Did David Byrne just immortalise Elon Musk?
David Byrne has written a song using nothing but Elon Musk’s own words, which is a pretty David Byrne way to approach an Elon Musk documentary.
The former Talking Heads frontman wrote and performed ‘Let Me Sell You a Dream’, the closing track for Musk, the upcoming 235-minute documentary from Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney.
And yes, the lyrics are entirely made up of things Musk has actually said.
Byrne pulled lines from Musk’s public statements, tweets and interviews, then shaped them into a song with film composer Daniel Pemberton, best known for his work on films including Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Steve Jobs.
“I asked for good quotes from the Martian and found more of them online,” Byrne explained. “I’m sure he loves dropping these wild statements, and those became the lyrics.”
So just Musk, in his own words, set to music.
Gibney described the result as “foot-tapping sardonic poetry”, which feels about right.
There’s something particularly funny about taking the often enormous, occasionally baffling things Musk has said over the years and giving them the David Byrne treatment.
The song closes Musk, which takes an unvarnished look at the billionaire’s rise, wealth and influence.
Musk has already dismissed the documentary as a “hit piece”, despite the film not even being out yet.
It arrives in cinemas on October 16 through Bleecker Street, and because it’s receiving a theatrical release, ‘Let Me Sell You a Dream’ is officially being submitted for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards.
Which creates a genuinely bizarre little Oscars footnote: if Byrne wins another Oscar for the song, the Academy may have to acknowledge Elon Musk as its lyricist.
Technically, anyway. Can’t wait to see how that rolls out.
