David Byrne covering Whitney's I Wanna Dance With Somebody

Thank you, OP, that was quite enjoyable.

I thought it was awful.

A 6 minute song that should have been a 3 minute song.

I'm with r1. I enjoyed it. I wouldn't listen to again, but would have found it entertaining if I had gone to a David Byrne concert and he suddenly launched into it apropos of nothing.

Fun, OP.

Check out this down-tempo cover version by openly gay singer-songwriter, Matt Alber. I love his voice and he makes the most of each lyric.

Meh. It sounded like all his other tepid songs.

He’s attractive, and he really can sing. This song isn’t quite suited to his voice, but he’s a hot shit to try it and pulls it off. I hear his show American Utopia is really good.

Oh, dear God, will he ever stop? "Let's see... What's the kookiest, quirkiest cover I could possibly do? You know, something that would show that just because I'm a critically-acclaimed genius, it doesn't mean I don't have a sense of humor?" Jesus Christ, enough.

David Byrne would have been 65 in that video. He was never classically handsome but he looks great for his age. Beautiful skin.

It’s not a good song.

Nyquil with violins.

I like that he committed to a fun, island pop version.

I'm sick of musicians, usually indie bands, taking a breezy pop song and performing an ironic acoustic version, or a sad dirge

I'm looking at you, Keane, for smirking your way through Hit Me Baby One More Time and Adele for fucking up Fastlove twice.

Yeah that Fast Love was a fiasco

[quote]Oh, dear God, will he ever stop? "Let's see... What's the kookiest, quirkiest cover I could possibly do? You know, something that would show that just because I'm a critically-acclaimed genius, it doesn't mean I don't have a sense of humor?" Jesus Christ, enough.

Give him some credit, r7. David Byrne has come out as autistic. He probably thinks you don't notice.

[quote]It’s not a good song.

No it's a great song and his version is cool. I spent a couple of hours with David and the rest of Talking Heads one night. Sweet, soft spoken and an a lovely evening.

If you get the chance to see David Byrne's American Utopia, do it. I saw the show a couple of weeks ago on Broadway and I was blown away.

I loved it and bought the CD on Ebay. Thanks for posting OP.

It's lowkey one of the greatest pop songs ever written.

My dad lowkey had a man crush on David Byrne.

r8 this is apparently from the 2001 tour.

R18 I'm not surprised. I crushed on him too, although there was nothing low key about it

He is absolutely stunning especially for his age in that vid

Y'all have shit taste in pop music.

"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" received mixed reviews from critics. Vince Aletti of Rolling Stone magazine, in a review of the album Whitney, criticized the song, commenting that "not taking any chances, the songwriters [Merill Griffith and Shannon Rubicam] have simply come up with a clever anagram of their original hit [How Will I Know], and [Narada Michael] Walden has glossed it over in an identically perky style. The strategy is not so different from that behind Hollywood's blockbuster sequels: this is 'How Will I Know II'." Los Angeles Times's pop music critic, Robert Hilburn described the song as "a deliciously raucous tune with a bit of the synthesizer underpinning and giddy zest of Cyndi Lauper's 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun.'"

In his review of Whitney, Jon Pareles of The New York Times gave a negative comment, writing that listening to "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" and "You're Still My Man," another track on the album was like "watching television while someone fiddles with color controls." In 2006, Slant Magazine ranked the song at #88 in their 100 Greatest Dance Songs, commenting that "with its parenthetical title, gummy bassline, schmaltzy horns, tinkling keyboards, and half-step key changes,[the song] is definitive '80s dance-pop."

My sister and I would have to call him into the room when a Talking Heads video was on TV. He'd watch with a silly grin. My mother would grin in response.

R21, the only thing your post does is reaffirm my conviction that "music critics" are completely irrelevant and contribute nothing culturally in the short run or the historical long run. They do not understand popular music and most of them have no instincts for it at all.

Jon Pareles? Please. People are still listening to I Wanna Dance With Somebody in 2019.

The only person listening to Jon Pareles is you.

[quote]Y'all have shit taste in pop music. "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" received mixed reviews from critics.

Why in the world would I give a shit what some stranger thinks about anything? I don't care what critics think about movies, Broadway, music, anything. I make up my own mind about things.

[quote]People are still listening to I Wanna Dance With Somebody in 2019.

Its use in the wedding party scene in 'Succession' juxtaposed with more sinister happenings was epic!

Another Whitney cover:

Listening to "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" brings a lump to my throat. Not because of the song itself, though. It's a catchy, hummable pop song and no one expects it to be some great artistic statement, but listening to it reminds me of the video with a young, fresh-faced Whitney Houston. It rekindles memories of a time when her potential seemed limitless and I felt that she could do anything that she set out to.

Just five years later she had already turned into a jaded, cynical adult who often seemed angry and prickly in her public appearances. Given the way her life turned out eventually the song and it's video remain a poignant reminder of what might have been. I'm not suggesting that she should have stayed a manufactured pop/AC princess, but I do wish that she'd been able to conquer her demons and hold on to at least some of that infectious joy she seemed to have when she sang IWDWS.

^ Five years later she had the biggest hit of her life and went from mere pop star to megastar. If she would have been forgotten if she had stayed the same.

Only male singers cover Whitney decently. Sam Smith:

Chris Cornell

The Talking Heads were the bomb when I was an pretty Art Fag in the early 80s. Tom Tom Club as well of course. Throw in Byrne-produced Mesopotamia by B52s. I've never liked anything Bryne has done since that time. Like Bjork. Quirky artiste gets too much money, control and delusions.

Robin Thicke

What a great video from American Utopia. Is there a full-length bootleg of the show out there? It was disappointing that some of the instruments were seemingly either offstage or tapes -- I didn't see anyone playing the main hook on what I assume is a recorder -- but the staging and choreographer were delightful.

This arrangement with these extra sounds, particularly the strings, “dresses up” and dignifies the song. Byrne is a gifted fellow, handsome and quirky. I think he’s slightly autistic and that profile added a lot of distinction to his music and performances. He was so offbeat and uncool that he became cool by default. Rhode Island, meaning RISD, was a hotbed of creativity in the late 70’s and early 80’s, yielding The Talking Heads, TomTom Club, Stephen Sprouse. I was a kid then, and pretty fascinated by them all. Byrne was an early crush that never went away. Back in school, everyone loved him, boys the girls and the boys.

R34 d’oh, that’s meant to spell “both the girls and the boys”.

[quote]What a great video from American Utopia.

Such simple basic choreography but is it's really really cool to watch.

What makes the choreography so effective is that it seems casual and tossed off, yet, because it is done in unison, it is clearly neither. He dated Toni Braxton for a very long time, and she choreographed many of the Talking Heads shows and videos, including the iconic Once in a Lifetime. I wonder who choreographed American Utopia.

Toni Braxton! An unusual match.

I would bounce around to that at a wedding party, or a reunion.

You can see how much the audience enjoys him in this version

[quote]He dated Toni Braxton for a very long time, and she choreographed many of the Talking Heads shows and videos, including the iconic Once in a Lifetime. I wonder who choreographed American Utopia.

You mean Toni Basil.

"David Byrne's American Utopia" Choreography and Musical Staging - Annie-B Parson

The rule of thumb seems to be: if you want to do a decent cover, make sure the original version is by someone of the opposite gender.

Yes, I did mean Toni Basel. Thanks for the correction.

And he was Twyla Tharp's lover.

I like Chris Cornell's "I Will Always Love You." That's a Dolly Parton song, though. Wow, it's been since the 90s that we've had rock music (grunge, Soundgarden, etc.).

Thank goodness the resident right-wing nut-job trolls haven’t discovered American Utopia.

[quote] At a preview, when the musicians began noodling the Burning Down the House intro, nearly every foot was leapt to. But during the next song, a cover of Janelle Monae’s protest anthem Hell You Talmabout, a call-and-response was initiated, with spectators asked to repeat the names of black Americans killed by the police or in acts of racial violence – Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Atatiana Jefferson. Few answered.

It’s just a matter of time before one of them tars David Byrne as a Woke SJW.

Anyway, I love him, his oddness and commitment to choreography.

[quote]I like Chris Cornell's "I Will Always Love You." That's a Dolly Parton song, though.

Just like "My Way" is a Paul Anka song, "New York, New York" a Liza Minelli song and "Respect" an Otis Redding song? Whitney snatched Dolly's wig there and there's no denying it.

[Quote]Only male singers cover Whitney decently

I'm looking forward to some Whitney covers by a male singer who is ballsy enough to sing less well-known songs like "Queen of the Night", "My Name Is Not Susan" and even some of her turds like "I Get So Emotional, Baby"

Performing Road To Nowhere on Fallon.

How I wish I could have seen David Byrne on Broadway

His niece, China Chow, is dating Billy Idol.

Spending time with his grandson

Was he sleep-singing? So low energy.

Never got into music (he had an inspid song about a baby that was overplayed and drive me nuts) but he DOES look good for however old he is.

Beautiful -- thank you, OP!

Should this woman have been killed also. She talked shit and resisted. But aren’t drunks kind of expected to resist. Certainly common sense would tell you that a drunk is likely to resist. Should the police not have proper training for this? The end result of this should not be death. There are too many of these situations where Americans gleefully write off the lives of their fellow citizens; thereby also sacrificing larger and larger portions of their own civil rights.

American Bandstand 1979- Interview

R7 After Stop Making Sense he can pretty much do what he wants