David Byrne
It's a fundamental, social attitude that the 1% supports symphonies and operas and doesn't support Johnny learning to program hip-hop beats. When I put it like that, it sounds like, 'Well, yeah,' but you start to think, 'Why not, though?' What makes one more valuable than another?Collection: Attitude
Real beauty knocks you a little bit off kilter.Collection: Beauty
My favorite time of day is to get up and eat leftovers from dinner, especially spicy food.Collection: Food
To some extent I happily don't know what I'm doing. I feel that it's an artist's responsibility to trust that.Collection: Trust
Sometimes it's a form of love just to talk to somebody that you have nothing in common with and still be fascinated by their presence.Collection: Love
Punk was defined by an attitude rather than a musical style.Collection: Attitude
Artists are notoriously snooty and suspicious of anything coming from the business community.Collection: Business
I never listen to the radio unless I rent a car.Collection: Car
The true face of smoking is disease, death and horror - not the glamour and sophistication the pushers in the tobacco industry try to portray.Collection: Death
It's not always been a happy marriage. I guess I wanted a quick fix.Collection: Marriage
There's a certain amount of freedom involved in cycling: you're self-propelled and decide exactly where to go. If you see something that catches your eye to the left, you can veer off there, which isn't so easy in a car, and you can't cover as much ground walking.Collection: Car
I read the NY Times but I don't trust all of it.Collection: Trust
You can know or not know how a car runs and still enjoy riding in a car.Collection: Car
Technology has allowed people to make records really cheap. You can make a record on a laptop.Collection: Technology
Everything's intentional. It's just filling in the dots.
PowerPoint may not be of any use for you in a presentation, but it may liberate you in another way, an artistic way. Who knows.
Cycling can be lonely, but in a good way. It gives you a moment to breathe and think, and get away from what you're working on.
Some artists and indie musicians see Spotify fairly positively - as a way of getting noticed, of getting your music out there where folks can hear it risk-free.
People use irony as a defense mechanism.
Some folks believe that hardship breeds artistic creativity. I don't buy it. One can put up with poverty for a while when one is young, but it will inevitably wear a person down.
The arts don't exist in isolation.
Deep down, I know I have this intuition or instinct that a lot of creative people have, that their demons are also what make them create.
I always think the everyday is more relevant than anything too grand because we all have to deal with it.
I am an immigrant with a Green Card and, therefore, I am not eligible to vote in a federal election.
I resent the implication that I'm less of a musician and a worse person for not appreciating certain works.
I try never to wear my own clothes, I pretend I'm someone else.
To shake your rump is to be environmentally aware.
The physical sensation of gliding with the wind in your face is exhilarating. That automatic activity of pedalling, when you have to be awake but not think too much, allows you to let subconscious thoughts bubble up, and things seem to just sort themselves out. And the adrenaline wakes you up if you weren't properly alert.
The voting booth joint is a great leveler; the whole neighborhood - rich, poor, old, young, decrepit and spunky - they all turn out in one day.
One knew in advance that life in New York would not be easy, but there were cheap rents in cold-water lofts without heat, and the excitement of being here made up for those hardships. I didn't move to New York to make a fortune.
I ride my bike almost every day here in New York. It's getting safer to do so, but I do have to be fairly alert when riding on the streets as opposed to riding on the Hudson River bike path or similar protected lanes.
It didn't even occur to me that I'm the last person in the world who should play salsa or Brazilian music.
We don't make music - it makes us.
Having unlimited choices can paralyze you creatively.
I'm proud of 'Stop Making Sense,' but it's a little bit of an albatross; I can't compete with it, but I can't ignore it either.
You create a community with music, not just at concerts but by talking about it with your friends.
The assumption is that your personal life has to be a mess to create, but how much chaos can you allow in before it takes over?
I find rebellion packaged by a major corporation a little hard to take seriously.
I found music to be the therapy of choice. I guess it is for a lot of people.
That's the one for my tombstone... Here lies David Byrne. Why the big suit?
I'd like to be known for more than being the guy in the big suit.
I've been in beautiful landscapes where one is tempted to whip out a camera and take a picture. I've learned to resist that.
I've made money, and I've been ripped off. I've had creative freedom, and I've been pressured to make hits. I have dealt with diva behavior from crazy musicians, and I have seen genius records by wonderful artists get completely ignored. I love music. I always will.
All you needed was a couple of instruments and a few chords and you could be on an indie label.
Analysis is like a lobotomy. Who wants to have all their edges shaved off?
Frank Lloyd Wright... his things were beautiful but not very functional.
I couldn't take pictures of green rolling hills.
I couldn't talk to people face to face, so I got on stage and started screaming and squealing and twitching.
I didn't have any agenda or plan when I started writing stuff.
I knew I wanted to have a doll of myself on the cover. I thought, I wanna see myself as a Ken doll.