I Zimbra


"I Zimbra" is a song by American new wave band Talking Heads, released as the second single from their 1979 album Fear of Music.
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.
In the Talking Heads book What the Songs Look Like Contemporary Artists Interpret Talking Heads Songs, artist Joseph Nechvatal created a double page visual interpretation of the song.

Dada Lyrics

The lyrics of I Zimbra are an adaptation of Dadaist Hugo Ball's poem Gadji beri bimba.
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.

Charts

Personnel

Talking Heads
Additional Personnel
The song was one of three songs 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.