From a 1992 Luaka Bop Media Information Kit:
With its wide ranging musical ideas and synthesis of styles, UH-OH is a culmination of Byrne's past endeavors and also offers a glimpse of future possibilities. "This album really felt more like a band playing," Byrne notes. "Rei Momo was a whole bunch of different bands playing; different styles, different musicians. It was almost like a sampler, like one of our (Luaka Bop) compilations. I like it. This one combines songs in a variety of styles interpreted by the same band. It has a band imprint on it."
About The Songs:
Now I'm Your Mom: That's a song about a sex change. A sensitive ditty about a man's decision to cut his dick off.
Girls on My Mind: It's one of those stupid truthful things that you kind of blurt out.
Something Ain't Right: That was something I wrote with Terry Allen. I sent him an early track when we were first recording. I was improvising words and he sent back some suggested verses. Some of the lines are his, some are mine. It's a rant against the Old Fart Upstairs.
She's Mad: Three minutes of domestic hell with a little bit of bliss thrown in.
Hanging Upside Down: It's about mall rats. Manhattan and some of the areas around Manhattan are probably the only places where mall culture isn't quite so prevalent. It seems that in the whole rest of the country, that's where everyone goes to hang out.
Twistin' in the Wind: A howl of anger with a dance beat.
The Cowboy Mambo (Hey Lookit Me Now): It seems each verse is about something different. The last verse, about the shithouse, I was real happy with, it was one of the truer statements I think I've written.
Monkey Man: It's about a guy returning from the war and seeing the state the country's in. His analysis is that evolution at some point must have started to reverse itself. This is a dream I actually had.
A Million Miles Away: It's about quitting your job.
Tiny Town: It's a message song. A "one world/we're all one" anthem, but it's inside of this little tune. It doesn't come out and tell you and beat you over the head with it.
Somebody: To me this is a song about the effects of racism on a woman, but it can be taken any number of ways.