David Byrne’s favourite song by The Velvet Underground
David Byrne may have been born in Scotland, but he was made in New York. After moving to Rhode Island for art school in the early 1970s, the future Talking Heads frontman stumbled upon Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, and the trio eventually relocated to the Big Apple. It was there that he would pioneer post-punk, venture into Broadway, and find his love of cycling.
But long before Byrne became a new wave icon, Talking Heads started out as a cover band playing tracks by the likes of The Who, Al Green, and their New York City predecessors, The Velvet Underground. Another of the city’s greatest cultural exports, Lou Reed and his band of avant-garde aficionados brought art rock to New York long before Talking Heads.
Recalling the early influence of the band on him during a conversation with Pitchfork, Byrne picked out the band’s 1939 track ‘Candy Says’ as the most important song to him at age 20. “By 1972, I’ve finished up in art schools, hitchhiked around the country, and I moved to Providence, Rhode Island,” he began to explain.
Alongside Frantz, he was penning future all-time hits like ‘Psycho Killer’, but the pair were also performing odes to their city’s music scene with Velvet Underground covers. The inventive band’s distinctive yet flexible sound earned them little acclaim at the time, but it provided Byrne with a “big revelation”.
“I realised, ‘Oh, look at the subject of their songs: There’s a tune and a melody, but the sound is either completely abrasive or really pretty,’” he explained. The Talking Heads frontman picked out two specific tracks as an example, ‘White Light/White Heat’ which he deemed “just noise”, and ‘Candy Says’, which he calls “incredibly pretty but really kind of dark.”
He recalled, “As a young person, you go, ‘What is this about?’”
‘Candy Says’ opened the band’s 1969 self-titled record, The Velvet Underground. A quiet, melodic track, it features gorgeous guitar flourishes and Doug Yule’s smooth vocals. The heartbreaking lyrics chart the feelings of Candy, a transgender woman who sings of self-hatred, bluebirds, and big decisions.
The song is one of The Velvet Underground’s best, a masterful display of their capabilities for quiet and a demonstration of just how ahead of their time they were. It’s no surprise that the track stunned Byrne. Though the sound he would come to hone himself would be much more danceable and lively, he has developed a similar penchant for experimentation with genre and tone.
Revisit ‘Candy Says’ by The Velvet Underground below.
