“(Nothing But) Flowers” by Talking Heads

Image of a vinyl record cover of “(Nothing But) Flowers” by Talking Heads (from Genius, 2010).

  • “(Nothing But) Flowers” was released in March 1988 by American new-wave art rock band Talking Heads. The band was composed of David Byrne (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Frantz (drums), Tina Weymouth (bass), and Jerry Harrison (keyboards, guitar). The song appears on their final studio album, Naked. 
  • The band is known for their combining of unconventional genres like punk, art rock, and world music with cryptic lyrics. Many of their hit songs, including “(Nothing But) Flowers,” revolve around themes of societal collapse and universal anxieties. While the instrumentation of “(Nothing But) Flowers” is upbeat, its lyrics are a sharp critique of how human-made comforts like convenience stores are valued more in our society than the preservation of nature. This attitude contributes to climate change by influencing the decisions people make, choosing convenience over reducing emissions.
  • You can listen to the song here and read the lyrics here.

How is this related to climate?

  • “(Nothing But) Flowers” is sung from the perspective of a man who misses the conveniences of modern “civilization,” after it is destroyed and reclaimed by nature and the shopping malls are “all covered in flowers”. The phrase “you’ve got it” is repeated throughout the song’s choruses as an ironic echo of the ease of modern life, used in response to the difficulties of living in nature. 
    • The first verse references the Garden of Eden, which in the Bible is described as a paradise where all the needs of Adam and Eve are met by their natural surroundings. Bryne uses this reference to highlight how our needs have changed. The singer’s cravings for fast food, for example, cannot be satisfied by the flora and fauna that surround him.
      • Fast food chains contribute to climate change in many ways: they use ingredients that are carbon-intensive (like beef, which produces heat-trapping greenhouse gasses both from raising and processing of animals), use high amounts of energy, and contribute to solid waste with packaging and disposed food. While they can be convenient, that convenience comes at a cost for our climate.
    • It’s difficult for many people to give up conveniences in their lives for the sake of the environment. In a 2021 Kantar Public poll of people from 10 different countries, 46% of respondents said that there was no need for them to change their personal habits to preserve the planet. Additionally, when asked to rate in terms of importance measures to preserve the planet, activities that interfere with lifestyles on a day-to-day basis and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, like reducing meat consumption and banning fossil-fueled vehicles, were rated by only 18% and 22% of respondents as “very important” (graph below). Obviously, there are many greenhouse gas emitters that are beyond the control of the average person, but regardless there is a reluctance to give up conveniences to help the earth and “return to nature”.

A graphic based on the data from the Kantar survey displaying how respondents rated measures to preserve the planet/environment in order of importance (from The Guardian, 2021). Measures like recycling and protecting endangered animals were rated higher than reducing energy and meat consumption, which would reduce carbon emissions.

  • The music video for the song “(Nothing But) Flowers” includes some environmental and social commentary as well. An example that accompanies Bryne singing “you’ve got it” is shown in the image below.
    • The left image of the band member Tina Weymouth mentions the rate of deforestation in tropical rainforests. Rainforests are major carbon sinks, absorbing huge amounts of carbon dioxide during photosynthesis and releasing oxygen. Carbon dioxide is a major greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere, affecting the climate. Carbon sinks are important players in the fight against global warming, but they are being eliminated by deforestation, leaving excess carbon dioxide to be released directly into the atmosphere.

Frames from the 1988 music video for “(Nothing But) Flowers”. Since the video was released, the rate of rainforest deforestation has risen to 10,000 acres (about 4,047 hectares) a day in (from the Guardian, 2021), and the pounds of hazardous waste generated per capita in the United States rose to about 2,126 pounds (about 964 kilograms) in 2021 (from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2021).

  • “(Nothing But) Flowers” was written and released in the 1980s, a decade where mainstream American culture became aggressively consumerist, while also becoming more aware of environmental issues. Bryne’s lyrics explore the conflict between these two fragments of American culture, portraying a man who dreams of highways, Pizza Huts, and shopping malls in a new “Garden of Eden”, declaring “If this is paradise/ I wish I had a lawnmower”.
    • The lyric “This used to be real estate, now it’s only fields and trees” reflects a consumer culture that views land as something that only has value if it can be bought and sold, and where the beauty and complexity of nature is reduced to just fields and trees. In her book Braiding Sweetgrass, botanist and poet Robin Wall Kimmerer explains the connections between traditional indigenous knowledge and natural science. She discusses how perceiving land as something someone owns can affect how one treats the environment: “It is human perception that makes the world a gift… For the greater part of human history, and in places in the world today, common resources were the rule. But some invented a different story, a social construct in which everything is a commodity to be bought and sold. The market economy story has spread like wildfire, with uneven results for human well-being and devastation for the natural world”.

References and additional resources