Musicians on Musicians: Lorde & David Byrne

October 17, 2021 9:07 AM

From Rolling Stone: On fighting stage fright, staying true to your inspiration, and the mysteries of songwriting " “I’ve thought about you a lot,” [Lorde] tells him as they sit down to talk. “I don’t even know where to start, David. I just have so much to ask you.” Byrne smiles courteously: “Ah, thank you.” And they’re off."
posted by hippybear (15 comments total)

Lorde: I like the grapefruit. Do you have the little spoon with the pointy edge?

Byrne: We’re getting very personal here. I just peel it with my hands. I take the skin off and rip it in half.

Lorde: Wow. That’s crazy, David. I’ve never peeled a grapefruit.

Byrne: Not that hard to do.

Lorde & Byrne, how could this not be good? It's good!
posted by chavenet at 9:56 AM on October 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

goddamnit! I just came to post the bit about peeling the grapefruit. That was the heart of it!

I envy Lorde's parents - they did _good_
posted by From Bklyn at 11:20 AM on October 17, 2021

"Peeling a grapefruit / It's not that hard to do" -- David Byrne, "Fruit"
posted by dfan at 11:49 AM on October 17, 2021 [4 favorites]

This article is so good. David Byrne that sums up my feelings every time I start to write articles on topics I know about. I believe in living an examined life, but sometimes maybe I get too caught up in the details to realize that saying "Oh, I've been here before. Here's a map if you want it!" isn't getting in the way of someone else's Eureka moment. To me, it's reverse imposter syndrome - "I know this, you should know this, but you figuring it out on your own makes you a better person." That sounds pretentious, maybe?
posted by gwydapllew at 12:24 PM on October 17, 2021

Oh, this is delightful.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 1:59 PM on October 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

Wow. David Byrne is 69? What is happening?

Good to see he is still pretty awesome.
posted by Windopaene at 3:03 PM on October 17, 2021

I wish this was longer. Thanks for the post.
posted by SoberHighland at 4:34 PM on October 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

I guess it's never too late to link to David's Typepad blog from 2005.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:43 PM on October 17, 2021

It must be fun to meet your heroes and have them this excited to meet you!
posted by pulposus at 4:54 PM on October 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

This was just delightful and positive all around, thanks!
posted by mollweide at 5:07 PM on October 17, 2021

Lorde: You have taste, but you don’t have skill. So you make things and you know they are not right, but your taste is intact, and that will get you there eventually...

That's some good art-school advice.

Byrne is good at nerding-out ideas about the nature of music, I'd be okay with a longer interview going on about this stuff...
posted by ovvl at 6:14 PM on October 17, 2021

And you may ask yourself,
What is this pointy spoon?
And you may ask yourself,
Why is it serrated?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:05 PM on October 17, 2021 [7 favorites]

Many a day goes by
Peel the grapefruit
Gulp it down
posted by hippybear at 8:09 PM on October 17, 2021 [5 favorites]

That's some good art-school advice.

She's referencing a longer (and fairly well-known) quote from Ira Glass:

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

It's hard to imagine it applying to someone who was making songs like Royals so young, but even Lorde's aspirations may have exceeded her considerable grasp. It really is a great quote for anyone just getting into any kind of artistic pursuit.

Anyways this was a very sweet interview. If you have the time, I recommend the video over just reading the summary, not only is there a fair bit of stuff that doesn't make the summary but there's a lot of really sweet mutual-adoration and really engaged listening that doesn't really translate into writing. And I'm glad to see David Byrne doing so well.
posted by mstokes650 at 8:13 PM on October 17, 2021 [7 favorites]

I met David Byrne at a small gig by a Cape Verdean artist at The Knitting Factory. I told him that I liked the woman who was singing and that I liked his music. He just walked away. Maybe he was more introverted then.
posted by DJZouke at 5:19 AM on October 18, 2021