David Byrne Sings “Buck Naked” In Memory Of His Mother Emma

David Byrne of the famous Talking Heads recently lost his mother Emma Anderson Byrne on June 24th. He was inspired to put a memorial of her life story online. It’s wonderfully written with lots of personal photos and family history. You can read the whole thread he wrote about her life here. It offers lots of personal facts which in itself expresses a lot of the love her son obviously had for her.

Credit: Wikipedia

He begins with describing the music he played at her memorial service (of course). One of the two songs was one he wrote when his sister-in-law died of AIDS called “Buck Naked.” Imagine David Byrne playing music at your memorial service. I suspect we would all probably prefer a life ceremony so we could be there to enjoy hearing him.

David Byrne writes of his mother’s birth in Scotland and how she worked in the UK as a young woman. After the war, she’s at a dance where her future husband, Tom, asks her to dance. She soon goes traveling with a group of girlfriends and Tom convinces his mother to bake a cake. Tom then mails the cake to Emma with a note that said “Don’t ever leave me again.” David Byrne takes this as his father’s “declaration of love.” Emma and Tom marry and the rest is (music) history.

As to the song “Buck Naked”— well if you love his music like I do, you’ll love this song. It’s so very David Byrne. The words are quite intense, almost chilling, because death as we all know is the final frontier and we are truly buck naked – indeed. Could one of the icons of the Boomer generation say it any better? As we know, David Byrne has a history of telling true stories. OK now please enjoy the meaning of the lyrics:

Runnin’ naked, down the state highway
Runnin’ naked, in the middle of the day
Runnin’ naked like a tom cat’s behind
Runnin’ naked but the cat don’t seem to mind

Give me your heart
I’ll give you mine first
Give me your time
And I’ll give you my trust

And we’re buck naked now
Like when we were born
When will we find out?
And why does it take so long?

And we’re buck naked now
And we’re buck naked now
And we’re buck naked now
In the eyes of the Lord

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

And do not leave without listening to this hauntingly beautiful song. I want someone to play this at my memorial someday…a very long time from now.

Check out our history of many more songs and lyrics interspersed with profound sayings that are ideal for a memorial service.