David Byrne stopped by The Late Show to perform his song “When We Are Singing” and to chat with Stephen Colbert about his most recent album Who Is the Sky?.
The Talking Heads frontman was joined by his group of blue-clad musicians and dancers for the theatrical performance, which featured full choreography led by Byrne. “When We Are Singing” comes off Who Is the Sky?, which Byrne released in September.
He explained of his choice to perform the song, “I really don’t like writing songs about my business, but I thought, ‘Oh, you know, when people are singing they look kind of funny. You can’t tell if they’re in ecstasy. They just have their mouth open.’” He added, “It’s all the same look.”
During the conversation with Colbert, Byrne also explained why he is constantly reimagining his concerts and how he came to collaborate with his current touring ensemble. “I knew I wanted it to be colorful,” he said. “The last one was grey. It was not a sad show, but it was grey. I thought, ‘No, the times we live in, we need some color.’”
On tour, Byrne has been combining his solo material with Talking Heads songs, including “Psycho Killer” and “Life During Wartime.” Colbert asked Byrne if those tracks feel different in the context of today.
“‘Life During Wartime,’ yes,” Byrne replied. “I licensed some ICE footage to show at the very, very end of the song. If we showed it for the whole song it would be kind of sad and depressing, but we show it at the very end.”
Last year, Byrne once again dampened hopes for a possible Talking Heads reunion, even after he and his old bandmates — Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison — reunited for several events promoting the Stop Making Sense re-release. Byrne told Rolling Stone he’s happy to include some of the hits in his set list when it makes sense.
“I can mix and match and have it adapt to the sound that I’m doing at the moment without completely destroying the integrity of the older songs,” he said. “But I’m also aware that there’s a real trap. If you do too much of the older material, you become a legacy act that comes out and plays the old hits. You cash in really quick, but then you’ve dug yourself a hole.”