Watch David Byrne Cover Biz Markie’s “Just A Friend” To Make A Point About Royalties

David Byrne at Le Poisson Rouge

Watch David Byrne Cover Biz Markie’s “Just A Friend” To Make A Point About Royalties

David Byrne at Le Poisson Rouge

Cake frontman John McCrea is one of the many artists railing against streaming services like Spotify and the way they only pay a pittance in royalties to artists. He’s put together a nonprofit called Content Creators Coalition, and last night, David Byrne headlined a CCC concert at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge; it also featured McRea, R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, Tift Merritt, and a few others. I have no idea how this led to Byrne doing an incredibly still and joyous cover of Biz Markie’s eternally wonderful atonal yawp “Just A Friend,” but that’s what happened. Byrne read the lyrics from a piece of paper but only lost the cadence once, and you can watch the miraculous fan-made video below.

Someone should tell Byrne that, if you’re going to rap a Biz Markie song while wearing overalls, you should leave one strap undone.

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