Musk documentary features David Byrne song using Elon Musk’s words

‘Let Me Sell You a Dream’ is a new song by David Byrne and composer Daniel Pemberton, written for Musk, Alex Gibney’s documentary about billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

It features Byrne singing from Musk’s perspective, using the tech mogul’s own public statements as lyrics. The track also plays over the film’s closing credits.

Pitchfork reports that Byrne wrote the lyrics by collecting quotes from Musk’s interviews, statements and other public appearances.

“It would be too easy and probably not as much fun to overtly criticize Musk. Better, I thought, to try and get inside his head a little bit, to use phrases he himself has used in interviews and statements, and let the character in the song be the one who describes himself,” Byrne explained.

“All his own words. No editorializing. Straight from the man’s mouth to mine,” he adds via Variety.

Byrne wrote the lyrics and melody before watching the documentary. He agreed to the collaboration partly because he was familiar with Pemberton’s work and Gibney’s films.

Pemberton, whose credits include Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, composed the documentary’s score alongside his work on the song.

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‘Let Me Sell You a Dream’ is also eligible for an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. Byrne previously won the Oscar for Best Original Score for The Last Emperor in 1988, alongside Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su.

Musk opened in North American cinemas on October 16. The film has been described as “a scathing, deeply unsettling look at Elon Musk and the power he’s bought, amassed, and wielded across technology, media, politics, and culture.”

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Its promotional campaign has also faced several setbacks. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok initially rejected the trailer as paid advertising, flagging it as political content, before reversing their decisions and calling the restrictions an error.

TikTok later temporarily suspended the film’s promotional account over the weekend.

Watch the music video for ‘Let Me Sell You a Dream’ below.

Amira Waworuntu is Mixmag Asia’s Managing Editor, follow her on Instagram.

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