Talking (A Flock of Seagulls song)


" Talking" is the debut single by British new wave band A Flock of Seagulls, originally recorded in 1981. It was re-recorded in 1983 and is featured on their second album Listen. The song is about a man who hears voices in his head, who believes that he is being contacted by aliens from outer space, and who cannot run away from his emotions; wherever he goes, the voice is there.

Formats and track listing

;7" Cocteau COQ 3 - 1981
  1. " Talking" – 4:33
  2. "Factory Music" – 4:28
;7" Jive 47 - 1983
  1. " Talking" – 3:34
  2. "Tanglimara" – 4:30
;12" Jive T 47 - 1983
  1. " Talking" – 5:00
  2. "Tanglimara" – 4:30
  3. "The Traveller " – 3:29
;12" Cocteau COQ T 3 - 1983
  1. " Talking" – 4:45
  2. " Talking" – 4:21
  3. "Factory Music" – 4:24

    Music video

This music video was based on an old science fiction classic film called The Day the Earth Stood Still. The producers wanted to use special effects that would be current, yet recall the look of 1950's cinema. The music video was filmed at Dawn's Animal Farm in New Jersey. With hundreds of acres of land and many exotic animals used in television commercials and film, it made for an interesting shoot. They hired Talking Dog Productions to build the spaceship. Talking Dog built the props used by Pink Floyd. For the lasers, they retained the services of holographic pioneer, Jason Sapan, of Holographic Studios in New York City. At that time, Sapan was also doing laser light effects. As they negotiated the laser effects, they realized that Sapan himself had the right look to act in the music video and hired him right there. Jason Sapan built the red laser ray gun that Mike Score used. If you look very carefully, you can also see his blue and green argon laser beams shooting from the spaceship.

First credits in a music video on MTV

This was the first music video shown on MTV to use on screen credits for the actors. The credits were shown next to the images of the actors at the end of the video. The credits listed were:

Reception