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Billcot
09-03-2008

Rated 0 
Wow. absolutley brilliant lyrics. Simple, yet gets you really thinking. Any song that gets you thinking this deeply about certain things will be interpreted in many different shades of light depending on the perception of the person listening to it. And after reading these comments this song is no different. Personally, this is what this song means to me; when we think of heaven or any type of utopian afterlife we tend to think of one special moment from within our lifetime in which we never felt any better. We take that one moment and imagine it lasting an eternity. However, in reality what made that moment truly special was the fact that it was ust that, a moment. The peak of all our ups and downs, the moment we all live our lives for, and the moment we never forget. If that moment were to be drawn our for an eternity it would become the norm, mediocre, average. And we all know that mediocraty is boring.

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