Glass, Concrete & Stone Lyrics
I'm wakin' at the crack of dawn
To send a little money home
From here to the moon
Is risin' like a discotheque
And now my bags are down and packed for traveling
Keepin' my flavor fresh
Nobody knows I guess
How far I'll go, I know
So I'm leavin' at Six O' Clock
Meet in a parkin' lot
Harriet Hendershot
Sunglasses on, she waits by this
It is just a house, not a home.
Except a couple tiny holes and openings
Where, the city's blowin' in and out
This is what it's all about, delightfully
When you're an animal
Not inconceivable
How things can change, I know
Nothin' is out of place
Gonna be on my way
Try to pretend, it's not only
That it's just, not a home.
And its glass and concrete and stone
And my head is fifty feet high
Let my body and soul be my guide
One would have to be mad to try to pinpoint the meaning of a David Byrne song. By his own admission he is borderline Asperger's. His songs are famous for being paradigms of the paradoxical and being ultra cryptic. Still, I am going to try to give an interpretation because I am perhaps just as playful and emotionally stunted as he is. Like most artists he wants to reveal himself even if he does this quite secretly and emblematically.
I was at first intrigued by the main refrain "its glass and concrete and stone, it's just a house not a home". And my own imagination led me to believe it had something to do with architecture and the coldness of a building without love and affection. A building without a hearth or a heart. I imagined the theme of separation, divorce, breakup of a relationship etc.
However, there are too many other references in the song. He talks about travel, money, a rendezvous with a certain Harriet Hendershot. There is a lot of personal imagery, and he is communicating a sense of hopefulness, a pursuit of happiness, in his playful, quirky way.
The tone of his voice is positive but wry and the percussions provide a driving beat which conveys a sense of cheeriness. When the cello comes in there is also strong emotion.
I think he is reflecting on a particular stage of his life and on a fundamental part of himself - a realisation that he enjoys the transitory and sensual delights of the body and that this keeps his "flavour fresh" while willingly denying, suppressing deeper feelings and commitment (home) and that he is prepared to fool himself and perhaps others too. He admits that he prefers to follow his instincts rather than logic, conditioning or conventions in the phrase "let my body and soul be my guide."
Try this one on for size, kids: It's a song about cheating.
He rises early to send money "home", which is as far away as the moon to him. But he then goes to meet Harriet Hendershot, who tries to remain anonymous in her sunglasses while waiting by her home. But it would hurt too much to think of it as a home that he is wrecking, so he thinks of it as a house made of glass, concrete, and ....
He declares that concentrating on skin is the best in life, "delightfully". When you're just an animal, you can give up years of work with another for sensual pleasure.
In the end, one cannot be so cold, so he has to find a fine line and come back just a bit to thinking of this material as a little more than just a house, hence we come around full circle to the home.
But the best idea would probably be to ask David what he meant. ;)
The element of physically being human and being tempted by others. Giving up our highest ideals and becoming animals, we can screw over anyone, even if it means breaking up a home.
pure genius!
...Shock...
i like this song. especially this part, "Everything's possible when you're an animal not inconceivable How things can change, I know"
i know the feeling.
something interesting: "Skin, that covers me from head to toe except a couple tiny holes and openings Where, the city's blowin' in and out this is what it's all about, delightfully(to lie fully"
is it just me, or could the manner the last word is pronounced, delightfully, be interpreted as is or as "to lie fully"? maybe i'm just a pothead, but i found this interesting.
I really like the 'to lie fully' thing, sensemakesnothing. I love David Byrne- there are so man layers to his songs. This song makes me feel like crying, reminds how empty life can leave a person feeling- "it is just a house, not a home' is one of the most telling lines I can think of- How everything we think is strong and secure is actually just 'glass, concrete and stone'- none of it means anything, only how people interact with their environments and eachother. "Let my body and soul be my guide' is a great way to end it. Gods I love DB~
genius. i agreeee. and it sounds like 'to lie fully' more so than delightfully. either way, great song =]
One addition/correction to my theory:
The house (not a home) in the end is the one he is leaving. It is easier to leave it if it is only a house and not a home.
To add to Reg's notes he's not "just" cheating. The song expresses unhappiness and sadness about his home life. It may be an affair, he may even be leaving permanently: "from here to the moon" "How things can change, I know" "Try to pretend, it's not only ... Glass and concrete and stone" And I think the use of a name, here "Harriet Hendershot" and her wearing sunglasses suggests that it's someone the neighborhood would recognize.
To add to Reg's notes he's not "just" cheating. The song expresses unhappiness and sadness about his home life. It may be an affair, he may even be leaving permanently: "from here to the moon" "How things can change, I know" "Try to pretend, it's not only ... Glass and concrete and stone" And I think the use of a name, here "Harriet Hendershot" and her wearing sunglasses suggests that it's someone the neighborhood would recognize.
(I like David Byrne's songs and I really like them when the lyrics seem less...
(I like David Byrne's songs and I really like them when the lyrics seem less improvised. As with many other songwriters I like, I just wish he could sing better so I could listen to him in the car with my wife. ;) Many of his songs are crying out to be covered. Like this one.)
I thought it was just about leaving home to go on a journey, maybe fleeing from something. Or the "send a little money home" thing could be interpreted as being about someone who goes to another country to work and send money back home to their wife and children. That was my interpretation :-)