Released: September 15, 1986
Songwriter: David Byrne
Producer: Talking Heads
[Verse 1]
Here where you are standing
The dinosaurs did a dance
The Indians told a story
Now it has come to pass
The Indians had a legend
The Spaniards lived for gold
The white man came and killed them
But they haven't really gone
[Chorus]
We live in the city of dreams
We drive on this highway of fire
Should we awake
And find it gone
Remember this, our favorite town
[Verse 2]
From Germany and Europe
And Southern U.S.A
They made this little town here
That we live in to this day
The children of the white man
Saw Indians on TV
And heard about the legend
How their city was a dream
[Chorus]
We live in the city of dreams
We drive on this highway of fire
Should we awake
And find it gone
Remember this, our favorite town
[Verse 3]
The Civil War is over
And World War One and Two
If we can live together
The dream it might come true
Underneath the concrete
The dream is still alive
A hundred million lifetimes
A world that never dies
[Chorus]
We live in the city of dreams
We drive on this highway of fire
Should we awake
And find it gone
Remember this, our favorite town
Here where you are standing
The dinosaurs did a dance
The Indians told a story
Now it has come to pass
The Indians had a legend
The Spaniards lived for gold
The white man came and killed them
But they haven't really gone
[Chorus]
We live in the city of dreams
We drive on this highway of fire
Should we awake
And find it gone
Remember this, our favorite town
[Verse 2]
From Germany and Europe
And Southern U.S.A
They made this little town here
That we live in to this day
The children of the white man
Saw Indians on TV
And heard about the legend
How their city was a dream
[Chorus]
We live in the city of dreams
We drive on this highway of fire
Should we awake
And find it gone
Remember this, our favorite town
[Verse 3]
The Civil War is over
And World War One and Two
If we can live together
The dream it might come true
Underneath the concrete
The dream is still alive
A hundred million lifetimes
A world that never dies
[Chorus]
We live in the city of dreams
We drive on this highway of fire
Should we awake
And find it gone
Remember this, our favorite town
more tracks from the album
Once in a Lifetime
- Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town (Alternate Version)
- Love for Sale
- The Big Country
- Stay Hungry
- I’m Not in Love
- Artists Only
- Found a Job
- Warning Sign
- Thank You for Sending Me an Angel
- The Democratic Circus
- Mr. Jones
- Blind
- People Like Us
- City of Dreams
- Love → Building on Fire
- Burning Down the House
- New Feeling (Alternate Version)
- Lifetime Piling Up
- A Clean Break (Let’s Work)
- Sax and Violins
- I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That
- In Asking Land
- Sugar on My Tongue
- Drugs (Alternate Version)
- Cities (Alternate Version)
- Puzzlin’ Evidence
- Wild Wild Life
- The Lady Don’t Mind
- Creatures of Love
- This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
- Swamp
- Slippery People
- Girlfriend Is Better
- Making Flippy Floppy
- Pulled Up
- Psycho Killer
- Don’t Worry About the Government
- The Book I Read
- No Compassion
- Tentative Decisions
- Heaven
- Life During Wartime
- Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
- Houses in Motion
- Memories Can’t Wait
- I Zimbra
- Road to Nowhere
- (Nothing But) Flowers
- Crosseyed and Painless
- Take Me to the River
- Air
- Listening Wind
- Stay Up Late
- And She Was
- Once in a Lifetime
From the albums
- Sounds From True Stories (1986)
- True Stories (1986)
- Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites (1992)
- Once in a Lifetime (2003)
Talking Heads popular songs
- Once in a Lifetime
- Psycho Killer
- This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
- Burning Down the House
- Life During Wartime
- Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
- Road to Nowhere
- Crosseyed and Painless
- The Great Curve
- Girlfriend Is Better
- Slippery People
- (Nothing But) Flowers
- Heaven
- Take Me to the River
- And She Was
- Listening Wind
- Don’t Worry About the Government
- Seen and Not Seen
- Making Flippy Floppy
- Houses in Motion
- I Zimbra
- The Overload
- Cities
- Wild Wild Life