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I still feel like if I can get a song to work with, say, a basic beat, a rhythm, some chord changes, and a melody, a vocal melody - if it works with that, then I feel it's written and there's something there.

David Byrne

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David Byrne
Age: 119
Born: 1905
Born: May 6
Actor
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It's like 60 Minutes on acid.
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I knew I wanted to have a doll of myself on the cover. I thought, I wanna see myself as a Ken doll.
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I read the NY Times but I don't trust all of it
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Real sadness is such an all-encompassing intense thing that it takes you out of your humdrum existence. If you can still function, you want to show it while it's peaking. So when people tell you to cheer up, it's not always the best thing.
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Frank Lloyd Wright... his things were beautiful but not very functional.
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To shake your rump is to be environmentally aware.
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A lot of cities are making a real effort, neighborhood by neighborhood, to make themselves into a place where life can be pretty good.
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From what I've heard, Paris did a little bit more prep work as far as making bike lanes and all of that stuff. They really did it properly, which New York is getting to little by little.
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People use irony as a defense mechanism.
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My take is that the kind of complexity which says we can always generate complexity from simple interactions following for example rules.
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The imminent demise of the large record companies as gatekeepers of the world's popular music is a good thing, for the most part.
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I really enjoy forgetting. When I first come to a place, I notice all the little details. I notice the way the sky looks. The color of white paper. The way people walk. Doorknobs. Everything. Then I get used to the place and I don't notice those things anymore. So only by forgetting can I see the place again as it really is.
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It's not music you would use to get a girl into bed. If anything, you're going to frighten her off.
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I think sometimes - not always - I write songs that are accessible.
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Crime is a job. Sex is a job. Growing up is a job. School is a job. Going to parties is a job. Religion is a job. Being creative is a job
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I'm really curious how the private listening - iPods, people listening on their phones - how that might eventual effect music. There'll be a whole genre of music that really works on a kind of one to one headphone or earbud level but doesn't really work when you play it in a room.
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Most of our lives aren't that exciting, but the drama is still going on in the small details.
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Music is relegated to an underground, relatively obscure group of listeners. It's partly because of the nature of the medium. With a piece of visual art, you can look at something ugly, brutal and in your face, but it's kind of - there it is. It doesn't take you over in the same way that putting on the music at a certain volume does.
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You may say to yourself: Well, how did I get here?
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Cycling can be lonely, but in a good way.
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