19 David Byrne and Brian Eno “One Fine Day”

We’ve already heard a track by David Byrne in the first five songs of this playlist, and we’ll hear some more later. I have a self-imposed rule that I will only do one song per act, but those artists who are in multiple groups and collaborations can have each of those count as an act. Here we have a collaboration of David Byrne with Brian Eno. 

Brian Eno may be one of the most important musical producers for the popular music that influenced my own pop rock writing. The earliest I know of Eno is with his stint playing in Roxy Music, who will surely make an appearance in this playlist at some point. I first discussed Eno when we looked at James and I described the duo recording of their albums Laid and Wah-Wah. Eno also produced albums by Talking Heads, U2, Peter Gabriel, Devo… you most certainly know songs he produced. 

Eno’s known for his unconventional approach to music, such as having a box of different words to pull out to inspire a new direction in the music. For example, and perhaps not a real example, if a song isn’t working he might reach in and pull out the word “water” and then ask the musicians to make their music sound more “watery.” There may not be an agreed upon idea of what watery music sounds like, or even if there is such a thing, but the idea is a good one – think about this differently, but not just an empty idea of different. It’s hard to argue with the results. 

With Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, Eno joins directly in the making of the music, instead of just producing. It’s a wonderful album full of some of the best work Byrne had done since his first two solo albums. An uplifting mid tempo song, it manages to be optimistic and melancholy at the same time. 

There is an a cappella version of this song that was a part of his American Utopia Broadway show/concert. If you haven’t had a chance to see the movie made from that show, you should. Directed by Spike Lee, it takes the idea of how a band is often filled with musicians hidden behind their instruments and removes that. The first time I watched it, I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen.