Talking Heads’ David Byrne has written a song for a “scathing” new Elon Musk documentary, and the lyrics are reportedly only comprised of the billionaire’s quotes.
The new feature-length documentary is made by Alex Gibney, who is behind Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief, The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley, and the Oscar-winning Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room.
Described as a “definitive and unvarnished examination” of the billionaire tycoon, Musk is set to open in cinemas on October 16, and has already been criticised by Elon Musk – who described the 235-minute film as a “hit piece”.
Now, it has come to light that David Byrne has made a song especially for the documentary, and it will be comprised entirely of Elon Musk quotes.
He wrote the song alongside composer Daniel Pemberton (Project Hail Mary), and it is titled ‘Let Me Sell You A Dream’.
“I asked for good quotes from the Martian and found more of them online,” Byrne shared (via Variety). “I’m sure he loves dropping these wild statements, and those became the lyrics. All his own words. No editorialising. Straight from the man’s mouth to mine.”
David Byrne Returns to Oscar Race With Original Song for Elon Musk Documentary ‘Musk’ (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/rAAOUNTRdy
— Variety (@Variety) September 2, 2026
Gibney also spoke about how he was “thrilled” to have Byrne agree to make a song for the documentary.
“I am a huge fan of his. My wife and I were at the Pantages for the filming of [Talking Heads documentary] Stop Making Sense, so I sensed that he would find a musical way into what the film is trying to say. And he did,” he added.
“‘Let Me Sell You a Dream’ is kick-ass. And, in writing the lyrics, David dug deep into the sayings of Musk himself to get to “extremely hard core,” foot-tapping sardonic poetry.”
Variety also reports that the song could be eligible for an Oscar, and if it does qualify and ultimately win in its category, it will be the second for Byrne following on from his win in 1987 for Best Original Score on The Last Emperor.
In other David Byrne news, his ‘Who Is The Sky?’ solo tour is now coming to cinemas, with the hometown concerts being shot on 70mm film by director Brady Corbet.
Brady Corbet is best known as the director of The Brutalist, winning Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for the epic drama as well as earning three Oscar nominations. He has also directed The Childhood Of A Leader with Robert Pattinson and Vox Lux starring Natalie Portman.
The film is currently in post-production, with distribution and release date yet to be announced. David Byrne has worked with award-winning filmmakers before, such as Jonathan Demme on Stop Making Sense, as well as Spike Lee on the 2020 stage production David Byrne’s American Utopia.
NME reviewed Byrne’s performance at this year’s Mad Cool festival in Madrid. “For more than half a century, he’s been raising an arched eyebrow at the world – and we sure do need his anarchic sense of humour right now,” Jordan Bassett wrote. “The 74-year-old certainly gave us reasons to be cheerful throughout this totally unique performance, though it had a political edge too.”
“As he and his backing musicians moved in formation across the stage, video screens depicted a variety of colourful environs – waves, a misty forest – before the Talking Heads track ‘Life During Wartime’ was accompanied by images of brutal ICE raids.” The review concluded: “Time marches on, but you can always rely on David Byrne to make sense of the madness. Same as it ever was.”
Byrne will also be going on an intimate book tour in the UK to support his forthcoming book Sleeping Beauties. He will visit London, Brighton, Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh in November – see all of the info here.
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