David Byrne is back for a whole new album cycle. This time regaling fans with a touching ode to female intuition in the form of ‘She Explains Things To Me’. 

On this new breezy acoustic cut we see the Talking Heads frontman delving deep into the all-too common experience of needing someone more well-versed in the worlds of emotion and human behavior (see: a woman) to explain the meanings and intentions behind a poem, a character’s actions in a film or book, or any of the other understandings of feelings and the sublime which are so often maligned in patriarchal society. 

Byrne addresses this imbalance directly, saying of the song’s lyrics “Many times I have marveled at how a friend (usually a female friend) seems to clock what is going on in a film between characters way before I do. Sometimes I understand poetry, but sometimes I need help.” He goes on to cast this in contrast with the way men will often try and do the opposite from a more ‘logical’ and ‘rational’ by saying “mansplaining is usually unasked for, in this case I am the one asking.” 

This is a unique understanding of femininity and not one which is novel to his pen as we see him tackle very similar themes in Talking Heads’ iconic track ‘The Girl Wants to Be With the Girls’ from the band’s 1978 record More Songs About Buildings and Food.  He now returns to these same ideas as he gears up for his upcoming solo release Who Is The Sky but with a refreshed perspective as an older more wizened man.  

Give the track a listen here: