I've been listening to the Talking Heads' song "Once in a Lifetime" (that is, the original version from their album Remain in Light), and I've been trying to figure out the gibberish David Byrne says at the end, in between all the "same as it ever was"es.

Here's my best guess so far:

Same as it ever was (3x)
Hey, look where my hand was
Time isn't holding up, time is an asterisk (?)
Same as it ever was (6x)
Water, the wave holder (?)
Same as it ever was
Hey, here a twister comes
Here comes the twister
...

On Web pages with lyrics to this song, I've seen the variation "Time isn't holding us, time isn't after us," which is plausible but incorrect in my opinion. I originally heard the second part of that line as "Time is an Aeschylus," but that is just too absurd even for Talking Heads.

Meanwhile, the muttered line about water, which occurs with about thirty seconds left in the track, seems to have escaped everyone's attention. I realize that "Water, the wave holder" doesn't make any sense, but I couldn't come up with anything better.

I'm pretty sure about the twister lines, though.

Don't know if this will help:


And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself
in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a
large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a
beautiful
wife
And you may ask yourself-Well...How did I get
here?

Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the
days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money's
gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground.

And you may ask
yourself
How do I work this?
And you may ask yourself
Where is that
large automobile?
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful
house!
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!
Letting
the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water
flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money's gone
Once in a
lifetime/water flowing underground.

Same as it ever was...Same as it ever
was...Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...Same as it ever was...Same
as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...Same as it ever was...

Water
dissolving...and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the
ocean
Carry the water at the bottom of the ocean
Remove the water at the
bottom of the ocean!

Letting the days go by/let the water hold me
down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue
again/in the silent water
Under the rocks and stones/there is water
underground.

Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting
the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the
money's gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground.

And you may
ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
And you may ask
yourself
Where does that highway go?
And you may ask yourself
Am I
right?...Am I wrong?
And you may tell yourself
MY GOD!...WHAT HAVE I
DONE?

Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the
days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/in the silent
water
Under the rocks and stones/there is water underground.

Letting
the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water
flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money's gone
Once in a
lifetime/water flowing underground.

Same as it ever was...Same as it ever
was...Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...Same as it ever was...Same
as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...Same as it ever was...

No, but thanks for replying.

I should clarify: 99% of the lyrics in the song I have no problem understanding. It's the lines at the end that Byrne utters sort of offhandedly that I bemusedly struggle to comprehend.