I <BYRNE> NJ: Talking Talking Heads & Taylor Swift with a Two-Year Old

Love has come to town and Margo couldn’t be happier. 

At daycare pick-up on Tuesday she excitedly told me, “Daddy, Taylor Swift is getting married!” Of course, I had just heard her mom tell her the big news 15 seconds before Margo announced the engagement to me, but I was still proud that at 2.5 years old, she seemed to grasp the historic significance of this pop culture moment.

Another one of her favorite artists just revealed he’s also getting married, so I thought she’d be even more pumped when I responded, “I think David Byrne is engaged too actually!”

“No Daddy,” she quickly scolded, “just Taylor Swift!” 

 …Clearly I should be taking the Talking Heads’ lyrics “When my love stands next to your love, I can't compare love.” more to heart.

Tara and I both have excellent, but very divergent, musical tastes and seeing the marriage of those playlists take root and blossom in our daughter has been mostly delightful, though at times slightly alarming... I mean, is it really healthy for a toddler to regularly quote a sonically spectacular septuagenarian? 

Margo joined in on singing “Everybody Laughs” at the zoo yesterday.

To be clear, I haven’t forced my love of David Byrne on my daughter – though I am obviously delighted every time signs of audio osmosis reveal themselves.

The first time we realized she wanted to byrne down the house was at a stalled bed time in late July. Instead of settling down to read books, Margo started singing the new single “Everybody Laughs” and requested a dance party when I wasn’t even in the room … of course when Tara let me know what was happening, I rushed in and was happy to oblige.

The first inkling that Margo was a David Byrne Stan.

Then a few weeks later just after I told Margo no more TV for the day, she asked if we could watch David Byrne videos on my phone (her favorite is his appearance on Subway Takes, though I’m partial to his story from A View From A Bridge) Again, I obliged… after all who was I to deny her that educational experience?

Is it really too much screen time if it’s David Byrne?

If you’re picking up on a pattern that suggests Margo may be using my love of David Byrne to manipulate me into giving her what she wants, you’re not alone… Tara clocked it right away, but I can’t fathom her being such a Psycho Killer.

Thankfully an incident at the Doctor’s office last week has me convinced girlfriend is better than that, and Margo’s genuinely a true believer. We had to pick her up from school after she woke up from her nap complaining of an ear ache, and she was pretty bummed that her likely ear infection meant she’d have to skip a birthday party she’d been looking forward to all week. Whenever we go to the doctor’s, I bring her drawing pad to help distract her if she’s feeling nervous. Typically she asks me to draw animals like giraffes or deer, so it came as a shock when I asked what she wanted me to draw that day and she responded with an enthusiastic, “David Byrne!!”

I’m not the strongest sketcher, so it took me the whole appointment to try to do the ultimate talking head justice, but after the doctor gave Margo’s ears the all clear and left the room, I showed her the results of my labor.

Ask and ye will receive, “David Byyyyyyrnnne!!”

Did Doodle Byrne heal her or did she just have a tooth ache in the back of her mouth she mistook for ear pain? I’m not a doctor, so I can’t say for sure. But I do think in this wild wild life when it often feels like we’re on a road to nowhere, it’s got to help at least a little to be exposed to a bike loving 73-year-old whose bright monochromatic outfits are only outshined by his blindingly bright optimism …and if it means I end up caving in too often when she says “I Should Watch TV,” is that really so bad?

I thought Margo would love David Byrne dressed as Elsa from “Frozen” in “John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch,” but it was too much of a good thing for her still growing brain.

My Song of the Day: “Everybody Laughs” by David Byrne

My Current Favorite Newsletter: David Byrne’s “Reasons To Be Cheerful,” which aims to spread positivity and hope