Selezione musicale 50 – David Byrne Dirty Old Town
David Byrne è un genio assoluto ! Dopo una carriera entusiasmante con i Talking Heads pubblica nel 1989 il disco Rei Momo che è un florilegio di brani ispirati alla tradizione e alle musiche del Sud America. Ci sono merengue, samba, mambo, son cubana, cumbia e tanti altri. Una grande apertura alla world music che qualche traccia aveva già fatto intuire perlomeno nell’ultimo lavoro del gruppo, ma l’interesse era già stato dimostrato da tempo.
In questo filmato del 1990 presenta Dirty Old Town al Saturday Night Live e per quanto la qualità video sia piuttosto bassa è un vero spettacolo.
Well, there are sixteen people in Danny’s apartment
Sixteen people are living in there
Remember the days of rent control
Grandpa remembers rock and roll
These days won’t last forever
These days won’t last for long
You know, somebody somewhere owes us a favor
That’s how things really get done
In this World of Opportunities, it’s a Land of Possibilities
We wanna live in a dirty old town
Building it up, tearing us down
With our head in the clouds and our feet on the ground
We wanna live – dirty old town
Dirty old town
Now when the ladies come from Kansas
They wear their traditional colors
Today the fabrics are ragged and torn
The clothes on their backs is all that they own
They say, “Don’t draw attention to yourself
They’ll tear you apart for a couple of bucks
Keep you head down and keep you nose clean
‘Cause people who’re scared do dangerous things”
These days can’t last forever
These days can’t last for long
You know someday things’ll get better
Somehow things’ll get done
In this World of Possibilities, it’s the Land of Opportunities
We wanna live in a dirty old town
Building it up, tearing us down
With our head in the clouds and our feet on the ground
We wanna live – dirty old town
Dirty old town
These days shoes are worn only on special occasions
Battles are fought for fam’ly and nations
Maybe you’ll pray, but God isn’t home
And there’s no guarantee that justice be done
We wanna live in a dirty old town
Building it up, tearing us down
With our head in the clouds and our feet on the ground
We wanna live – dirty old town
Dirty old town
