Album dossier / 1983
Speaking in Tongues
Talking Heads · New Wave/Funk Rock/Art Rock
Talking Heads' fifth studio album was their first self-produced record after splitting with Brian Eno, cut at Blank Tape and Sigma Sound in New York and Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studios in Nassau with mixing engineer Alex Sadkin (fresh off Grace Jones), and became the band's commercial breakthrough on the strength of 'Burning Down the House' -- their only US Top 10 single -- with Robert Rauschenberg's limited-edition spinning-disc sleeve winning a Grammy for Best Album Package.
Record facts
- Label
- Sire Records
- Producer
- Talking Heads, Alex Sadkin
- Chart peak
- #15 US Billboard 200, #21 UK
- Notable tracks
- ★ Burning Down the House
- ★ This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
- ★ Girlfriend Is Better
Artist & discography
Complete 1980s Studio Discography
5 studio albums released from 1980–1989 by Talking Heads. Archived records link directly to full dossiers; remaining releases are queued for harvesting. MusicBrainz source.
Complete track listing · 9 tracks
- Burning Down the House
- Making Flippy Floppy
- Girlfriend Is Better
- Slippery People
- I Get Wild/Wild Gravity
- Swamp
- Moon Rocks
- Pull Up the Roots
- This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
Watch & listen
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Campaign & landing routes
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Source register
en.wikipedia.org, discogs.com, allmusic.com, musicbrainz.org · track listing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaking_in_Tongues_(Talking_Heads_album) · cover art: coverartarchive.org
Last enriched: 2026-08-31