Once In a Lifetime

Momentum

This song has not appeared on a Rotation chart, so it has no score and no receipts. The rank history below is the ledger; a score is only published once the momentum run puts it on a chart.

Why it's here

The song was built from studio jams influenced by Afrobeat musicians like Fela Kuti, with Robert Palmer joining in on guitar and percussion, giving it an unusual polyrhythmic structure. [1] David Byrne's half-spoken, half-sung vocal delivery was modeled on preachers delivering sermons, paired with lyrics probing existential questions about modern life. [2] Its music video, directed by Byrne and Toni Basil and built around Byrne's erratic dancing inspired by footage of religious rituals, was ranked the 81st-best music video of all time by Rolling Stone. [3]

In culture

Every place this record has lived. A solid chip states a fact and carries the citation that earns it; a dashed one is a connection somebody drew, and carries their name instead.

• Covered Angélique Kidjosource
• Written by David Byrnesource
• Written by Brian Enosource
• Written by Chris Frantzsource
• Written by Jerry Harrisonsource
• Written by Tina Weymouthsource
• Covered Princesource
• Covered Phishsource
• Covered The Smashing Pumpkinssource
• Covered David Byrnesource
• Covered Muph & Plutonicsource
• Covered Texassource
• Covered Orchestre National de Jazzsource
• Covered Lemarsource
• Covered P.M. Dawnsource
• Covered Big Daddysource
• Covered Blenderheadsource
• Remixed by Talking Heads, Once in a Lifetime (LAMADRID remix)source
• Remixed by Talking Heads, Once in a Lifetime (Same as It Never Was) Liquid People Remix (radio edit)source
• Remixed by Talking Heads, Once in a Lifetime (Same as It Never Was) Liquid People Remix (short vocal mix)source
• Sampled by Sugar Bear, Don't Scandalize Mine (vocal mix)source
• Sampled by Jay‐Z featuring Memphis Bleek, It’s Alrightsource
• Sampled by Ruffige Creu, Killa Muffin (The Band Dog mix)source
• Sampled by D.J. Chuck Chillout & Kool Chip, Rhythm Is the Mastersource
• Sampled by chris†††, something wrongsource
• Remixed by Talking Heads, Once in a Lifetime (LAMADRID remix)source
• Remixed by Talking Heads, Once in a Lifetime (Same as It Never Was) Liquid People Remix (radio edit)source
• Remixed by Talking Heads, Once in a Lifetime (Same as It Never Was) Liquid People Remix (short vocal mix)source
• Sampled by Sugar Bear, Don't Scandalize Mine (vocal mix)source
• Sampled by Jay‐Z featuring Memphis Bleek, It’s Alrightsource
• Sampled by Ruffige Creu, Killa Muffin (The Band Dog mix)source
• Sampled by D.J. Chuck Chillout & Kool Chip, Rhythm Is the Mastersource
• Sampled by chris†††, something wrongsource

Across markets · earliest pickup first

Every date here is the date the source chart covers, never the date we fetched it. Sources publish on different lags: the Spotify mirror runs about two days behind, TurnTable publishes weekly. One recording, one history: this table also counts the rows sources published under 1 other handle of this record (remasters, official videos).

1. MarketFirst seenLatestDaysPeakRank path
2. New Zealandnz · shazam2026-08-132026-10-14#857#85
   #85
3. United Kingdomgb · shazam · 1 city2026-08-212026-08-27#496#36
   #49
4. Thailandth · deezer2026-10-122026-10-24#542#54
   #54

City pickups

City charts record their parent country as the market, so these do not add to the market count above. One line per country: how many of its rooms picked the song up, and the best of them.

1. gb 1 city · best #36 nottingham

Listen

No official embed available for this song yet.

• Deezer ↗

Editions

No published edition carries this song yet. Every edition it appears in will be listed here and stay listed: an edition is immutable, so a citation to one never rots.