David Byrne was born in Dumbarton, Scotland. Two years later, his parents moved to Hamilton, Ontario, and then to Arbutus, Maryland. Before high school, David Byrne already knew how to play the guitar, accordion, and violin. He was rejected from his middle school's choir because they claimed he was "off-key and too withdrawn." From a young age, he had a strong interest in music. His parents say that he would constantly play his phonograph from age three and he learned how to play the harmonica at age five. In his journals he says, "I was a peculiar young man â borderline Asperger's, I would guess." As revealed by Tina Weymouth in the commentary for the concert film Stop Making Sense, Byrne is left handed but plays guitar right handed.
He graduated from Lansdowne High School in southwest Baltimore County. Byrne started his musical career in a high school duo named Bizadi with Mark Kehoe. Their repertoire consisted mostly of songs such as "April Showers," "96 Tears," "Dancing On The Ceiling," and Frank Sinatra songs. Byrne then attended the Rhode Island School of Design (during the 1970â71 term) and the Maryland Institute College of Art (during the 1971â72 term) before dropping out and forming a band called "The Artistics" with fellow RISD student Chris Frantz. The band dissolved within a year, and the two moved to New York together with Frantz's girlfriend Tina Weymouth. Unable to find a bass player in New York, Frantz and Byrne persuaded Weymouth to learn to play the bass guitar.
After some practice and playing together they founded the group Talking Heads which had its first gig in 1975. Multi-instrumentalist Jerry Harrison joined the group in 1977. The band released 8 studio albums before going into hiatus in 1988. David Byrne desired to go solo, but it took 3 years to announce that the band was breaking up in 1991. A brief reunion for a single "Sax and Violins" in 1991 occurred before again dissolving. The band was inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, when they reunited to play 4 tracks.
During his time in the Talking Heads, Byrne took on outside projects, collaborating with Brian Eno during 1979 and 1981 on the album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, which attracted considerable critical acclaim due to its early use of analogue sampling and found sounds. Following this record, Byrne focused his attention on Talking Heads. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was re-released for its 25th anniversary in early 2006, with new bonus tracks. In keeping with the spirit of the original album, two of the songs' component tracks were released under Creative Commons licenses and a remix contest site was launched.
Rei Momo (1989) was the first solo album by Byrne, after leaving Talking Heads, that features mainly Afro-Cuban, Afro-Hispanic, and Brazilian song styles including popular dances including merengue, Cuban Son, samba, mambo, cumbia, cha-cha-chĂĄ, bomba, and charanga. His third solo album Uh-Oh (1992) followed that featured a brass-section and was driven by catchy tracks such as "Girls on My Mind" and "The Cowboy Mambo (Hey Lookit Me Now)". His fourth solo album, titled davidenryb (1994), was a more proper rock record, with Byrne playing most of the instruments on it, leaving percussion for session musicians. "Angels" and "Back in the Box" were the two main singles released from the album. The first one entered the US Modern Rock Tracks chart, reaching #24. For his fifth studio effort the emotional Feelings (1997), Byrne employed a brass orchestra called Black Cat Orchestra. His sixth Look into the Eyeball (2001) continued the same musical exploration of Feelings, but was compiled of more upbeat tracks, like those found on Uh-Oh.
Grown Backwards (2004), released by Nonesuch Records, used orchestral string arrangements, and includes two operatic arias as well as a rework of X-Press 2 collaboration "Lazy". He also launched a North American and Australian tour with the Tosca Strings. This tour ended with Los Angeles, San Diego and New York shows in August 2005.
Byrne and Eno reunited for his eighth album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (2008).
He assembled a band to tour worldwide for the album for a six-month period from late 2008 through early 2009 on the Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour.
In September 2012, Byrne and St. Vincent released a collaborative album, Love This Giant.
In 1981, Byrne partnered with choreographer Twyla Tharp, scoring music he wrote that appeared on his album, The Catherine Wheel for a ballet with the same name, prominently featuring unusual rhythms and lyrics. Productions of The Catherine Wheel appeared on Broadway that same year. In Spite of Wishing and Wanting is a soundscape David Byrne produced for the Belgian choreographer Wim Vandekeybus's dance company Ultima Vez.
In 1991, Byrne released a classical instrumental album The Forest, where some of the tracks were already featured as a score for 1988 Robert Wilson theatre piece of the same name.
His work has been extensively used in movie soundtracks, most notably in collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su on Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Score. In 2004, Lead Us Not Into Temptation (music from the film "Young Adam") included tracks and musical experiments from his score to Young Adam. Byrne also wrote, directed, and starred in True Stories, a musical collage of discordant Americana released in 1986, as well as producing most of the film's music. Byrne also directed the documentary Ăle Aiye and the concert film of his 1992 Latin-tinged tour titled Between the Teeth. He was chiefly responsible for the stage design and choreography of Stop Making Sense in 1984. Byrne added "Loco de Amor" (Crazy for Love) with Celia Cruz to Jonathan Demme's 1986 film Something Wild.
Byrne wrote the Dirty Dozen Brass Band-inspired score for Robert Wilson's Opera The Knee Plays from The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down. Some of the music from Byrne's orchestral album The Forest was originally used in a Wilson-directed theatre piece with the same name. The Forest premiered at the Theater der Freien VolksbĂŒhne, Berlin in 1988. It received its New York premiere in December 1988 at BAM, the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The Forestry Maxi-single contained dance and industrial remixes of pieces from The Forest by Jack Dangers, Rudy Tambala, and Anthony Capel.
In late 2005 Byrne and Fatboy Slim began work on Here Lies Love, a disco opera or song cycle about the life of Imelda Marcos, the controversial former First Lady of the Philippines. Some music from this piece was debuted at Adelaide Festival of Arts in Australia in February 2006 and the following year at Carnegie Hall on February 3, 2007.
In 2008 Byrne released Big Love: Hymnal â his soundtrack to season two of Big Love. These two albums constituted the first releases on his personal independent record label Todo Mundo.
Byrne and Brian Eno provided the soundtrack for the film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
Byrne has contributed songs to five AIDS benefit compilation albums produced by the Red Hot Organization: Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter, Red Hot + Rio, Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin, Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon, and Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip. Byrne appeared as a guest vocalist/guitarist for 10,000 Maniacs during their MTV Unplugged concert, though the songs in which he is featured were cut from their following album. One of them, "Let the Mystery Be", appeared as the fourth track on 10,000 Maniacs' CD single "Few and Far Between". Byrne worked with the "Queen of Tex-Mex", Tejano superstar Selena, writing, producing and singing a song ("God's Child (Baila Conmigo)"), included on Selena's last album, "Dreaming of You", before her death. Byrne was the host of Sessions at West 54th during its second of three seasons and collaborated with members of Devo and Morcheeba to record the album Feelings in 1997.
In 2001 a version of Byrne's single "Like Humans Do", edited to remove its drug reference, was selected by Microsoft as the sample music for Windows XP to demonstrate Windows Media Player (not included in SP2 installs).
In 2002, he co-wrote and provided vocals for a track, "Lazy" by X-Press 2, which reached number 2 in the United Kingdom and number 1 on the U.S. Dance Charts. Byrne said in an interview in BBC Four Sessions's coverage of his Union Chapel performance that "Lazy" was number 1 in Syria. The track later featured with orchestral arrangements on his Grown Backwards (2004) album.
In 2006, his singing was featured on "The Heart's a Lonely Hunter" on The Cosmic Game by Thievery Corporation.
He is featured on the tracks "Money" and "The People Tree", on N.A.S.A.'s 2009 album The Spirit of Apollo. Also in 2009, David Byrne appeared on HIV/AIDS charity album Dark Was the Night for Red Hot Organization. He collaborated with Dirty Projectors on the song "Knotty Pine". In the same year, Byrne performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. He also was a signator of a letter protesting the decision of the Toronto International Film Festival to choose Tel Aviv as the subject of its inaugural City-to-City Spotlight strand.
In 2007, David Byrne provided a cover of The Fiery Furnaces' song "Ex-Guru" for a compilation to celebrate the 15th birthday of Thrill Jockey, a Chicago-based label.
In 2008, Byrne and his production team turned the Battery Maritime Building, a 99-year-old ferry terminal in Manhattan, into a playable musical instrument. The structure was connected electronically to a pipe organ and made playable for a piece called "Playing the Building". This project was previously installed in Stockholm, Sweden in 2005, and later at the London Roundhouse in 2009. It bears similarities to a series of installations created by New Zealand and Detroit based artists Alastair Galbraith and Matt De Genaro, which were recorded on their 1998 record Wire Music and on the 2006 follow-up Long Wires in Dark Museums, Vol. 2. Byrne says that the point of the project was to allow people to experience art first hand, by creating music with the organ, rather than simply looking at it.
In April 2008, Byrne took part in the Paul Simon retrospective concert series at BAM performing "You Can Call Me Al" and "I Know What I Know" from Simon's Graceland album.
In 2008 Byrne collaborated with The Brighton Port Authority, composing the music and singing the lyrics for "Toe Jam".
In May 2011, Byrne contributed backing vocals to the Arcade Fire track "Speaking in Tongues" which appeared on the deluxe edition of their 2010 album The Suburbs.
In March 2013 he will debut a fully staged production of his 2010 concept album Here Lies Love at New York's Public Theater directed by Tony Award Nominee Alex Timbers following it's premiere at MoCA earlier in the year.
Byrne founded the world music record label Luaka Bop in 1990. It was originally created to release Latin American compilations, but it has grown to include music from Cuba, Africa, the Far East and beyond, releasing the work of artists such as Cornershop, Os Mutantes, Los De Abajo, Jim White, Zap Mama, Tom ZĂ©, Los Amigos Invisibles and King Chango.
In 2005, Byrne initiated his own internet radio station, Radio David Byrne. Each month, Byrne posts a playlist of music he likes, linked by themes or genres. Byrne's playlists have included African popular music, country music classics, Vox Humana, classical opera, and film scores from Italian movies.
In 2006, Byrne released Arboretum, a sketchbook facsimile of his Tree Drawings, published by McSweeney's. Byrne is also a visual artist whose work has been shown in contemporary art galleries and museums around the world since the 1990s. Represented by the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York, he has also created public art installations, many of them anonymously. In 2010 his original art work was in the exhibition The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.
While working on the film True Stories, Byrne met costume designer Adelle Lutz whom he married in 1987. They have a daughter, Malu Abeni Valentine Byrne, born in 1989. Byrne and Lutz divorced in 2004. Byrne had a relationship with the artist Cindy Sherman from 2007 to 2011.
Although a resident of the United States since childhood, Byrne is a British citizen,[26] and only recently[clarification needed] applied for U.S. citizenship. He lives in New York City.
Cycling [edit]
Byrne is known for his activism in support of increased cycling, and for having used a bike as his main means of transport for most of his life, especially cycling around New York. He has a regular cycling column in the New York Times, and does not own a car.
He says that he cycled when he was in high school and returned to it as an adult in the late 1970s. He likes the freedom and exhilarating feeling cycling gives him. He has written widely on cycling, including a 2009 book, Bicycle Diaries. In August 2009, he auctioned his Montague folding bike in order to raise money for the London Cycling Campaign.
In 2008, Byrne designed a series of bicycle parking racks in the form of image outlines corresponding to the areas in which they were located, such as a dollar sign for Wall Street and an electric guitar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Byrne worked with a manufacturer that would construct the racks in exchange for the chance to sell them later as artworks, and the racks remained on the streets for about a year.
His most recent release, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, is also his first collaboration with Brian Eno in 30 years. You can stream the full album or download an MP3 at EverythingThatHappens.com.
David maintains a frequently updated journal/blog. A detailed official bio and discography are available on his website.
His song "Like Humans Do" was featured in many installations of Microsoft Windows XP.
Flowers
David Byrne Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That dresser full of clothes I bought, it just takes up space
That jewelry on the vanity, lays around in vain
When I look around at all I see, the girl had everything
But she only wanted flowers
It's the little things that mattered
All the pretty things that money brings
Yeah I gave her what I thought she needed
But I missed the forest for the trees and now
I'm sitting here without her
Why couldn't I see
She only wanted flowers
The last thing we did together was tear each other apart
Splitting everything down the middle
From the end back to the start
She looked down at that diamond ring and broke down in the hall
When her tears fell on that marble she said Baby, keep it all
Cause she only wanted flowers
It's the little things that mattered
All the pretty things that money brings
Didn't mean a thing to her
Yeah I gave her what I thought she needed
But I missed the forest for the trees and now
I'm sitting here without her
Why couldn't I see
She only wanted flowers
She only wanted flowers
It's the little things that mattered
All the pretty thing that money brings
Didn't mean a thing to her
I gave her what I though she needed
But I missed the forest for the trees and now
I'm sitting here without her
Why couldn't I see
Why couldn't I see
She only wanted flowers
The lyrics of David Byrne's song Flowers reflect the emotions of a man who has lost his lover because he failed to understand what she truly wanted. The lyrics depict the man's struggle to come to terms with the fact that despite showering her with all the luxurious things and gifts that money could buy, he failed to give her what she actually needed. The opening lyrics talk about the Cadillac in the driveway that hadn't moved for 18 days, the dresser full of clothes that took up all the space, and the jewelry on the vanity that lay around in vain. It was then that he realized that in his bid to provide for his lover, he forgot the simplest things that held more meaning â flowers.
Byrne then focuses on how the materialistic things in life can often lead to blind spots when it comes to recognizing what someone truly wants. The last verse describes how the lovers split everything down the middle, and when the woman looked down at the diamond ring, she broke down in the hall, and tears fell on the marble floor. She then told him to keep everything because she only wanted flowers.
Overall, the song is a poignant reflection of how sometimes people take the most basic things in life for granted and forget that love cannot be purchased with materialistic goods.
Line by Line Meaning
That Cadillac in the driveway, hadn't moved in 18 days
The luxurious car parked in front of the house wasn't being used for almost three weeks.
That dresser full of clothes I bought, it just takes up space
The singer had purchased a dresser filled with clothes that was now just occupying a lot of space.
That jewelry on the vanity, lays around in vain
The valuable pieces of jewellery placed on the table were of no use and were just lying around there.
When I look around at all I see, the girl had everything
On looking around the house, the singer realized that his partner had everything she could want.
But she only wanted flowers
The woman didn't desire any of the materialistic possessions that the man gave her, but only craved pleasant, thoughtful gestures such as receiving flowers.
It's the little things that mattered
The small, insignificant things in the relationship were what held the most importance to the woman.
All the pretty things that money brings
Items that were purchased using wealth didn't hold any value to the woman.
Didn't mean a thing to her
All the materialistic gifts given to her by the man had no meaning to the woman.
Yeah I gave her what I thought she needed
The man provided his partner with what he believed she required and desired.
But I missed the forest for the trees and now
The man didn't realize the bigger picture and was too focused on just the small aspects of their relationship.
I'm sitting here without her
The man is now alone after his partner has walked away from him.
Why couldn't I see
The man is regretful and wishes he had seen what his partner truly desired.
The last thing we did together was tear each other apart
Their relationship ended with them arguing and with negative emotions that damaged their bond.
Splitting everything down the middle
They tried their best to distribute their belongings equally as they split up.
From the end back to the start
From the very end of their relationship to the beginning, they attempted to divide everything in half.
She looked down at that diamond ring and broke down in the hall
Looking at the diamond ring, the woman broke down and began to cry in the hallway.
When her tears fell on that marble she said Baby, keep it all
As she wept, she told the man to keep everything as she no longer wanted their possessions.
Cause she only wanted flowers
The woman only wanted small, romantic gestures rather than any materialistic gifts.
It's the little things that mattered
The tiny moments in their relationship were the significant aspects that held the most value for her.
I gave her what I thought she needed
The man provided his partner with what he perceived as necessary and ideal for her.
Why couldn't I see
The man is now questioning himself about why he couldn't see what his partner desired.
She only wanted flowers
The woman desired romantic, thoughtful gestures rather than any materialistic objects or possessions.
Lyrics © ANTHEM ENTERTAINMENT LP, OLE MEDIA MANAGEMENT LP
Written by: Adam Wayne Fears, David Byrnes, Jason Allen Brunswick
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jeffbaumann3289
Here we stand
Like an Adam and an Eve
Waterfalls
The Garden of Eden
Two fools in love
So beautiful and strong
The birds in the trees
Are smiling upon them
From the age of the dinosaurs
Cars have run on gasoline
Where, where have they gone?
Now, it's nothing but flowers
There was a factory
Now there are mountains and rivers
You got it, you got it
We caught a rattlesnake
Now we got something for dinner
We got it, we got it
There was a shopping mall
Now it's all covered with flowers
You've got it, you've got it
If this is paradise
I wish I had a lawnmower
You've got it, you've got it
Years ago
I was an angry young man
And I'd pretend
That I was a billboard
Standing tall
By the side of the road
I fell in love
With a beautiful highway
This used to be real estate
Now it's only fields and trees
Where, where is the town
Now, it's nothing but flowers
The highways and cars
Were sacrificed for agriculture
I thought that we'd start over
But I guess I was wrong
Once there were parking lots
Now it's a peaceful oasis
You've got it, you've got it
This was a Pizza Hut
Now it's all covered with daisies
You got it, you got it
I miss the honky tonks,
Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens
You got it, you got it
And as things fell apart
Nobody paid much attention
You got it, you got it
I dream of cherry pies,
Candy bars, and chocolate chip cookies
You got it, you got it
We used to microwave
Now we just eat nuts and berries
You got it, you got it
This was a discount store,
Now it's turned into a cornfield
You've got it, you've got it
Don't leave me stranded here
I can't get used to this lifestyle
Songwriters:. David Byrne/Chris Frantz/Jerry Harrison/Tina Weymouth
Musicians/Singers:
David Byrne
Chris Frantz
Jerry Harrison
Tina Weymouth
Johnny Marr
Kirsty MacColl
Brice Wassy
Yves N'Djock
Abdou M'Boup
Released: 1988
@QuintTheSharker
âAnd as things fell apart, nobody paid much attention.â
Epitaph of the 21st century.
@MGSVxBreakpoint
And also an opening quote in Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho. Why I'm here.
@QuintTheSharker
@@MGSVxBreakpoint that too. I found that book super disturbing, but really interesting.
@gingerblue
I was JUST telling someone the same thing the other day.
@ronaldgarrison8478
I don't know WTF that's supposed to mean. From where I sit, everyone is obsessed about something, everyone is butt-hurt about something, everyone has an opinionâwhether they know about the subject or not. Indifference doesn't seem like a real problem.
@cynthiafielder8746
Amen đ
@richardrickford3028
"If this is paradise I wish I had a lawnmower" - you don't get more David Byrne than that.
@alexrinaldi3257
I always felt that part is a jab at Joni Mitchells song Big Yellow Taxi when she says "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot" as the whole songs a very practical rebuttle of idealist enviormentalism.
@hunterwhitner6998
@@alexrinaldi3257 On the money
@kathleankeesler1639
Great contribution- needless to say, year later. Chicago Illinois granny.