He is 73 years old, she is 22. He is considered a rock intellectual, she is a new pop queen. He's from CBGB's New York, she's from Disney. He has released around thirty albums, she has two. However, when Olivia Rodrigo performed at the Governors Ball in June, she called David Byrne as a guest and together they did Burning Down the House by Talking Heads.
“I saw his concert at Madison Square Garden months ago,” Byrne said. «She's a great performer and she was having a lot of fun, you could see it. They introduced us after the show and she seemed like a real person, someone who, growing up in the world she grew up in, managed to survive well. Then, out of nowhere, this invitation came: “Hey, do you want to come with me to the Governors Ball?”. My reaction was: “Yes. What if we thought of some choreography together?”
The two became friends and on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of Drivers Licensethe 2021 single that launched Rodrigo's career, Byrne released a reimagined version of the song. It has been released on streaming platforms and a vinyl release is planned with the live version of the pair Burning Down the House on the back.
In Byrne's text the person who makes him feel insecure is no longer the blonde from the original (said to be Sabrina Carpenter), but a blond boy who is “much younger than me”
«My new friend Olivia Rodrigo asked me to perform her first single to match the release of our live cover of Burning Down The House», writes Byrne today. «I discovered that his piece has a deep meaning for me (I changed a few words!) and it is universal, we have all felt those feelings and lived that experience… I recorded it while on tour in Atlanta and Miami with the incredible musicians, singers and dancers who are with me. We had a lot of fun.”
«Happy fifth birthday Drivers License», Rodrigo writes on his social media accompanying a gallery from 2021. «Looking back at these photos I feel like I look like a child, but at the same time it seems like yesterday, LOL. This song has totally changed my life in ways I still don't fully understand. I will be forever grateful for this magical chapter and can't wait to scream “red lights stop signs” with you at every concert I play for the rest of my life! Happy birthday DL».
That of Drivers License it is only the first cover that will be released to celebrate five years of Rodrigo's debut album Sour. Other “reimagined versions by some of my all-time favorite artists” will follow.
