"(It's Not Me) Talking" is the debut single by British new wave band

A Flock of Seagulls A Flock of Seagulls are an English new wave band formed in Liverpool in 1979. The group, whose best-known line-up comprised Mike Score, Ali Score, Frank Maudsley and Paul Reynolds, hit the peak of their chart success in the early 1980s. The ...

, originally recorded in 1981. It was re-recorded in 1983 and is featured on their second album ''

Listen Listen may refer to: * The action of listening * Central auditory system listening is how the brain processes what you hear * Listening behaviour types in human communication Computing * LISTEN, a TCP connection state on the server side indi ...

''. 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.

Release

"(It's Not Me) Talking" was originally released in May 1981 as the third release on producer

Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Nelson previously served as a United States Senator from Flo ...

's independent label Cocteau Records and it peaked at number 45 on the UK Independent Singles Chart. Following this, A Flock of Seagulls signed to major label Jive and by the end of 1982 they had a top-ten hit in the US with "

I Ran (So Far Away) "I Ran (So Far Away)", also released as "I Ran", is a song by English new wave band A Flock of Seagulls. It was released in 1982 as their third single and it was the second single from their self-titled debut album. It topped the chart in ...

" and in the UK with "

Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You) "Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)" is a 1982 song by A Flock of Seagulls, the opening song and only hit single from their second album ''Listen''. Background The song exemplifies "synth-pop's spaced-out loneliness" and yearning for imag ...

". In the wake of the latter's success in the UK, "(It's Not Me) Talking" was remixed and released as a 12-inch single in March 1983 on the Cocteau label. It fared better than its original release, peaking at number 22 on the Independent Singles Chart, though it failed to make the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Top 100, peaking at number 128. The song was re-recorded for the band's second album ''Listen'' and this version, released on Jive in August 1983, made the Top 100, peaking at number 78.

Music video

This music video was based on a 1951 science fiction classic film called ''

The Day the Earth Stood Still ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (a.k.a. ''Farewell to the Master'' and ''Journey to the World'') is a 1951 American science fiction film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise. It stars Michael Re ...

''. 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 Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...

. For the lasers, they retained the services of holographic pioneer,

Jason Sapan Jason Sapan, also known as Dr. Laser (pronounced Sāpăn; born 1950) is a holographer and actor who is the founder of Holographic Studios, the world's oldest gallery of holography, located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. He is one o ...

, 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 Michael Gordon Score (born 5 November 1957) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who achieved worldwide fame as the founder, lead vocalist, and rhythm guitarist of the new wave band A Flock of Seagulls. He released a solo album on 1 Ma ...

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

The music video was the first shown on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

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: *Jason Sapan as "Sparks" Hopkins *Peter Reynolds as Joey *David York as Sergeant McGuire *Ali Score as Prof. "Scottie" Frost * Paul Reynolds as Duane *Larry Friel as Major Dick Docherty *Frank Maudsley as Rex Nolan *

as "The Alien"

Formats and track listing

Chart positions

Original version Remix version Re-recorded version

External links

References

{{A Flock of Seagulls 1981 debut singles 1983 singles A Flock of Seagulls songs 1981 songs Jive Records singles