Talking Heads have shared a 1975 demo take of one of their great classics, “Psycho Killer”, a song included in the triple album “Tentative Decisions; Demos & Live”.
In their beginnings, when they were still the trio formed by David Byrne, Chris Frantz and Tina WeymouthTalking Heads recorded a demo of what would later become one of their greatest hits. We are talking about “Psycho Killer”, a song that we can now hear raw and which is considered one of the oldest songs recorded by Americans. Later, the song would be rerecorded and would become his 1977 single, as well as one of the most emblematic pieces in his repertoire.
The demo was recorded at CBS Studios during a session in which other raw recordings of Talking Heads songs were also recorded. These included: “Don’t Worry About The Government” and “The Book I Read” (which would form part of the group’s full-length debut in 1977) and “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” and “Stay Hungry”, both later released on “More Songs About Buildings And Food” of 1978.
The ‘Psycho Killer’ demo already contains the iconic bass line, but lacks some of the guitar phrases that appear throughout the song. The recording was considered lost until it was recently found in the archives of the Rhode Island School of Design. This version has been extracted from the vinyl of eleven songs, ‘Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live’released as part of Record Store Day Black Friday 2025 and which will now become a three-disc box set with a total of forty-five pieces. It will be published on March 6, but you can now get it through this link.
