Musk is scheduled to premiere at the Venice International Film Festival before its U.S. theatrical release on October 16. The film is directed by Alex Gibney and distributed theatrically by Bleecker Street. David Byrne has found a very David Byrne way to write a song about Elon Musk: he let Musk do the writing. The former Talking Heads frontman has written and performed a new song called “Let Me Sell You a Dream” for Musk, the upcoming documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Alex Gibney. The track was created with the film’s composer, Daniel Pemberton, and its lyrics are made entirely from Musk’s own public statements.
That approach gives “Let Me Sell You a Dream” an unusual premise. The song isn’t simply about Musk, it is built from Musk’s own language, with Byrne putting those words into a completely different context. Phrases that once existed as comments, interviews, or declarations become lyrics, giving them a new rhythm and, inevitably, a different kind of weight. According to a new report from Consequence, Byrne gathered quotes from Musk’s interviews, public comments, and posts online, then shaped those words into the song. Byrne described the process as using “all his own words,” with no additional editorializing.
“Let Me Sell You a Dream” appears at the end of Musk, Gibney’s sprawling documentary examining the life, career and influence of the billionaire entrepreneur. The film runs nearly four hours and takes an expansive look at Musk and the world he has built around himself. The song is also being positioned for the 2027 Academy Awards’ Best Original Song category, thanks to the film’s planned theatrical release. For Byrne, that puts him back in the Oscar conversation nearly four decades after he won Best Original Score for The Last Emperor alongside Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su.
Throughout his career, he has moved comfortably between music, visual art, theater and cinema, and “Let Me Sell You a Dream” continues that habit of approaching familiar subjects from an unusual angle. This time, the subject happens to be Elon Musk, and the words, quite literally, come from Musk himself.
Photo Credit: Kalyn Oyer
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