Originally written and performed by The Talking Heads, “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” might be the one song I’ve heard the most covers of in my life. But the best thing about this song is that it never, ever feels old.
David Byrne, frontman of The Talking Heads, said that this song was his attempt to make a love song that wasn’t corny, and I, like him, believe he succeeded. This song has followed me throughout the past 10 years of my life, manifesting in different spaces, and has never once made me feel like a loser for loving it. It is earnest and beautiful and naive. Here are a few versions of the song that I have associated with different people or times in my life over the years.
In high school, a friend of mine put this song on a mix CD for me, and it grew to represent not just the love I had for my friends at the time, but also the love I had for her. I remember drawing girls that looked like variations of her in my sketchbook while listening to this song, scrawling “you’ve got a face with a view” amidst it. I was just an animal looking for a home back then, and the friends I made let me share the same space for a minute or two. This is one of my favorite versions of this song because of the rosy glow of nostalgia that surrounds it. It showed up on my graduation playlist.
This was a cover that a dear friend of mine sent me shortly after graduating high school. I remember listening to it on my way to her new apartment that felt so adult with its arched entryways and black and white tiled floors and windows that looked out on the bars we were almost old enough to go to. This version of the song makes me think of a hard time in my life that would have been harder if it weren’t for her, among others. Her love was so constant at a time when I was lost at sea, and she continues to love me to this day.
The Lumineers were the band that introduced me to “good” music, and in 2012 to a 15 year old me, “good” music was anything that wasn’t played on the radio. Except for, I guess, Ho Hey, The Lumineers’ biggest hit, which was the song that got me into them. But Flapper Girl, Flowers in Your Hair, and Stubborn Love were my favorites. Their version of this song isn’t my all time favorite, and it doesn’t have as strong of an association with anyone or anything, but being by one of my favorite bands (at one time), means their cover reminds me of the person I once was. So in that way, maybe this version’s someone is me.
As I grow into my late 20s, the original version of this song seems to be much more prevalent in my life. One of the first “dates” I went on with my partner (“date” in quotations because it was really just a post-shift trip to a local bar where nobody else ended up showing up), we were sitting on the back patio drinking beers, smoking cigarettes, and listening to the bar play The Talking Heads. I heard them play This Must Be the Place and started dancing. Since then, and for what initially seemed like no good reason, This Must Be the Place has been “our song”. Every time we hear it, we dance. Sometimes this means in the kitchen, sometimes this means drunkenly at weddings, but each time it means something special. It’s on the shortlist of first dance songs for our wedding. It’s not the type of deeply romantic song that we can slow dance to, the type of song that most people imagine when they think of a first dance, but it’s something that feels like us. The song used to be a jumble of words, some of which would stick out to me depending on the occasion, but with Alex, every line makes sense.
There are plenty more covers of this song, but these are my favorites. I like to think this is the most covered song in the world, but I know that’s not the truth. If there are any versions of this song that are special to you, or any other covers of a song that mean something to you, feel free to share them below. In the meantime, if someone asks, this is where I’ll be 🙂
