Miss America - David Byrne

Miss America - David Byrne

4:20

Feelings, 1997

Written by David Byrne and Joe Galdo

Yesterday's entry left such a bad taste in my mouth that I had to try an American-themed song again.  This time, Byrne delivers a song from the point of view of an immigrant.  Over a Latin-tinged beat and steel drums, he presents an America that is both a "super girl" with a reputation and a conqueror and manipulator.  "And I kissed America / When she was fleecing me."  Pointedly slipping into Spanish, he later says, "I've always trusted you / I love America / Why do you treat me so?"  Altogether a much more nuanced and accurate view of America, warts and all.  Byrne's song even has the "I miss America" pun that the Castellows' does.  Whew, that's better.

Strange Overtones - David Byrne & Brian Eno

Strange Overtones - David Byrne & Brian Eno

4:16

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, 2008

Written by David Byrne, Brian Eno, and Leo Abrahams

O listen!

Backed by a mix of instruments and electronica, Byrne croons his typical quotidian yet quirky lyrics in a soft falsetto.  It begins with waking up in the morning and hearing someone in the next apartment and then gets more abstruse.  Is it about isolation?  Hard to say.  Byrne approaches most subjects like an alien dissecting a human to see how it ticks.  "I see the music in your face / That your words cannot explain."  The electronica backing makes the song cold and aloof; I read that this collaboration was done almost entirely through email, and maybe it's missing a human warmth that Byrne famously doesn't have, and which his old band provided.  It's got a nice beat and if its intent is to make us feel removed from humanity, it succeeds.