David Byrne (Dumbarton, Scotland, May 14, 1952) is a founding member and pr… Read Full Bio ↴David Byrne (Dumbarton, Scotland, May 14, 1952) is a founding member and principal songwriter of the American New Wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography, opera, and non-fiction. He has received Grammy, Oscar, and Golden Globe awards and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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 He was rejected from his middle school's choir because they claimed he was "off-key and too withdrawn."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 — 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 1970–71 term) and the Maryland Institute College of Art (during the 1971–72 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-chá, 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 Île 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 Volksbühne, 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 – 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 Zé, 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.
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 — 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 1970–71 term) and the Maryland Institute College of Art (during the 1971–72 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-chá, 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 Île 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 Volksbühne, 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 – 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 Zé, 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.
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David Byrne Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by David Byrne:
(The Gift of Sound) Where the Sun Never Goes Down Not everyone notices As things drift slowly in and out of…
04 Dirty Old Town Well, there are 16 people in Danny's apartment 16 people are…
06 sad song You may think I look sad But I am just sleeping It's…
07- Great Intoxication Who Disco? Who Techno? Who Hip-Hop? Who Be Bop? Who's been p…
09 Monkey Man Back from the war Covered in red, white & blue So here…
11.- Lie To Me It's a beautiful world and a beautiful dream And you know…
14.- Carnival Eyes Gone away Someone else son's gone What a day For dreaming…
A Long Time Ago And in the land where I grew up Into the bosom…
A Million Miles Away I ain't gonna work here no more I ain't gonna work…
A Self‐Made Man We're living in a dump Trying to figure out what sex…
A Soft Seduction The words of love Are not enough Though sweet as wine As thi…
A Walk in the Dark I'm takin' all your little toys away You don't have any…
Abide With Me Would you fall with me? Tumble into lost horizons It's a lon…
Accident The When you see an accident do not turn your head…
Ain Prime-time in the living rooms And how all the drapes are…
Ain't Got So Far to Go I am young, but I remember It was not so long…
America Is Waiting America is waiting for a message of some sort or…
American Troglodyte I could be a dancer, maybe I could be a judge Used…
Amnesia Peace on Earth Soon we will be Where nothing worries us Laz…
And She Was Hey! And she was lying in the grass And she could hear…
Angels There are no angels left in America anymore They left after…
Astronaut The Western lands Day turns to Night Immaterial play of ligh…
Au fond du temple saint Au fond du temple saint Parée de fleurs et d'or Une femme…
Back in the Box The sun shines on the living The sun shines on the…
Big Blue Plymouth There is nothing that is stronger than the feeling that…
Big Business Think you've had enough- Stop talking, help us get ready Thi…
Broken Things There are broken things In my house Some are twisted S…
Buck Naked Running naked down the state highway Runnin' naked in the mi…
Bullet The bullet went into him His skin did part in two Skin…
Burnt By The Sun Atom smashers in the cocktail lounge tonight Op'ra singers i…
Carnival Eyes Gone away Someone else son's gone What a day For dreaming…
Civilization Somewhere between the darkness and light Faces all glow but …
Come with us Come with us. Learn the truth. We will appear to you From ti…
Crash I met my love at a funeral Tired of goodbyes &…
Daddy Go Down The sun sinks low in the Western Lands (Go Down,…
Dance on Vaseline I'm taking back the knowledge I'm taking back the gentleness…
Desconocido Soy Soy el cambio, soy Siempre he sido así Soy continuidad Estoy…
Dialog Box Picture this Bumping lips Everyone talks Do a dialogue box T…
Dirty Old Town Well, there are 16 people in Danny's apartment 16 people are…
Dirty Old Town Mapeyé Well, there are 16 people in Danny's apartment 16 people ar…
Dog's Mind The judge was all hungover When the president took the stand…
Doing The Right Thing I'm always, I'm always doing the right thing (that's right) …
don SHE DON'T SHE'S SOLID AND STRONG SOFT AND SWEET WHEN SHE FE…
Don't Fence Me In Oh, give me land, lots of land, under starry skies…
Don't Want to be Part of You.. Little Girls go float upstream Some a' them never comin' ba…
Don't Want To Be Part Of Your World Little Girls go float upstream Some a' them never comin' bac…
Don't You Agree With my heart and with my skin From time to time…
Don't You Agree? With my heart and with my skin From time to time…
Dream Police Combing the snakes in his head Reading a book in his…
Dreamworld: Marco De Canaveses Tem Quem não tem Ela tem Diz que tem Mas também Nem precisa …
Eggs In A Briar Patch Lord, I been such a bad boy I been disobedient I made…
Empire In national elections In songs raised on high With stirring …
EVERBODY'S COMING TO MY HOUSE I wish I was a camera I wish I was a…
Every Day Is A Miracle The rose is pruned to a perfect shape Perfect for whom,…
Everybody's Coming To My House I wish I was a camera I wish I was a…
Everyone I introduce you to my friends & that's the last I…
Ex-Guru She means nothing to me now. I tell myself every single…
Finite 350 cities in the world Just 30 teeth inside of heads These…
Flowers That Cadillac in the driveway, hadn't moved in 18 days That…
Fuzzy Freaky Rose is tattooed in the perfect place She bears the burden…
Fuzzy Freaky (DJ Food Mix) Rose is tattooed in a perfect place She bears the burden…
GASOLINE AND DIRTY SHEETS Someone in a dangerous place Someone got lost somewhere Many…
Girl on my mind Seems like that everywhere I go Seems like that everything …
Girls on My Mind Seems like that everywhere I go Seems like that everything I…
Glad I'm glad I've got skin, I'm glad I've got eyes I'm…
Glass Concrete Now I'm wakin' at the crack of dawn To send a little…
God Child Hey Hey Hey Hey Ho Ho Ho Ho (David Byrne) Who calls this…
God's Child Hey Hey Hey Hey Ho Ho Ho Ho (David Byrne) Who calls this…
Good and Evil Caught you walkin' like a gangster Saw you grabbin' the cont…
Great Intoxication Who Disco? Who Techno? Who Hip-Hop? Who Be Bop? Who's been p…
Hanging Upside Down Window shoppin' Finger poppin' Hangin' in our fav'right shop…
Help Me Somebody Talkin' funny and lookin' funny and talkin' 'bout "Nobody l…
Here Here is a region of abundant details Here is a region…
Here Lies Love When I was a young girl in Leyte My dresses were…
His Wife Refused A great big house- with nothing in it He comes home…
home The dimming of the light makes the picture clearer It's just…
How Are You How are you? I’m learning English You’re looking good, it’s …
I Am an Ape In a garden, stands a statue... Of the man who…
I Dance Like This In another dimension Like the clothes that you wear A mighty…
I Don I got no means to show identification I got no papers…
I Don't Remember I got no means to show identification I got no papers…
I Feel My Stuff I think I waited too long I'm moving into the dollhouse Some…
I Know Sometimes A Man is Wr.. I know sometimes I can be wrong I know sometimes I…
I Know Sometimes A Man Is Wrong I know sometimes I can be wrong I know sometimes I…
I Should Watch TV I used to think that I should watch TV I used…
I Wanna Dance With Somebody Clock strikes upon the hour And the sun begins to fade Sti…
I Zimbra Gadji beri bimba clandridi Lauli lonni cadori gadjam A bim…
Ice Age Oh diamond, how we've been? Oh diamond, it's such a shame…
In the Future In the future everyone will have the same haircut and…
Independence Day Now and then I get horny At night you do At night…
It's Not Dark Up Here There's nothing funny about making money well It wouldn't wo…
Jezebel Spirit Do you hear voices? You do, so you are possessed. You are…
Lazy I'm wicked and I'm lazy Oh oh, don't you wanna save…
Lie to Me It's a beautiful world and a beautiful dream And you know…
Life During Wartime Heard of a van that is loaded with weapons, Packed up…
Life Is Long Everybody says that the living is easy I can barely see…
Light Bath -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Typed in by Mat…
Like Humans For millions of years, in millions of homes A man…
Like Humans Do For millions of years, in millions of homes A man…
Lilies of the Valley Momma she had complications There's nothing very strange 'bo…
Loco De Amor There's an island in a bay (Loco de amor) She's got most…
Long Time Ago And in the land where I grew up Into the bosom…
Make Believe Mambo It was a pretty picture It almost made me cry He's got…
Marching Through the Wildern.. Yeah, we are the noise The noise between stations Yeah itsa …
Maria Lando La madrugada estalla como una estátua Como estátua de alas q…
Mea Culpa What're you saying? He said "I'm sorry, I Committed a sin,…
Men Will Do Anything You play around with that woman Didn't you know I cared? W…
Miss America I love America Her secret's safe with me I know her wicked…
Moment Of Conception At the moment of conception I could see someone approaching…
Money Man say the love have money (Come on) So no matter what…
Monkey Man Back from the war Covered in red, white & blue So here…
Moonlight In Glory ... He wasn't responsible for the act. I've been warned... …
My Big Hands Well it ain't my fault My fault that things gone wrong And…
My Big Nurse When the lake's on fire With all the world's desires When he…
My Fair Lady Look, is this the real thing? When you caught my eye How…
My Love Is You Some men desire a princess And others lust for a temptress …
naive melody Home is where I want to be Pick me up and…
Neighborhood Funky beats, Barrow Street Walking with your dog I see y…
Not So Far To Go I am young, but I remember It was not so long…
Nothing At All Lord knows we've become scientific It's nothing special at a…
Now I He is a boy You are a girl And you will always…
Office Cowboy I can see an office cowboy Now how he turns and…
Once In A Lifetime You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack And you…
One Fine Day Saw the wanderin' eye, inside my heart Shouts and battle cri…
Order 1081 A bomb went off this morning raining bodies on TV They…
Pirates A distant car, a quiet night Like starin' at the ceiling M…
Please Don't The world is full of intolerance, Greed, injustice, and domi…
Poison When time is tight. Huh? You can use it. Uh-huh. Gonna…
Pretty Face Will you reach into your pockets? And show us that you…
Red house My Big Hands (Fall Through the Cracks) Well it ain't my…
Revolution Amplifiers and old guitars Country music sung in bars And …
Road To Nowhere Well we know where we're goin' But we don't know where…
Sad Song You may think I look sad But I am just sleeping It's…
She Only Sleeps She might dance all night In a topless bar Fool around, go…
She's Mad Bangin' his head Stab in the back Look her in the eye…
Smile Smile when tears are falling from your eyes Smile like wind…
Social Studies I thought that if I ate the food of the…
Somebody Somebody's gettin' outa bed Somebody's gettin' herself dress…
Something Ain Right Prime-time in the living rooms And how all the drapes are…
Strange Overtones I wake up every morning I hear your feet on the…
Strange Ritual A man sits in a field ? contemplating his crops In…
Sumpin' Ain't Right Prime-time in the living rooms And how all the drapes are…
The Accident When you see an accident do not turn your head…
The Call of the Wild A bird who tries to fly higher Flies into the blue A…
The Civil Wars I got a right to be outa my mind I got…
The Cowboy Mambo I can't find my way around this table I can't find…
The Dream Police Combing the snakes in his head Reading a book in his…
The Gates Of Paradise I am nothing like my sister I am nothing like my…
The Great Intoxication Who Disco? Who Techno? Who Hip-Hop? Who Be Bop? Who's been p…
The Great Western Road A man sticks his fingers inside of his mouth The words…
The Heart The truth is unspoken, a promise is broken I'm under survei…
and many more tracks by David Byrne.
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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rkotm
Tina Weymouth about the vocal recording session:
"David uncharacteristically wore a suit to his vocal session, as well as a
pair of clear glass black horn-rims. He looked so small as he sat at a
large office desk (bureau, in French), with a tiny desk lamp shining
down on some lyric-less blank paper (presumably there some squiggly
lines in a strange shorthand
notation to indicate what and where he would sing). His hands lay palms
down, fingers splayed to either side of the paper, and he never moved
them except during the instrumental section, to reach for a glass of
water that stood in the shadows to one side. The entire vocal was
written improvisationally with those in the control room making
suggestions as to which parts worked and David memorizing them on the
spot. The only lyric that came from that improvisation was the chorus,
in which he sang 'Blahnd, blahnd, blahnd'. His head moved like a muppet and we all watched, fascinated, as if he were a bug on a pin under a microscope. Jonathan Demme, you shoulda been there with your camera!"
21st Century Guerrilla Fishing
this just in!
Signs, signs are lost Signs disappeared Turn invisible Got no sign Somebody got busted Got a face of stone and a Ghostwritten biography Dogs started rushin' in Hungry for some food Dogs started twitching and they're looking at you It was light by five Torn all apart All in the name of democracy He's hurt, he's dying Claimed he was a terrorist Claimed to avert a catastrophe Someone should've told him That the buck stops here No one ever said He was involved with thieves .
They're blind, blind Blind, blind, blind, blind, blind Blind, blind Blind, blind, blind, blind, blind No sense of harmony, no sense of time Don't mention harmony Say "what is it? What is it? What is it?" Give a little shock, and he raises his hand Somebody shouts out, says "What is it? What is it? What is it?"
He was shot down in the night! People ride by but his body's still alive The girl in the window, what has she done? She looks down at me and says "I don't wanna die!"
And I'm blind, blind Blind, blind, blind, blind, blind Blind, blind Blind, blind, blind, blind, blind Somebody could have told us where they go Crawling all around looking for foot, foot, footprints Now tell me what the hell have we become? Some dirty little bastards, what the hell is going on? No sense of harmony, no sense of time Don't mention harmony Say "What is it? What is it? What is it?"
Give a little shock, and he raises his hand Somebody shouts out Says "What is it? What is it? What is it?" He was shot down in the night People ride by but his body's still alive Girl in the window what has she done? She looks down at me and says "I don't want to die!"
An' it's blind and they're blind Blind, blind, blind, blind, blind Blind, blind Blind, blind, blind, blind, blind Blind, blind Blind, blind, blind, blind, blind And I'm blind, blind Blind, blind, blind, blind, blind
a2406
An underrated gem. One of my Talking Heads favorites.
brian ladder
for real tho!
Penguin Uprighter
For sure..but hard to choose
Sofa King Great Gaming
I grew up on Talking Heads through my grandfather. Love them to death. Thank you David for all the amazing music you have written over the years.
holly mccormick
Never had the opportunity to see them play live but my late husband he had Alzheimer's, and he watched Stop Making Sense so many times and now he is gone and I am addicted to it. Thank you David for your unique personality and creative genius, I never get tired of hearing any thing by you. Love the video you did called:
David Byrne This Must Be The Place Live Jools Holland 2004
The band you played with were all so good but i loved the guy playing the violin ,he was always smiling and swaying to the music he had long blond hair. Love to see musicians enjoying what they are doing;). The talking heads always looked like they were all having fun, I'm sure its a lot of work touring.Is there a name for the group you sang with or just a group you pulled together probably oh well;) Much luck and a lot of peace be with you , thank you again.
brian ladder
whats the matter with him....
Bill Price
It's amazing how music has created a sub genre of artistic film. This music video in particular is under appreciated
leokimvideo
Incredible right up to the last video
tereza
Fantástico!!❤
manw3bttcks
This song is so good for sound testing audio systems. The bongos image in particular places around the room. It's also very dynamic.