Rahul Sharma (Editor)

I Zimbra

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
B-side
  
"Air" (3:33)

Format
  
7"

Length
  
3:06

Released
  
1980

Recorded
  
1979

Genre
  
Post-punk, new wave, worldbeat, art punk

"I Zimbra" is a song by American new wave band Talking Heads, released as the second single from their 1979 album Fear of Music.

Contents

The song's lyrics are an adaptation of Dadaist Hugo Ball's poem "Gadji beri bimba". According to Sytze Steenstra in Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present, the music draws heavily on the African popular music Byrne was listening to at the time.

Lyrics

The lyrics contain these lines:

Gadji beri bimba clandridi Lauli lonni cadori gadjam A bim beri glassala glandride E glassala tuffm I zimbra

In an interview, Jerry Harrison named "I Zimbra" as his favorite Talking Heads song, and pointed out that the style of the group’s next album, Remain in Light, was indebted to the song’s innovations.

We also knew that our next album would be a further exploration of what we had begun with "I Zimbra".

- Jerry Harrison, Liquid Audio, 1997

Personnel

Talking Heads

  • David Byrne – guitars, lead vocals
  • Jerry Harrison – keyboards, backing vocals, guitars
  • Tina Weymouth – bass guitar, backing vocals
  • Chris Frantz – drums

    • Additional Personnel

  • Brian Eno – electronic treatments, backing vocals
  • Robert Fripp – guitar
  • Gene Wilder – congas
  • Ari – congas
  • Hassam Ramzy – surdo
  • Abdou M'Boup – djembe, talking drum
  • Assane Thiam – percussion
  • Julie Last – backing vocals

    • Deleted film footage

    The song was one of three songs (along with "Cities" and "Big Business") that were cut from the theatrical release of the 1983 concert film Stop Making Sense but were restored as a bonus feature for the 1999 DVD release.

    References

    I Zimbra Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA