Talking Heads – Psycho Killer lyrics

I think the song is about how lots of people can turn into "psycho killers" because he says psycho killer, qu'est-ce qu c'est (which means what is this or it) and then he is telling everyone to run far away. The french interlude says, what I did tonight, what she said tonight, release my hope as I jump to glory. So he is jumping to glory because he isn't a psycho killer!

In reply to rocknrollchick87, thank you for translating the French phrase in the last part of the song, I had no idea what exactly it meant, although I knew what a couple of the individual words were.* (see Footnote, below). I always liked the Psycho Killer song; it was one of the first really avant garde songs that I heard on the radio in the late 70's. The Talking Heads, Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground - their music made me feel darkly hip; it wasn't just "ooh, baby, baby, I love you" music - it dealt with things like the bleakness & boredom of most people's daily lives, the hassle and un-fun daily grind of feeding a drug addiction, and how lethal the stress caused by the expectations and pressures and speed of modern society, could be - bad enough to turn you into a psycho killer, apparently. This was around the time that the phrase "going postal" first came into popular usage, in reference to the stressed-out us Postal Service worker who just couldn't take it any more, and shot up his workplace with a gun, killing a bunch of coworkers, and saying it was due to job stress of being a mailman. So I always thought of Psycho Killer as an expression of how anybody can have those feelings, and the person in the song not wanting to be that way, not wanting to hurt anyone, so he runs away, and advises others to run away from him so they don't become victims of his wrath, rage, anger and frustration. Also, by expressing his anger through the lyrics, he is able to let off some steam - to literally vent his feelings of frustration and pressure, with words instead of violence, and thus not become a psycho killer himself.

*(Footnote:) Unfortunately, I had only one semester of French in school, and that was in junior high - like 7th grade, I think - and the only thing I came away with, and can say convincingly and with a good accent, is the American Pledge of Allegiance. Now tell me: Why in the world would they teach that, of all things? It's not going to ever do you any good - certainly it would not help you if traveling in a French-speaking country - unless you want immediately identify yourself as a ridiculous and clueless American - nor would that phrase be useful in the United States! It would have been much more apropos to teach is how to navigate our way around a restaurant menu - something I had to learn on my own in my late teens and twenties and which I am still learning - although I unfortunately mispronounce much of it!)