David Byrne - Reasons To Be Cheerful talk - Jan. 8, 2018 

David is a reason to be cheerful

David Byrne is an inspiration to me in so many ways. Most of my life I've been trying to change myself for not fitting in and I was getting depressed because I felt trapped in a loop. But when I discovered Talking Heads, it was like lightning! Millions of people appreciate Byrne for being different, awkward, quirky and original, the same things I was trying to change in myself. David's art, music, speeches and whatever he does will always make me cheerful because he literally saved my life x

David Byrne For President: Start Making Sense 2020.

David reminds me so much of my late grandpa, tall, grey-haired, innocent, smart, creative, sincere and funny. I selfishly hope you can stay with us many more years, David, because we have no replacement for someone like you. Thank you for sharing your mind with us.

Everyday I wake up in a world where David Byrne exists, is a reason to be cheerful. I’m eternally thankful for the insight he provides through every outlet of the art he has bestowed upon this world. David is easily one of my favorite human beings and I’m proud to have named my son after him.

By focusing on the Cheerful, developing hope, and joining with each other, we can dream into existence a better world. The ones who hold all the cards are few compared to the rest of us - the key is doing stuff. Do stuff in your neighbourhood, your city, your state, and I'll do stuff in mine. We join our dreams, and dream the world into a better place. Thank you David Byrne.

Thank you David. For many of your fans, YOU are one of our Reasons To Be Cheerful. For decades your music has given me joy, passion and comfort throughout every aspect of my life. Thank you!

I discovered Talking Heads when I was 15. What a joy it is to have someone as iconic as David Byrne in my life.

I realized watching this that in True Stories, Spalding Grey was doing an impression of sorts of David. That gives me a reason to be cheerful. RIP Spalding.

David Byrne is a reason to be cheerful and has been since the days of Talking Heads. He never fails to innovate and always bring a joy of creation to what he does. I feel lucky to have grown up in an era where I started with the introduction of The Beatles and that pure joy and intense creativity carried on with David Byrne.

Music is my reason to be cheerful, and David's contribution to the art form is a big part of that. Thanks for spreading your art everywhere David!!!

This is so relevant. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are, quote comes to mind. We are a collective consciousness. We create ripples of change in our small acts.

Thank You So much Mr. Byrne for sharing your musical an intellectual Genius. These gifts are meant to be shared an You Sir, have done a fine job of it. Peace to You an Yours Truly. So Be It!

David Byrne is one of those few people that come along once in a generation that changes things for the better and his influence spreads and last for centuries....I think they call them geniuses:)

Wow, he really has become a Talking Head

David Byrne,I saw you live in Atlanta around 2003 maybe. Memories of that show have made me happy for the last 15 years. I can picture you w your guitar playing Heaven and it makes me cheerful every time. Love you man.

Since the concert Stop MakingSense, which I watched this year. David has been on top of my mind. Very intriguing, interesting, and intellectual.

Sometime David Byrne wil be reconigzed as the greatest musician he is

My partner uses the term Interweb, I must show him David Byrne says it too.. He will be delighted as he's also a HUGE fan of David as I am! Thank you David for coming back and singing all the songs we all love, you have not changed your little crazy ways on stage, and you sound so much the same as you did in the 80's.. be proud of you as all your fans are!! Keep singing, dont stop! With Love, Jayne and Trevor Alsop xxoo

What a lovely, charming man David Byrne is! I feel like he could make any meaningful topic engaging.

Thank you David. You value community, connection, kindness, music. I do too. Keep rockin' Peaceful solutions.

Regardless of the commercial side (the launching of a new piece of work), there's enough food for thought in here and more than one good insight into the world surrounding us, which can and should be made a better place as a matter of priority. Kudos to Mr. David for showing us some interesting ways forward!

He used "interweb." My heart, my dear little heart.

David, your courage makes me happy

I have been listening to your music and watching your videos and movies to cheer myself up since the 80’s. Thank you for that and for this.

David, looking so distinguished aging so well, and is so articulate has a great spark of ingenuity and intelligence...Very enlightening..

Thank you for surfacing during this time of so many disturbances. I wrote you a while back reaching out to you after you performed on Colbert. I then watched the video you recorded of the concert and went wild. I wrote to my favorite artists and comedians to please bring some sense back into this country before it was too late. I think I have gotten responses. Just by quantum leaps, so to speak. I still have not been able to bring them all together under one umbrella to try to achieve a goal of freedom of speech and end to corruption. I wrote to my comedians suggesting a Comedy Caravan and Medicine Show where everyone would go on tour in tiny homes and drop in on unsuspecting neighborhoods to form tiny house communities by donating the houses to the homeless and forming little neighborhoods and then moving on to the next locale. I made posters which is all I could physically do, and distributed them out there into the social media, and I think some people are starting to get it. I then realized that the thing that brings crowds together, as you said, all ages, different races, and coming from different backgrounds is music. Woodstock came to mind and I realized that it was possible to bring people together as one with music. Then, I recently went to an "Almost Queen " concert and watched the excitement build and rise to a crescendo where the exhilaration was insurmountable. It kind of mirrors the crowds that Bernie draws and even Jimmy Dore on a smaller scale. The crowds are excited and start chanting, when their feelings are attached to the same wave lengths. One thing that stands out in my mind is when The Colbert Report was so popular, the audience just couldn't stop chanting Stephen, Stephen, Stephen. Of course, that has worked in reverse like when Hitler drew his army of followers chanting, well, you know. But it's the rhythm, the levels of noise, and the choice of words, that catches the parietal lobe of the brain and starts a continuous current amongst human beings. That is the answer. You see it too, as you just discussed. I believe I did reach out to you with a vague idea in my mind and then I discovered all about your Reasons to be Cheerful. And the first article I read was about Homelessness which was the most intelligent extensive article I have read to date. And still, no action. There are groups who have formed little neighborhoods of tiny houses that operate as coops and they are working but still the municipalities fail to put it on their agendas. And still they stumble over these people and clean up the sidewalks every morning only for them to return to spend the night. Could you tolerate any more stupidity than this? This would cause me to find a reason to be cheerful. And I just bought tickets for your show in December. I can't think of a better way to cheer me up!! It works for me every time. Music is my religion. Love you, David. And yes, I still think you seem very normal.

Such a wonderful and enlightening talk. Thank you so much.

Love David Byrne and his work. I actually am an embodiment of many of his songs...I'm painting again...my wife has a face with a view...I live in a multi purpose shape...and it simply goes on so this must be the place to stop, but come up and see me, I will stop what I am doing. Love Mr. Byrne, thank you!

Every morning when I walk into my work at my hospital I listen on my headphones to the Talking Heads. David Byrne wakes me up, gets me ready for my busy day.

Bravo Mr.David Byrne ...49:09 the future of change . “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

Curitiba! I am quite flattered to hear the name of my city in such good light. Sonorous lecture, sincere theme, specially in these times. Dear David has only mispronounced our former mayor name: It is in Portuguese, and as such, not "Haime" (as it would in Spanish), but "Jaime" with a soft "g" sound (less "dj", more "sh/j").

Thank you and all other humans living with reasons to be cheerful...love,Sylvia.

I always knew David had a good sense of humour.

Happy Days to hear this great man.

I enjoy David's music so much especially on bad days

I had the pleasure of attending this event. Very diverse group from millenials to 80s TH groupies, myself included. David once again entrances his audience with his innocent and sincere approach. I was extremely enlightened with his re-introduction to something we all know in the back of our minds but never had the mental organization to categorize these reasons into 9 segments with the grace and delight of watching a friends vacation slides. I will attend as many future live events by David as possible. I have drank the Kool-Aid.

Thanks, David. Reason can be a friend to cheer, indeed.

0:27 that was the most him thing he could do

Thank you for this lecture. I am a professional, with a great career. My friends and colleagues are amazed when I tell them I avoid reading/listening to the news... because most of it is all bad! (Including some of the news I am in.) So I stopped being a newshound. But your insight gives me a second thought, to look for those reasons to be cheerful... with a goal to share and disseminate. So I will look, and maybe even create, and share.... (P.S. Love all of your music, and love that you can use your celebrity to foster positive change!)

Would SO much appreciate honor of meetn him. Rock On,Mr Byrne.

Thank you, David! I share many of your sentiments. Next time you're near western Pennsylvania, come visit the Mon Valley. Monessen, PA. Up and down the Monongahela River. There's so much awful stuff happening economically, drug-wise, post-industrial decay continues, racism, homophobia, but a huge amount of good things going on. Lots of people trying to do things differently. Rails to trails. (It's now possible to walk/bike from Pittsburgh, PA to Washington, DC). Kayaking on the Monongahela which is an entirely new phenomenon, etc., People investing in new cultural assets. In this area, I've yet to find the type of "moments" like you described relating to Afropunk Festival and the band you mentioned playing in the club, though I have experienced them in every part of this country where I've lived or traveled over the years. Trying to find those types of things or create them. It's tough, but I feel the energy here moving that way. The public libraries around here, I guess like everywhere else are vital cultural centers, where people to go learn things, to use computers, but equally importantly where people gather to talk and find out what's going on. One challenge in this area is that population is spread out along three rivers here instead of having a central focus. Lack of public transportation is a challenge. I am somewhat obsessed with the Mon Valley and what is going on here. Still haven't put all the pieces together.

David never ceases to amaze. I was cheerful indeed. We need more of this. Calm rational useful thinking and solutions. It's so refreshing and even better coming from one of my favorite Artists. I'm curious about Afrofuturism that looks interesting. How do you stop that feeling of dread? This is not the world I signed up for. I can relate to the latter. As to the dread I just say 'Fuck it'. I fight that in my career where dark forces have invaded my space and turn what is fun and challenging into opportunistic bullshit. I don't have time to linger over the negative. I got things to do that make me feel better about life and existence.

aww that cute little first thankyou he says when he is introduced, my heart

Thank you Mr. Byrne!! Excellent!! I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation. You introduced me to a new artist that I can research, Ian Dury. Also I was inspired by the stories that you shared, they really illustrated the strength and resilience of being human.

He seems really happy, or perhaps just really high. Either way, very enjoyable to see some positive news being spread. Thanks Dave!

I just bought tickets to see you at The Smith Center in Las Vegas. That's my reason to be cheerful today! 😀

Thank You for sharing!

I loved Ian Dury. He was just so great.

We should all not only aspire to, but actully take actions in the ways David demonstrates. There would be no doubt the world would improve at scale.

I felt also such a feelingat a Dweezil Zappa concert once in the Netherlands, love your energie/organisatieon and what you give us all, thanks outof my core self ....i go to you in Paris ....so i am cheerful, Sylvia. Chaotticly written...? Hoop people get it though ...i am Dutch ,need also all this like alll things David talks about (community.....maybe talk of smile in your street...or.........

way, way back saw and heard the Talking Heads perform on Rotterdam's open air stage back to the Dijkzigt hospital in the Netherlands..... reason to not play too load that time ..... of none importance here ..... but in Rotterdam too, the city where I was born, I first heard of the important words of Jane Jacobs there, when I studied architecture .....great to hear the importance of her work/her words here once again .... that's a reason to be cheerful in it''s own right .....

i love you david, you are my deepest inspiration, i'm going to see you in mexico city

A wonderful talk.

I love this man,too nice to be a mayor or polititian,just keep making great art david

“ AND THE DAYS GO BY, WATER FLOWING UNDER.......”. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My mind has shifted somewhat ! +

Reason #1 for me today? That this channel exists.

Not many people can say "I'm really smart" and mean it and be right without being or sounding arrogant.

If Byrne was my professor I would never miss a class.

Love this guy

After watching this I wonder: are we looking for reasons to be cheerful or are we trying to create reasons to be cheerful, or maybe both. Instead of thinking of multiply and copy cheerful experiences we might wanna investigate the possibility to create cheerful situations, places or activities where ever we are. Maybe opportunity presents it self if we try hard to be creative. "Everything starts with a question and If there is people then there might be good vibrations, dreams and solidarity."

great uplifting talk

Brilliant!

love david byrne

Byrne is wonderful!! and what - that was him sort of promoting his new album w RTBC? that seems kind of like a new paradigm for album promo. go David! 👏🏻👏🏻

gettin old sucks but time waits 4 no man..a legend all the same

Feeling utopian ? Big cities ARE the problems. Stop overbuilding and overcrowding ! Move out in villages and hamlets ! Thanks for the cheerful lecture, Mr. Byrne. Rei Momo will always be a cheerful album for me; outstanding album !

thanks!

Fabulous...

on the question at 50:10, I believe that the ability to change somebody based on a piece of work is more dependent on the viewers state of being rather than the artists intention or skill. Its both dependent on how the beauty is in the eye of the beholder and or those who change must be ready and want to change. Like a trip to the therapist, they can give you drugs and tell you whatever you want, but you wont change unless you are ready. At the same time, one piece of art (art being paintings, songs movies, etc.) may change one person with the same views but a different person could hold true to their beliefs. People all experience different lives and the combination of events in life will alter their paradigms uniquely. Davids argument that art cannot change people is valid, in the sense that it is not reliably done. How many times can one person see a PETA advertisement and go out for some culvers a minute later? For me its indefinitely. For some its the first try, and they've never realized what they were doing. For you, it may be you were ignoring the ads but for once, you realized the meaning and magnitude of their purpose and have a change of heart. and in the case of the one dudes uncle he just had to see it in a new way, not just any new way, but one that he could personally relate to. You cannot change people, they must change on their own. You can give them incentive or opinion, but internally they are the ones who really change themselves.

Do you understand how we could do something that could change the world for the good in so many ways. There’s a relationship between the number of households (whether they have a single person or a large family let’s call them Strong Oaks) and the number of homeless people; we can call them young trees or small saplings. Yes it’s about 100 households in the US per homeless person. If 100 households joined to help a homeless person with counseling job placement food clothing shelter, it could be a relationship that is not so ‘undoable.’ Think of the many side benefits of having people work together to achieve a good thing.

If it would have been possible to get a ticket to the Red Rocks' show the day they went on sale, I would have been cheerful that day... oh well... let me know if you release anymore...

David please sing!

Ciclovia has about 40 years in Bogotá, wasn't Peñalosa's idea. Outside Colombia so many people think Enrique Peñalosa is very innovator and smart by mass introduce and promote BTR systems, bike infrastructure, etc. But right now in Bogota he is not very popular. I think that's because as major he has more interest on keep contracts with traditional corrupt companies who promote him, new BTR lines despite it culdn't be the cleanest, ecological, efficient solution in so many places and because after 20 years so many people realized that his discourse try to resolve problems in a "aesthetically", "economic" way but without thinking in deep inclusive long term solutions. Despite here in Colombia politicians (and Colombians in general) usually lack long term plans and solutions i slowly see huge changes in my country and some of them give me reasons to be cheerful too. :)

The way people age is so fascinating. I'm gonna write a song about that.

David, come ride bikes with me !

Cheers

Brilliant man, but still, I can't help but look at him and think....Same as it ever was....same as it ever was. BTW- David...I want to learn how to do that arms over the head dive you do in the video (Once In A Lifetime) at the 2:42 mark.

@48:35 "And just live in a little cabin... me and The Unabomber" 8) Haha! xD

32 million in US

had david not made it in music he woulda been a university professor

Nice to pay tribute to Ian Dury, a much underrated performer. I've always endorsed legalising all drugs, which would be produced under license by reputable companies, and addicts given a card to claim the products from Pharmacies, and encouragement to help addicts get off the stuff. Take the illegal status, and associated crime off our streets. As for public transportation, Amsterdam for me has the largest number of bikes and also has an excellent Tram Service. And Japan, has the best railway network. One day hope to travel on a Bullet Train. The research on Maglev technology will hopefully produce a new generation of trains & urban transport, which will make short haul flights look slow by comparison and make them unnecessary. Getting people out of their shiny metal boxes and interacting with their surroundings would improve life for everyone. Culture, need more of all culture, as a Society we have become too insular spending time watching TV & typing on computers. (I know that's what I am doing). Need more people going out to concerts, theatres, and reclaiming their cities and the space they take up. Have to say I agree with almost everything David Byrne said, now we need to find the leaders who can deliver this kind of Society.

Ian drury reference by David Byrne

"WAIT" Is David Byrne promoting AGENDA 21?

@David Byrne Ratification of the 1789 Congressional Apportionment Amendment passed by Congress an ratified by 11 states, is the solution to ALL of societies problems, still needs 27 more states to ratify it, but once ratified by 75% of the states the representation ratio will go from about 500,000 voters per congressmen, to about 35,000 voters per congressmen, an they will resolve all of societies problems. All of societies problems are caused because the people are not empowered by representation sufficiently, the solution is to empower the people by representation sufficiently. You noticed grass roots efforts in local areas are effective because they engage people in communities. That is what ratification of the 1789 Congressional Apportionment Amendment does as well it makes communities of 35,000 people throughout America. Several major benefits at 35,000 people per representative each person in a 2000 hour work year could spend about 5 minutes with their representative discussing what is most important to them. Currently at 500,000 voters per representative each person in a 2000 hour work year could spend about 15 seconds with their representative discussing what is most important to them. Thus the special interests which can afford to finance campaigns receive special treatment an their ideas an concerns are heard an represented in government, but the people in general are excluded by poor representation ratios from engaging in their governance an thus their societies are degraded in every way. It Is very possible to fix things an fixing things starts with adequate representation as a ratio. Once ratified there will be over 6000 elected representatives to the house of representatives, aside from requiring a larger building an offices, their is no draw back to increasing the number of representatives. Increasing the number of elected representatives decreases corruption, as more representatives will resist an protest corruption. policies will by necessity need to be meritorious. Currently policies are being decided by a handful of party leaders an their campaign donors, then the elected party representatives beholden to their parties for the million dollar campaign costs vote almost unanimously along party lines. Unanimous voting along party lines is not a representative government.

Is there so much doubt that we forget that we have the right to choose to be cheerful? See the choice as something impossible?

Plow shares

Hes pretty locked into his bauhaus creative process by his aspergers need for recognition . So he shows off in an entertaining way . Create to express and exit his personal bauhaus breaking out of the locked in feeling. And receiving adulation and some affluence. That hes mildly asperger on the spectrum is an asset but his stubbornness is both an asset to claiming ownership of his collaborative process but also alienating to co-contributors. You pick up the idea that his isolating moments created in some sense the epithet hurled at aspergers carriers ' characteristics - psycho killer " . They may suddenly go isolationists , blank out emotively , and then get that hundred yard stare that theyve entered their own world where no one else may enter. People feel shut down excluded and ask what's wrong with him? Well hes in his own world. That's part of asperger syndrome. So ... it's not a crime to be different even though its uncomfortable maybe to be around him. He does have a good will pro public sense of morality.

Seem to recollect Gabor Mate having something to do with the drug policy changes in Vancouver or at least being an advocate of them.

I wonder if the legalising of all drugs also means that more junkies gets clean, while they now fixes under controlled circumstances, and if you get fewer addicts? And if its not illegal so sell drugs, why not reward the drug dealers for getting junkies of drugs or getting them into programs?

Correction. David suggests overdoes have declined in Vancouver since decriminalizing hard drugs. Wrong. If anything - O/D's have risen exponentially. We have multiple o/d's daily and the Downtown East Side if anything, which is kind of a no-go zone used by druggies, has expanded. Appeasement does NOT work and is not necessarily best.

Cheerful? He's bubbling up with laughter.

I’m an alt right conservative and I love this guy.

just relistening to Ian Dury = "houses In Motion" is essentially the outro jam on "Reasons To Be Cheerful". "houses" is one of the least cheerful songs evr, though a favorite

I am a big fan of Mr Byrne, having been around in the late seventies early eighties and find it a little weird seeing him as an elderly man, even though I myself am of his generation. I tuned into this because it was David and because I am also a big fan of The Blockheads, otherwise, I do not think I would have bothered as the premise is basically about people being unable to tell the lies from truth and spending their emotions on things that they cannot change. Fear, fear, fear, dread dread dread. This is the hype of mainstream media, this is what the centralized authorities want you to feel, it is an aspect of the Hegelian dialectic. They want the public to feel fear so that the public feels the need for leaders to create solutions to help save them. Anthropogenic global warming is a lie based on pseudoscience and political pressure. The real climate change to be concerned about is global cooling and the possibility of an ice age. It has already begun and if you are going to respond negatively to this statement, you better be able to talk the science of climate change and not the ideology. Consensus is not how science works and those predicting this climate model have already proven their models' success through successful long-term weather forecasting, unlike the 72 Co2 models whose predictions have all failed by as much as 200%. Pollution is a serious concern but carbon dioxide is not the strongest greenhouse gas in our atmosphere, water vapour is much stronger as a greenhouse gas. But I digress. Turn off the fear-mongering media, get involved in your community even if it is only talking to your neighbours, make real human connections and do some good for someone else without expecting any return or even acknowledgement. Smile more, seriously smile more, smile at strangers and watch them smile back and feel the warmth os that momentary connection. Peace

Why isn't David Byrne The Prsident of USA, legit

I wish he would adopt me

Blockheads Rule. R.I.P.

Ian died😕 I did not know. The Blockheads 👶