Talking Heads – "Memories Can't Wait" (1979)

Everyone has gone to sleep

I’m wide awake on memories

These memories can’t wait

As I noted in the previous 2 or 3 lines, the biggest pop music superstars – e.g., the Beatles,  the Stones, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Taylor Swift – never performed live in my hometown of Joplin, Missouri.

You can’t blame them.  When I graduated from high school in Joplin in 1970, the city’s population was only 39,526 – making it only the 527th-largest burg in the U. S. of A.  (Joplin’s current population is just over 50,000, which might or might not be enough to make it one of the 500 most populous American cities.) 

*     *     *     *     *

A little over a year ago, the Joplinite website began to count down the 100 greatest concerts in the history of Memorial Hall, the city’s 4000-seat convention center and concert hall, which opened in 1925:

I was astonished to see how many prominent recording artists had performed there over the years.

The first few decades featured concerts by a number of first-rate jazz musicians – including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, and Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.

A number of classic rock performers played at Memorial Hall in the sixties and seventies – among them Paul Revere & the Raiders, Chicago, Badfinger, the Guess Who, and Steely Dan.

The eighties and nineties featured visits by hair/metal bands like Nazareth, Ratt, Great White, Megadeath, and Sammy Hagar.

Not surprisingly, Memorial Hall attracted the crème de la crème of country music – including both older artists (like Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Bill Monroe, Hank Thompson, Ray Price, and Johnny Cash) and more contemporary stars  (including Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, and Hank Williams, Jr.).

Last but not least, there were a number of performers that don’t fit into any of those genres – like John Philip Sousa (who came to Joplin in 1929), Weird Al Yankovic, and Snoop Dogg.

*     *     *     *     *

Of course, Memorial Hall isn’t the only concert venue in Joplin.

As I noted in a previous post, Junge Stadium – where Joplin High School plays its football games – has hosted a few outdoor concerts (including a 1973 Rare Earth/Sugarloaf/Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show extravaganza that I heard from afar).

And while Missouri Southern State University’s 2000-seat Taylor Performing Arts Center is utilized mostly for theatrical productions, it has hosted concerts by some well-known recording artists – including the Talking Heads.

*     *     *     *     *

I learned only recently that the Talking Heads performed in Joplin in 1979.  I still can’t quite wrap my head around the idea of that cutting-edge art-rock group – who in their heyday were the darlings of the New York City punk/new wave scene – playing songs like “Psycho Killer” and “Life During Wartime” in my little ol’ hometown.

The Talking Heads

After appearing on Saturday Night Live on February 10, 1979, the Talking Heads spent the next few months recording their third studio album, Fear of Music.  

The band spent June touring Australia and New Zealand.  In July, they visited London, Berlin, Paris and several other European cities before flying to Japan for five shows in five nights.

Between August 8 and November 17, the Talking Heads travelled the United States from pillar to post to promote Fear of Music.  Their tour stops were divided roughly 50-50 between big cities (e.g., New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia) and college campuses (including the University of Massachusetts, Penn State, the University of Illinois, the University of Arizona, and San Diego State).  Why the tour promoters decided to include Joplin and Missouri Southern on their itinerary is a mystery to me.

The night before the Talking Heads played at Missouri Southern, they performed in St. Louis and reportedly drew a crowd of only about 100.  If that figure is accurate, I shudder to think what the attendance at the Joplin show was.

*     *     *     *     *

I bought Fear of Music shortly after it was released, but I never listened to it as much as I listened to the Talking Heads’ first two albums, Talking Heads:77 and More Songs About Buildings and Food – which were two of my favorites from that era.

The most familiar song from Fear of Music is “Life During Wartime”:

This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco

This ain’t no fooling around

No time for dancing, or lovey-dovey

I ain’t got time for that now

But the track that follows – “Memories Can’t Wait” – may be the best song on the album.

Click here to listen to “Memories Can’t Wait,” which was the penultimate song on the setlist of the Talking Heads’ concert in Joplin.

Click on the link below to buy that recording from Amazon: