Now
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

Lookin' at happiness
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

Glass and concrete and stone
It is just a house, not a home.

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

Everything's possible
When you're an animal
Not inconceivable
How things can change, I know

So I'm puttin' on aftershave
Nothin' is out of place
Gonna be on my way
Try to pretend, it's not only

Glass and concrete and stone
That it's just, not a home.
And its glass and concrete and stone

It is just a house, not a home
And my head is fifty feet high
Let my body and soul be my guide


Lyrics submitted by mike, edited by Ser

Glass, Concrete & Stone Lyrics as written by David Byrne

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Glass, Concrete & Stone song meanings
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9 Comments

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  • +3
    My Interpretation

    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."

    Seron April 10, 2015   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    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.

    Reginald Editon December 10, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    pure genius!

    slinkstersarson March 28, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    ...Shock...

    360degreeson June 03, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    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.

    sensemakesnothingon March 05, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    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~

    LyricMuse43on June 06, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    genius. i agreeee. and it sounds like 'to lie fully' more so than delightfully. either way, great song =]

    theformatloveon September 17, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    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.

    Reginald Editon December 10, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    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 :-)

    slowhearton July 11, 2011   Link

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