The standard cassette and LP releases of Speaking in Tongues had a unique system for identifying the guest musicians and what instruments they played on which songs. Each track was given its own symbol:
Then each guest is listed with their instrument and a row of corresponding symbols.
The system is very clear for the guest musicians. The song, “Slippery People” features Raphael DeJesus on percussion, Richard Landry on saxophone, Nona Hendryx (“Non Hendryx” on the cassette) and Dollette MacDonald on backing vocals.
The lists of what the core Talking Heads played don’t really help much with who plays what on what songs. Jerry Harrison does NOT play bass or percussion. Chris Frantz does NOT play bass or guitar. Tina Weymouth does NOT play percussion. Apparently all other duties are shared.
A clue might come from the markings on Tina Weymouth’s Moog Rogue Synthesizer, used on the subsequent tour. The symbol-song associations are not consistent with the album associations, but it’s clearly a similar system.
