The mark of a truly distinctive songwriter is whether or not they can be easily replicated. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hits all the same marks that David Byrne does. See evidence of Byrne’s distinctive songwriting, below.
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1. And she was drifting through the backyard / And she was taking off her dress / And she was moving very slowly, rising up above the earth / Moving into the universe, and she’s drifting this way and that / Not touching the ground at all, and she’s up above the yard (“And She Was”)
In “And She Was,” Byrne tells the story of a girl he once knew, who often took acid and found herself high above her surroundings. Byrne compares her influenced state to flying. The lines above are one of the most poetic ways anyone has ever described a drug trip.
2. Home is where I want to be, but I guess I’m already there / I come home, she lifted up her wings / I guess that this must be the place / I can’t tell one from the other: Did I find you or you find me? / There was a time before we were born / If someone asks, this is where I’ll be (“This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)”)
Only Byrne could write a love song as warbled and weird as this one. If you comb through the lyrics above, you’ll find moments of affection. He makes references to angel wings and asks the heady question many couples in love ask themselves: Did I find you or you find me?
3. You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack / And you may find yourself in another part of the world / And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile / You may find yourself in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife / You may ask yourself, Well, how did I get here? (“Once in a Lifetime”)
Byrne attempts to wake the listener up in “Once in a Lifetime.” In the lines above, he makes nods to the fact that many of us are on autopilot. You may ask yourself, Well, how did I get here, he sings–not as a passing remark, but as a recommendation. He urges the listener to ask themselves why they arrived at the point that they did. It’s worthy advice.
(Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for BAM)
