Classic Talking Heads satire, the song captures the pessimism of America in 1979: Jimmy Carter struggling to put the nation back together again after Nixon's resignation and pardon, Vietnam still not healed under the bandage slapped on it half-a$$ed by Ford, stagflation, lingering paranoia of Communist infiltration and fear of nuclear Armageddon as the Cold War began to wind down. Inspired by the social decay prevalent in Alphabet City, where Byrne lived at the time, the song describes a dark fantasy of America in the worst-case post-apocalyptic scenario haunting the public imagination as the USA limped out of the '70s.
Classic Talking Heads satire, the song captures the pessimism of America in 1979: Jimmy Carter struggling to put the nation back together again after Nixon's resignation and pardon, Vietnam still not healed under the bandage slapped on it half-a$$ed by Ford, stagflation, lingering paranoia of Communist infiltration and fear of nuclear Armageddon as the Cold War began to wind down. Inspired by the social decay prevalent in Alphabet City, where Byrne lived at the time, the song describes a dark fantasy of America in the worst-case post-apocalyptic scenario haunting the public imagination as the USA limped out of the '70s.