David Byrne and composer Daniel Pemberton have released a new song for the soundtrack to Musk, the new Elon Musk documentary directed by Alex Gibney. Titled ‘Let Me Sell You a Dream’, it’s a playfully upbeat song with lyrics comprised entirely of Musk quotes. Check out a music video for it below.
“It would be too easy and probably not as much fun to overtly criticize Musk,” Byrne said in a statement. “Better, I thought, to try and get inside his head a little bit, to use phrases he himself has used in interviews and statements, and let the character in the song be the one who describes himself.”
Byrne recorded the track in hotel rooms while on tour. “When I wrote the words and melody to this song I hadn’t seen the film,” he continued. “But I trusted Gibney, I’d loved a bunch of his other movies I’d seen, and am a fan of Pemberton’s work. So when they approached me it sounded like fun.”
“I am a huge fan of David Byrne – having followed him from fronting The Talking Heads at CBGBs to his ‘Who Is the Sky’ Tour,” Gibney commented. “I desperately wanted an uptempo song for the end of the film that would channel the chaotic spirit of Elon. I reached out to David – who happened to be in the UK. To my surprise and delight, he bicycled over to meet with Daniel and they conjured up musical magic.”
Daniel Pemberton added: “David Byrne is one of the great artists and thinkers of our time. A generational observer, commentator and storyteller – to collaborate together on a song so timely, one that reflects the world we are now living in, was incredibly exciting.” He continues, “We find ourselves in a messy, complicated moment in history where the richest and most powerful use unrealistic promises, dreams and deflection to consolidate their wealth and control rather than to work towards a genuine better future for anyone else. I love getting the opportunity to address that through music and also getting to hang out with the artistic icon that is David in the process. We went for a walk, talked about architecture, hung out, had coffee, wrote music. David is a wonderfully inspiring ball of thoughts and energy. I hope the message and spirit of this song connects and resonates. It was a lot of fun to make.”
