In the liner notes to his 2018 album, American Utopia, David Byrne reflects on the title: “Is this meant ironically? It is a joke? Do I mean this seriously? Am I referring to the past or the future? Is it personal or political?”

These questions, which echo the lists of questions in well-known songs such as Once in a Lifetime (And you may ask yourself, “Well … how did I get here?”), are answered both in the words and the music. Byrne disavows an ironic intention, although coming from him this is a little hard to accept. The American “utopia” refers to both past and future: from the great – albeit flawed – dream of the Founding Fathers that still fuels the myth of national exceptionalism, to the hopes of a new generation for a better, fairer society.