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Once in a Lifetime
by
Talking Heads
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Once in a Lifetime
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Once in a Lifetime Technique
Great lyrics move us like the world's best poems. Take a close-up look at the art.
Setting
“Once in a Lifetime” is an extremely ‘80s song. When many people talk about the 1980s—especially the American culture of the time—it is with disdain or disappointment. Why did we wear sho...
Songwriting
Lyricist David Byrne wrote "Once in a Lifetime" like a religious sermon. He uses the cadence, timbre, and rhetorical techniques of preachers as his character sings about the realization of the grea...