In 1978, Talking Heads Turned This Southern Soul Track Into A Classic Cover For New Wave Diehards

Talking Heads are iconic and enduring in part because of their willingness to incorporate a wide range of musical influences. On their recordings, you hear a rock band recasting genres like soul, funk, and Afropop to fit into their evolving artistic vision. And with their 1978 cover of Al Green's "Take Me to the River," the band turned a Southern soul scorcher into one of their signature songs: a slow-burning, transcendent new wave classic. Off the album "More Songs About Buildings and Food," the cover is more famous than the original song, and it was the band's first single to break into the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it reached No. 26. 

Wider pop audiences got to know Talking Heads through "Take Me to the River," but don't you dare sleep on the original. Included on Green's 1974 album "Al Green Explores Your Mind," it has a more joyous, upbeat feel. Guided by his sweet and soulful voice, the song juxtaposes blues subject matter — a relationship falling apart — with religious imagery, portraying love as a baptism. "Take me to the river and wash me down / Won't you cleanse my soul? Put my feet on the ground," goes the iconic chorus. 

Talking Heads preserved the song's heartache and groove, but their cover competed with others, including those by Foghat and Bryan Ferry, much to Byrne's chagrin. "It was just like artistically, you've got to hear what we do," he reflected on the YouTube series "Track Star" (via Far Out). Recreating the original in their sonic language, Talking Heads proved that by the end of the '70s, new wave was ready for the big time.

Al Green became a '70s hitmaker while working alongside Memphis R&B producer Willie Mitchell and his Hi Records label house band. "Take Me to the River" saw the soul singer paired up with guitarist Mabon "Teenie" Hodges to craft an upbeat and sentimental-sounding song about unrequited love, bringing earthly concerns and emotions to church. After describing how love can hurt, the third verse lands on, "The sixteen candles are burning on my wall / Turning me into the biggest fool of them all," cutting to the core of the narrator's emotional burden.

Green never released "Take Me to the River" as a single, and it wasn't until Hi Records gave it to Chicago soul singer Syl Johnson that it gained a national spotlight: His bluesy version peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard R&B singles chart in the summer of 1975. Then in 1976, Green ceased performing the song — along with the rest of his secular music — after becoming a pastor. "If you're serious about what you're doing," Green told The Independent, his church held that "... you can't sing that anymore ... So for eight years I didn't sing any of my music."

Green's royalties from covers of "Take Me to the River," including Talking Heads' version, were donated to the singer's church. "More money for Mr Green's full gospel tabernacle church, I suppose," David Byrne once remarked (via Far Out).

Talking Heads first emerged from New York's downtown scene in the late '70s, but they had a different approach and sound than their punk peers, choosing hooky, arty pop over booming amps and heavy, chugging guitars. For the follow-up to their debut album, "Talking Heads: 77," the band hooked up with pioneering producer and musician Brian Eno, who pushed the band to incorporate more funk influences. That collaboration led to "More Songs About Buildings and Food" and the two albums that followed, inaugurating a fruitful, creative run that would bring the band their widest audiences yet.

Talking Heads' version of "Take Me to the River" slows down, strips apart, and then rebuilds the original. It starts with an echoey drumbeat, supplied by drummer Chris Frantz,  before the synths, guitars, and bass slot in. David Byrne's singing isn't as sweet and soulful as Al Green's, but, pushed along by the song's steady groove, it reaches the same emotional heights. Helping to propel their second album to No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 200 charts, the song thrives in the sonic territory that the band would come to be known for. Like subsequent hits "Once in a Lifetime" or "Burning Down the House," it's the perfect collision of arty, New York sensibilities and earthy, funky grooves.

Green appreciated the cover of his song, telling The Independent, "I thought it was magnificent." Indeed, Talking Heads struck gold by making the Southern soul source material their own. Their version doesn't sound like a cover; it sounds like a Talking Heads song.