Talking Heads co-founder and drummer Chris Frantz recently spoke with Smashing Interviews Magazine, promoting the paperback edition of his memoir, Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina. During the interview, Frantz was asked if “Psycho Killer," the band's 1977 hit, which features the stream of thought of a disturbed mind, was inspired even tangentially by Son of Sam. The Talking Heads rhythmist elaborated on the chilling tune's intent and origins.

"There’s no question that Son of Sam was a psycho killer. But the reason the song was about a psycho killer is because David (Byrne) said that he got the inspiration for it from an Alice Cooper song. Alice Cooper was very big at that particular point in time with an album called Billion Dollar Babies. The band’s whole thing was about horror. So Alice Cooper was like the springboard for 'Psycho Killer,'" he recounted.

"The song happened to be written in either late 1972 or early 1973. We were all at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. Tina and I were sharing a painting studio. It must have been '73 because it was our senior year. Anyway, I had this little band called the Artistics along with David and three other guys. We were a cover band and really enjoyed playing covers and picking out the songs our audience would like. Our primary reason for existing was just to entertain our friends at school. But one day, David and I were talking and said, 'Maybe we should write an original song and see how people like it.'"

David Byrne (lead vocalist and guitarist) would soon arrive at the art studio of Frantz and Tina Weymouth (bassist), presenting them with his rough idea for "Psycho Killer."

"Tina and I were painting one day in our studio. We were preparing for the end of the year, senior year exhibition. There’s a knock on the door, and it was David. He had a beat-up acoustic guitar with paint splattered on it. He came in and said, 'I’ve got the beginnings of a song, and I’d like you to help me with it.' We said, 'Great.' So David sat down and played the first verse and the chorus, and I immediately thought, 'Oh, this is like the Velvet Underground meets Otis Redding.' I loved it. I could just tell it was a great beginning for a song. Then David said, 'I was hoping to have the bridge in a foreign language.' He said that he asked a Japanese girl if she’d translate it into Japanese for him, but when she found out the song was called 'Psycho Killer,' she absolutely refused to do it," the drummer recalled.

When asked by the magazine if the Japanese girl had regretted her hasty decision, Frantz said the band moved forward with the idea and decided to try their hand at another language. He explained to Byrne that Weymouth's mom was French; therefore, she would be adept at providing the content Byrne had hoped for (in the French language). With that part of the equation solved by Weymouth and the addition of lyrics by Frantz, the burgeoning song quickly came to fruition.

"I told David that Tina’s mother is French and that they always spoke French in the home. Tina agreed to do it and just sat down and did it in a little over an hour. I wrote a couple of more verses, and within a few hours, 'Psycho Killer' was more or less done. I mean, it evolved a little bit musically over the years, but this was an indication to me that this was a really good group of people to work with. When we played that song with our band the Artistics, people really liked it," he said.

"The audience liked it when we played 'I Can’t Explain,' by the Who, '(I’m Not Your) Steppin' Stone,' by Paul Revere & the Raiders and 'The Tracks of My Tears' by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. But then when we played 'Psycho Killer,' they really liked it. So we thought, 'Oh, we should do more of this.'"

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About the authors:

Marc Parker is an American journalist, author, artist, a photographer and a computer scientist. He is the founder/publisher/editor-in-chief of Smashing Interviews Magazine. Marc Parker's social media: Twitter Facebook

Melissa Benefield Parker is an American journalist and author. She is the founder/publisher of Smashing Interviews Magazine. Melissa Benefield Parker's social media: Twitter Facebook