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David Byrne (Music)
- 540 statements
- 101 feature instances
- 64 referencing feature instances
| David Byrne (Music) | type |
TVTItem | |
| David Byrne (Music) | label |
David Byrne (Music) | |
| David Byrne (Music) | page |
DavidByrne | |
| David Byrne (Music) | comment |
David Byrne (born 14 May 1952) is a well-rounded individual, cloudcuckoolander extraordinaire, and something of a maverick in the music world. He's most famous for his tenure as the frontman and primary songwriter for the wildly influential Post-Punk/New Wave Music band Talking Heads, but he's also a solo musician whose genre-hopping makes the already aurally diverse Heads sound normal by comparison. He's also a visual artist, a one-time film director and actor, a published author, an avid bicyclist, and the author of a column about bicycling in The New York Times.While most of it is vaguely definable as Alternative Rock or art pop, Byrne's music is impossible to pigeonhole and difficult to generalize. Even within a single album, he won't stick to one genre, nor does he play any given style straight. That said, elements that pop up frequently across his discography include art-punk, funk, African-inspired polyrhythms, Latin American influences, and very surreal lyrics delivered in a fashion that is either passionately hammy or utterly deadpan.Byrne is also fairly notable for being one of few known autistic musicians to achieve critical and commercial success; he revealed that he was autistic in 2009, specifically stating that he had Asperger's Syndrome (which was absorbed into Autism Spectrum Disorder by the APA in 2013). Music, like acting, is often considered to be an extremely hard field for autistic people to make any headway in, making Byrne's success and influence on popular music quite significant in that regard.Microsoft Windows users may recognize his single "Like Humans Do" (from the album Look into the Eyeball), which was used as a stock song for Windows Media Player on XP. | |
| David Byrne (Music) | fetched |
2023-05-07T21:28:41Z | |
| David Byrne (Music) | parsed |
2023-05-07T21:28:41Z | |
| David Byrne (Music) | processingComment |
Dropped link to AmericanUtopia: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
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| David Byrne (Music) | processingUnknown |
ColorMotifs | |
| David Byrne (Music) | processingUnknown |
LoveableSexManiac | |
| David Byrne (Music) | processingUnknown |
NoManWantsAnAmazon | |
| David Byrne (Music) | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_116f6f1c | type |
Self-Plagiarism | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_116f6f1c | comment |
Self-Plagiarism: The verses of "Angels" are remarkably similar to those from Talking Heads' Signature Song, "Once in a Lifetime". That said, the choruses couldn't be any more different. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_116f6f1c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_116f6f1c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_116f6f1c | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1226f314 | type |
Dream Walker | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1226f314 | comment |
Dream Walker: In "The Dream Police", there's an entire justice system to prosecute crimes committed in sleep. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1226f314 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1226f314 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_1226f314 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1439161f | type |
Heroic BSoD | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1439161f | comment |
Heroic BSoD: In "Walk Like a Woman", the newly-married Imelda Marcos has trouble adjusting to life as the wife of a politician. She has a nervous breakdown, undergoes treatment at a psych ward in New York, and returns to the Philippines a changed woman. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1439161f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_1439161f | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_17501df2 | type |
Cool Old Guy | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_17501df2 | comment |
Cool Old Guy: Byrne acquired this reputation among younger people in the 21st century, owed in part to his willingness to embrace changing cultural trends (his radio stream, for one, features a lot of hip-hop and modern R&B). He's become an elder statesman of indie pop the way Neil Young did for Grunge. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_17501df2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_17501df2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_17501df2 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1b65dfad | type |
The Cameo | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1b65dfad | comment |
The Cameo: Downplayed as he never says anything, but he was briefly seen in the audience of the Inside the Actors Studio episode featuring the six core voice actors of The Simpsons. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1b65dfad | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_1b65dfad | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1ba8eb64 | type |
Visual Pun | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1ba8eb64 | comment |
Visual Pun: The cover art for Uh-Oh is a painting of Heaven... with dog sitting on the throne instead of God. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1ba8eb64 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1ba8eb64 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_1ba8eb64 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1bb1d7df | type |
Dismotivation | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1bb1d7df | comment |
Dismotivation: The narrator of "Lazy" claims to be a Lazy Bum, but he gives a surprisingly long list of activities he does in a lazy way. He comes across instead like a guy who works really hard to convince everyone he's cool and lazy. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1bb1d7df | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_1bb1d7df | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1c5002bc | type |
The Stoic | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1c5002bc | comment |
The Stoic: He's earned a bit of a reputation for being an emotionless weirdo. He joked about it by releasing an album named Feelings, with a plastic doll modeled after himself on the cover. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1c5002bc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1c5002bc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_1c5002bc | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1c96f945 | type |
Wrong-Name Outburst | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1c96f945 | comment |
Wrong-Name Outburst: "Glad": | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1c96f945 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1c96f945 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_1c96f945 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1ce1cfd8 | type |
all lowercase letters | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1ce1cfd8 | comment |
all lowercase letters: The cover and liner notes of the self-titled album. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1ce1cfd8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1ce1cfd8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_1ce1cfd8 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1f37a427 | type |
Face on the Cover | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1f37a427 | comment |
Face on the Cover: Almost all of his non-soundtrack solo albums (with Uh-Oh, Here Lies Love, and American Utopia being the exceptions). David Byrne and Grown Backwards are completely straight examples. Others are odd variations on mugshots: Rei Momo is a photo of a human heart, with Byrne's face visible through cut-out parts of the picture, Feelings has a plastic doll in Byrne's likeness, and Look Into the Eyeball has two interlaced mugshots. Among Byrne's collaborative studio albums, this trope is instead the exception rather than the norm: Love This Giant is the only album of Byrne's in this category to feature his face on the cover art, specifically utilizing a photo of Byrne and St. Vincent posing in prosthetic chins. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1f37a427 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_1f37a427 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_1f37a427 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_21f3aa44 | type |
Good Is Not Nice | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_21f3aa44 | comment |
Good is Not Nice: Maaaybe? In "The Gates of Paradise": | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_21f3aa44 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_21f3aa44 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_21f3aa44 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_22093e9b | type |
New Sound Album | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_22093e9b | comment |
New Sound Album: The tendency for every Talking Heads solo album to sound noticeably different than the rest carries over to Byrne's solo work. Look Into the Eyeball however is the most significant example in that it established the distinctively leftfield art pop sound that would serve as a base for Byrne's later work. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_22093e9b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_22093e9b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_22093e9b | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_22a59b45 | type |
Self-Harm | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_22a59b45 | comment |
Self-Harm: Referenced in "Nothing At All": And in "Walk Like a Woman": | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_22a59b45 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_22a59b45 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_22a59b45 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_259d5879 | type |
Anachronism Stew | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_259d5879 | comment |
Anachronism Stew: Here Lies Love covers a period from 1965 to 1986, yet the song "American Troglodyte" references the average US citizens surfing the internet and listening to 50 Cent. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_259d5879 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_259d5879 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_259d5879 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_26ac510e | type |
Mythology Gag | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_26ac510e | comment |
Mythology Gag: Early in the 2013 "Psychedelic Afternoon" music video, the album art for Feelings can be seen as a poster in Seiji's room right when he wakes up from his nightmare, though only for a split second. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_26ac510e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_26ac510e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_26ac510e | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_27690f66 | type |
Literary Allusion Title | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_27690f66 | comment |
Literary Allusion Title: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was named after a 1954 novel by Amos Tutuola. Eno and Byrne hadn't read the novel at the time, but they were already fans of Tutuola's other writing. The title of Grown Backwards is taken from a quote in the Flannery O’Connor novel The Violent Bear it Away. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_27690f66 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_27690f66 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_27690f66 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_27ff4276 | type |
The Omnipresent | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_27ff4276 | comment |
The Omnipresent: The audio clip of a preacher in "Help Me Somebody": | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_27ff4276 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_27ff4276 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_27ff4276 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_295087bf | type |
Non-Indicative Name | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_295087bf | comment |
Non-Indicative Name: "Make Believe Mambo" is an Orísa song, not an actual mambo. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_295087bf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_295087bf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_295087bf | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2b278c5d | type |
Loss of Identity | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2b278c5d | comment |
Loss of Identity: "Somebody": "Angels": "Strange Ritual": | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2b278c5d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2b278c5d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_2b278c5d | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2bf54826 | type |
Longest Song Goes Last | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2bf54826 | comment |
Longest Song Goes Last: Music for The Knee Plays ends with "In the Future" (6:35). Grown Backwards ends with "Lazy" (9:35). | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2bf54826 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2bf54826 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_2bf54826 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2e6b9e45 | type |
Concert Film | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2e6b9e45 | comment |
American Utopia (2020)note Concert Film from the 2019 Broadway residency show in support of the American Utopia album; directed by Spike Lee. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2e6b9e45 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2e6b9e45 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_2e6b9e45 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2e70a1db | type |
Miniscule Rocking | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2e70a1db | comment |
Miniscule Rocking: Track 13 on Feelings is an interlude just a few seconds long. It's so short it doesn't even have a name. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2e70a1db | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_2e70a1db | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_2e70a1db | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3096c919 | type |
Boléro Effect | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3096c919 | comment |
Boléro Effect: "Strange Ritual", "I Feel My Stuff". | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3096c919 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3096c919 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_3096c919 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_32da91b8 | type |
Out of Focus | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_32da91b8 | comment |
Out of Focus: Allegedly, Imelda Marcos and Estrella Cumpas are co-protagonists of Here Lies Love— it even says so in the album subtitle. However, Estrella disappears from the story for a seven-song stretch in the middle of the album (from "Walk Like a Woman" to "The Whole Man"). | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_32da91b8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_32da91b8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_32da91b8 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_348e3263 | type |
'50s Hair | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_348e3263 | comment |
'50s Hair: This was his look in Talking Heads, with his slicked-back clean-cut hairstyle unusual among rock stars at the time. He's mostly kept this style since the band's breakup, save for briefly growing out his hair for his Self-Titled Album and the recording of Talking Heads' Naked, as seen on the inside cover, though he made sure to cut it for the album's music videos. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_348e3263 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_348e3263 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_348e3263 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_34bfa91a | type |
Auteur License | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_34bfa91a | comment |
Auteur License: Generally agreed to have received it in 1980, with the success and acclaim of Talking Heads' Remain in Light. Since then, he's had free reign to do more or less whatever he wants, not only in music (both with Talking Heads and with his solo career), but in practically every other art form he's touched. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_34bfa91a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_34bfa91a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_34bfa91a | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_35e077 | type |
Fourth-Date Marriage | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_35e077 | comment |
Fourth-Date Marriage: Covered in "Eleven Days". Ferdinand Marcos meets Imelda Romualdez, and she agrees to marry him eleven days later. They don't even meet again in the interval—Ferdinand courts Imelda by sending messages and gifts. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_35e077 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_35e077 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_35e077 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3862fa01 | type |
Ludd Was Right | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3862fa01 | comment |
Ludd Was Right: In "Dance on Vaseline": | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3862fa01 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3862fa01 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_3862fa01 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_393ec3f9 | type |
Zeerust | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_393ec3f9 | comment |
Zeerust: Byrne's predictions in "In the Future" were clearly not meant to stand the test of time: they're a mix of plausible guesses, hilariously implausible ones, and blatantly contradictory statements. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_393ec3f9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_393ec3f9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_393ec3f9 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3e74b72e | type |
The Pollyanna | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3e74b72e | comment |
The Pollyanna: The narrator of "Glad": In "Optimist": | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3e74b72e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3e74b72e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_3e74b72e | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3e7df515 | type |
British Rockstar | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3e7df515 | comment |
British Rock Star: Hugely averted. While David Byrne is British (more specifically Scottish, hailing from Dumbarton), he's generally very tame personality-wise, has never been interested in drugs or alcoholnote he stated in an interview that he has tried drugs before, but either couldn't get any effects out of them or just felt worse while high, leading him to lead an otherwise clean life, and tends to dress in a very business-casual manner. He's also lost any trace of a Scottish accent in his speaking voice through years of living in the U.S. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3e7df515 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3e7df515 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_3e7df515 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3f1f6c04 | type |
The Cover Changes the Meaning | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3f1f6c04 | comment |
The Cover Changes the Meaning: In American Utopia he told the story of how the protagonist of "Everybody's Coming To My House" wasn't supposed to be 100% delighted about the prospect of everyone coming to his house, but that he (Byrne) later heard a cover version of it by a group of teenage singers from the Detroit School of the Arts that completely made him rethink the song: the Detroit version was a joyful song about how people didn't have to be alone. In a rather heartwarming gesture, the Detroit version is played over the end titles. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3f1f6c04 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_3f1f6c04 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_3f1f6c04 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_41acc7e | type |
A Hell of a Time | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_41acc7e | comment |
A Hell of a Time: The first verse of "You & Eye" involves winding up in Hell, and finding that it has good music, and better barbecues and beer than on Earth. "And darling, I think you'll like it here." | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_41acc7e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_41acc7e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_41acc7e | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_42a055ac | type |
Happy Place | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_42a055ac | comment |
Happy Place: The narrator of "Back in the Box" can't deal with the outside world. | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_42a055ac | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_42a055ac | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) | hasFeature |
David Byrne (Music) / int_42a055ac | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_44fc28e8 | type |
Honor Before Reason | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_44fc28e8 | comment |
Honor Before Reason: In "Seven Years", Imelda Marcos warns Benigno Aquino that he'll be killed if he returns to the Philippines. He goes anyway. Sure enough, Ferdinand Marcos has him assassinated. | |
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Ambiguous Gender | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_4510b368 | comment |
Ambiguous Gender: Mentioned in "In the Future": | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_4510b368 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_4e4ea654 | type |
Workaholic | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_4e4ea654 | comment |
Workaholic: He has a reputation of being this, to a point where he allegedly has trouble maintaining "human relationships", as Chris Frantz has said. | |
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Immigrant Patriotism | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_505ec51b | comment |
Immigrant Patriotism: A U.K. citizen by birth, Byrne obtained U.S. citizenship in 2012 so he could vote in elections there, as he'd lived in the U.S. since childhood. | |
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Longest Song Goes First | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_5262cf20 | comment |
Longest Song Goes First: Rei Momo starts with "Independence Day" (5:45). | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_55af5099 | type |
Rube Goldberg Device | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_55af5099 | comment |
Rube Goldberg Device: The music video for the 2002 version of "Lazy" features a man who stays on the couch all day, doing things like combing hair, getting food, and doing chores via many of these. Eventually, the machine designed to give him his breakfast short-circuits after spilling coffee on itself, forcing the man to settle for a dirty, half-eaten Snickers bar that he finds on the floor. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_586624e5 | type |
Genius Loci | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_586624e5 | comment |
Genius Loci: Maaaybe? In "The Forest Awakes": | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_586db75d | type |
My Girl Is Not a Slut | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_586db75d | comment |
My Girl Is Not a Slut: Played with in "She Only Sleeps". The narrator's girlfriend dances at topless bars, flirts with others, and for all the world seems to be sleeping around. But the narrator knows "that she only sleeps with me", so he doesn't care what anyone else thinks of her. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_586db75d | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_589661ad | type |
Renaissance Man | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_589661ad | comment |
Renaissance Man: Musician, writer, visual artist, and one-time actor and director, Byrne's repertoire is fairly well-rounded. Time magazine even ran a 1986 cover story that named him "Rock's Renaissance Man". | |
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Trans Tribulations | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_6205320f | comment |
Trans Tribulations: "Now I'm Your Mom" is about a post-operative trans woman attempting to explain her identity to her son and daughter. Of note is that the song released just a year after the film adaptation The Silence of the Lambs, which was both directed by Byrne associate Jonathan Demme and criticized upon release for invoking anti-trans stereotypes. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_6205320f | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_6627695f | type |
Author Appeal | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_6627695f | comment |
Author Appeal: He's intrigued by the effects of mass media, in part because he spent a good deal of time in the 70's watching TV to try and learn more about connecting with the people around him, so the act of watching TV pops up a lot in his lyrics. Also he frequently references malleable or completely false identities. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_72bafff5 | type |
Doomed Moral Victor | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_72bafff5 | comment |
Doomed Moral Victor: In "Seven Years" and "Why Don't You Love Me?", Benigno Aquino winds up killed for opposing Ferdinand Marcos. However, this assassination "triggers the collapse of the whole house of cards"—Ferdinand loses his office, and the whole family flees the country. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_73f38fe0 | type |
LEGO Genetics | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_73f38fe0 | comment |
LEGO Genetics: In "Self-Made Man", the characters literally swap chromosomes like they're baseball cards. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_73f38fe0 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_74149c93 | type |
Epic Rocking | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_74149c93 | comment |
Epic Rocking: "Strange Ritual" from David Byrne (6:51). "Lazy" from Grown Backwards (9:35). | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_74149c93 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_7464705c | type |
Arc Words | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_7464705c | comment |
Arc Words: "Todo Mundo" (Spanish for "whole world"). First it showed up in the lyrics of "Make Believe Mambo". Then it appeared in the Feelings album art, written on the doll's jacket. Then Byrne used it as the name for his record label. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_7464705c | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_7a12aabf | type |
New Media Are Evil | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_7a12aabf | comment |
New Media Are Evil: Byrne published an op-ed in The Guardian arguing that the Internet would kill creativity by making artists unable to make money from their creations, citing the low royalties from digital downloads and streaming and how it disproportionately affects newer, less established artists. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_7a12aabf | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_7c61a2d4 | type |
ShmuckBait | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_7c61a2d4 | comment |
Shmuck Bait: The Feelings album art. The CD itself has a big arrow on it, and the tray insert has a wheel of colors, corresponding to different emotions. There's a note encouraging the listener to break the CD spindle and spin the disc to "determine your feelings". For anyone who doesn't get the joke, there's a warning that doing this repeatedly may or may not scratch the CD beyond repair. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_7c61a2d4 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_7cfe042d | type |
Alternative Rock | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_7cfe042d | comment |
Alternative Rock: Most of his solo material loosely qualifies as this, especially in regards to his 1990's output. His material since 2001 is more closely categorizable as art pop, though traces of alternative rock can still be found here and there. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_7cfe042d | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_823c6e3e | type |
Large Ham | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_823c6e3e | comment |
Large Ham: When he's not being deadpan, Byrne tends to sing with enough gusto to give William Shatner a run for his money. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_823c6e3e | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_8573ac0a | type |
The Social Darwinist | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_8573ac0a | comment |
The Social Darwinist: In "Empire", the narrator sings "The weak among us perish, the strong alone survive," and clearly thinks this is a good thing. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_8573ac0a | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_87ab7f69 | type |
Sharp-Dressed Man | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_87ab7f69 | comment |
Sharp-Dressed Man: Byrne's wearing of suits was one reason he stood out from more casually-dressed rock stars during Talking Heads' commercial peak. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_87ab7f69 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_8c00118f | type |
Spoken Word in Music | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_8c00118f | comment |
Spoken Word in Music: On The Knee Plays, about half of the songs are just David Byrne speaking a monologue over the backing music. (The rest of the album is instrumental.) | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_8c00118f | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_8fc70212 | type |
Voice Clip Song | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_8fc70212 | comment |
Voice Clip Song: The entire album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts excerpted spoken-word samples from radio interviews, field recordings, and TV broadcasts, and set them to looped instrumental tracks (some funky and syncopated, others ambient). | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_90b66e22 | type |
Femme Fatale | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_90b66e22 | comment |
Femme Fatale: "Miss America" uses this an extended metaphor. America is a woman who seduces men, then tosses them aside once she no longer needs them. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_91b55fe | type |
Pop-Star Composer | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_91b55fe | comment |
Pop-Star Composer: He's done a lot of work for film and theater, and even won an Academy Award for his soundtrack for The Last Emperor. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_973d220f | type |
Never My Fault | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_973d220f | comment |
Never My Fault: In "The Moment of Conception": | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_973d220f | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_9d1cc720 | type |
Barbie Doll Anatomy | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_9d1cc720 | comment |
Barbie Doll Anatomy: In "Wicked Little Doll". | |
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1.0 | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_9d1cc720 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_9f2898f7 | type |
Long Title | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_9f2898f7 | comment |
Long Title: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and Everything That Happens Will Happen Today stand out as the longest album titles in Byrne's studio catalog. Among Byrne's live albums, the titles got much, much longer once he started releasing ones based on recent or ongoing tours. In order, there's Everything That Happens Will Happen on This Tour – David Byrne on Tour: Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno, the live EP "...The Best Live Show Of All Time" —NME (included with the deluxe edition of American Utopia), and its album-length equivalent from the American Utopia Broadway residency, David Byrne's American Utopia On Broadway (Original Cast Recording). | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_9f2898f7 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_a040ed2e | type |
Silly Love Songs | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_a040ed2e | comment |
Silly Love Songs: "My Love Is You", "Buck Naked", "They Are in Love", to name a few. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_ad1ab367 | type |
The Masochism Tango | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_ad1ab367 | comment |
The Masochism Tango: "They Are in Love": | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_ad1ab367 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_aff1ee2e | type |
Small Reference Pools | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_aff1ee2e | comment |
Small Reference Pools: invoked Discussed in the Here Lies Love liner notes. To those outside the Philippines, Imelda Marcos is most famous for keeping a ludicrously massive collection of shoes—so Byrne decided not to mention the shoe collection in any of the songs. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_aff1ee2e | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_b067ddfe | type |
Animated Music Video | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_b067ddfe | comment |
Animated Music Video: The 2013 re-recording of "Psychedelic Afternoon" received one as part of the associated charity project, featuring Byrne as a mystical hippie grandpa helping his grandson cope with the trauma left by the 2011 earthquake in Japan. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_b067ddfe | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_b24ce4b2 | type |
Rearrange the Song | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_b24ce4b2 | comment |
Rearrange the Song: He's put out several remix EPs and albums. And whenever he tours, his setlist will feature songs from older albums (or even from the Talking Heads catalogue) arranged in the style of his most recent album. Grown Backwards ends with a Baroque Pop re-recording of Byrne and X-Press 2's 2002 collaboration "Lazy". In 2013, Byrne and Ryuichi Sakamoto re-recorded their 1994 collaboration "Psychedelic Afternoon", with redone lyrics and Byrne taking up vocal duties this time, as part of a project to raise awareness and funds for children impacted by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_b24ce4b2 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_b28a8d0a | type |
Break-Up Song | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_b28a8d0a | comment |
Break-Up Song: "The Accident", where the accident is just a metaphor for the hurt feelings in the wake of a relationship's end. | |
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1.0 | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_b28a8d0a | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_b51128fa | type |
Gilded Cage | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_b51128fa | comment |
Gilded Cage: In "Solano Avenue", Estrella Cumpas writes a biography of Imelda Marcos, based on their years together. Imelda doesn't want the world to know of those years when her family was destitute. She arranges for Estrella to move into a "safe house" in Manila, with guards "for her own protection". | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_b51128fa | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_b82ca416 | type |
Rage Against the Heavens | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_b82ca416 | comment |
Rage Against the Heavens: "Something Ain't Right": | |
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1.0 | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_b82ca416 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_becfca0e | type |
Princess in Rags | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_becfca0e | comment |
Princess in Rags: Remedios Romualdez in "Every Drop of Rain" and "You'll Be Taken Care Of". She's connected to a powerful and influential family, but can barely pay her housekeeper, Estrella Cumpas. She insists that one of her children will restore the family's fortune and repay Estrella some day. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_becfca0e | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_bef696dd | type |
Mind Screw | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_bef696dd | comment |
Mind Screw: "Horses." | |
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1.0 | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_bef696dd | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_c1b2c63f | type |
Dull Surprise | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_c1b2c63f | comment |
Dull Surprise: One of Byrne's two trademark vocal styles, when he's not being a Large Ham. | |
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1.0 | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_c1b2c63f | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_c3ae004a | type |
Re-Cut | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_c3ae004a | comment |
Re-Cut: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts got this treatment three times. When it was first released, "Qu'ran" was the first track on side B. Since the song contained spoken excerpts from the holy book of Islam, some Muslims took offense at the song. So all subsequent printings replaced the song with "Very Very Hungry", the B-side from The Jezebel Spirit EP. The original US CD release used the original track listing (with "Qu'ran" in its proper place) and added "Very Very Hungry" as a bonus track at the end. It wasn't until 1990 when the CD switched to the "Qu'ran"-free tracklist. Then the 2006 remastered version once again used the censored playlist, plus extended mixes of "Mea Culpa" and "The Carrier", and tacked a bunch of B-sides and demos on the end as bonus tracks. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_c3ae004a | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_c852ac43 | type |
Mars and Venus Gender Contrast | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_c852ac43 | comment |
Mars and Venus Gender Contrast: "Women Vs. Men": | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_c852ac43 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_c9597a03 | type |
Self-Deprecation | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_c9597a03 | comment |
Self-Deprecation: "Make Believe Mambo" takes playful jabs at Byrne's habit of watching TV to try and better understand the world around him, featuring a story about a man who gets so into the habit that he becomes devoid of any real personality, operating solely on memorized cues and imitations. | |
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David Byrne (Music) / int_c9597a03 | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_caa28b82 | type |
Cloudcuckoolander | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_caa28b82 | comment |
Cloudcuckoolander: It's telling that being the driving force behind Talking Heads is just considered the tip of the iceberg in terms of eccentricity. | |
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Corrupt Corporate Executive | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_cbe687ab | comment |
"Empire" has grandiose backing music with swelling brass. The lyrics involve a narrator singing the praises of Big Business and advocating Social Darwinism. | |
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Nothing Is Scarier | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_cdfe12c3 | comment |
Nothing Is Scarier: The album art for Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. It's CG art of a house with a pond in the back yard. It's completely deserted, except for a shadowy figure in an upper story window, looking through binoculars. There are a number of unsettling details upon closer inspection—an open box of bandages on a table, a discarded condom wrapper in a rain gutter, a thick metal door on the living room wall—but nothing that truly explains what's going on in the house. | |
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Misery Builds Character | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_ce6487aa | comment |
Misery Builds Character: "The Cowboy Mambo (Hey Lookit Me Now)". In "Seven Years", Benigno Aquino is in prison on trumped-up charges. He realizes: | |
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Deliberately Monochrome | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_d028ca10 | comment |
Deliberately Monochrome: The liner notes of the self-titled album are (other than a tiny bit of color on the jewel case's spine) solely black and white photos and text. | |
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Mundane Made Awesome | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_d148b019 | comment |
Mundane Made Awesome: His lyrical style, especially with Talking Heads, writing songs about civil servants and pieces of paper. This even extends outside of music as well; True Stories, for instance, revolves entirely around deriving entertainment out of the minutiae and undiscussed strangeness of everyday life. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_d29f109e | type |
Live Album | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_d29f109e | comment |
Among Byrne's live albums, the titles got much, much longer once he started releasing ones based on recent or ongoing tours. In order, there's Everything That Happens Will Happen on This Tour – David Byrne on Tour: Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno, the live EP "...The Best Live Show Of All Time" —NME (included with the deluxe edition of American Utopia), and its album-length equivalent from the American Utopia Broadway residency, David Byrne's American Utopia On Broadway (Original Cast Recording). | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_d99a228f | type |
Unusually Uninteresting Sight | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_d99a228f | comment |
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: He'll drop bizarre imagery into lyrics with the same deadpan delivery he uses to describe a pleasant party. For example, in "Dinner for Two": | |
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Screw This, I'm Outta Here | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_d9cf40fa | comment |
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: "Don't Want to Be Part of Your World", where hundreds of boys and girls bid their parents farewell and disappear upstream or down tunnels. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_dbfd6b8 | type |
Lyrical Dissonance | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_dbfd6b8 | comment |
Lyrical Dissonance: "Empire" has grandiose backing music with swelling brass. The lyrics involve a narrator singing the praises of Big Business and advocating Social Darwinism. "Lazy" has lyrics about how darn lazy the narrator is. The music sounds the opposite of lazy: a fast electronic beat, frantic strings, and driving electric guitar. This is even more apparent on the version recorded with X-Press 2, which is outright House Music. | |
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Taught by Television | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_dd4d4d19 | comment |
Taught by Television: "Make Believe Mambo" is about a kid who lives this way: | |
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The Perfectionist | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_e0bc3cc3 | comment |
The Perfectionist: A notorious example among musicians, to the point where, in an effort to get looped rhythms on Remain in Light in an era when sound engineering technology wouldn't reliably allow that, he spent a significant chunk of the already breakneck recording sessions manually training his bandmates in Talking Heads to play particular rhythms over and over again with mechanical precision. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_e144beb6 | type |
Everything Is an Instrument | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_e144beb6 | comment |
Everything Is an Instrument: For My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Byrne and Eno augmented their percussion with "basically anything that was lying around". For example, they used a cardboard box as a kick drum, and a biscuit tin as a snare drum. He later took this trope to its logical extreme with an art installment called "Playing The Building," in which guests were invited to play on an organ Byrne had rigged to manipulate the inner workings of an abandoned warehouse. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_e230228a | type |
House Music | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_e230228a | comment |
"Lazy" has lyrics about how darn lazy the narrator is. The music sounds the opposite of lazy: a fast electronic beat, frantic strings, and driving electric guitar. This is even more apparent on the version recorded with X-Press 2, which is outright House Music. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_e3b2b2 | type |
Japandering | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_e3b2b2 | comment |
Japandering: Around the time Talking Heads were promoting Speaking in Tongues, Byrne appeared in a Japanese whiskey commercial that simply consisted of him (and only him; none of his bandmates were present) doing a pigeon dance and gawking at a whiskey can to the tune of "Girlfriend is Better". It's about as "David Byrne" as a commercial starring David Byrne could get. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_e91cc721 | type |
In the Style of | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_e91cc721 | comment |
In the Style of: "The Rose of Tacloban" is, in Byrne's own words, a "quasi-Disney song [about] a young girl about to make her way in the world". | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_e9859d0 | type |
Kabuki Sounds | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_e9859d0 | comment |
Kabuki Sounds: Byrne initially wanted to score all of the Knee Plays with traditional kabuki music—but he changed his mind and went with brass band music instead. Still, the 2007 CD reissue of The Knee Plays includes five selections from the original kabuki score as bonus tracks. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_eb6912 | type |
Pretty Fly for a White Guy | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_eb6912 | comment |
Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Byrne was accused of this during the height of Talking Heads' popularity with his funk and World Music influences. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_ec40626 | type |
Love Martyr | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_ec40626 | comment |
Love Martyr: The narrator of "Miss America" is fully aware that America was using him and doesn't feel anything for him, but he still loves her all the same. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_ee519430 | type |
Hollywood Exorcism | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_ee519430 | comment |
Hollywood Exorcism: "The Jezebel Spirit" includes an audio excerpt of a real priest performing a real exorcism, from 1980. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_f3cf057b | type |
Fading into the Next Song | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_f3cf057b | comment |
Fading into the Next Song: The Remix Collection from Here Lies Love is dancefloor megamix, with no breaks between any of the songs. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_f8cbda13 | type |
Textless Album Cover | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_f8cbda13 | comment |
Textless Album Cover: The remastered version of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, and Here Lies Love. Grown Backwards meanwhile puts the title on a removable shrinkwrap sticker, with the main printwork being textless on both the front slipcase and the front of the liner notes. | |
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| David Byrne (Music) / int_fa74c41c | type |
Distant Duet | |
| David Byrne (Music) / int_fa74c41c | comment |
Distant Duet: Both the duets in Here Lies Love: "Seven Years" has Benigno Aquino (first in prison, then in exile to the US) and Imelda Marcos (in the capitol in Manila) singing to each other. "Why Don't You Love Me?": "This song is sung in an imaginary duet between Imelda and Estrella, who have no contact with one another at this point." | |
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