When things get so absurd and so stupid and so ridiculous that you just can't bear it, you cannot help but turn everything into a joke.
Interpretation
In challenging times, humor becomes a coping mechanism to deal with absurdity.
David Byrne's quote suggests that when situations become overwhelmingly absurd or ridiculous, individuals often resort to humor as a way to cope with the chaos. It highlights the idea that laughter can serve as a refuge, allowing one to navigate through difficult circumstances by finding something to laugh about within them.
In practice
In a speech about mental health, a speaker might use this quote to emphasize the importance of finding humor in tough situations.
Forces that you might think are utterly unrelated to creativity can have a big impact. Technology, obviously, but environment, too. Even financial structures can affect the actual content of a song. The making of music is profoundly affected by the market.
I certainly agree that putting everything into little genres is counterproductive. You're not going to get too many surprises if you only focus on the stuff that fits inside the box that you know.
You create a community with music, not just at concerts but by talking about it with your friends.
Real sadness is such an all-encompassing intense thing that it takes you out of your humdrum existence. If you can still function, you want to show it while it's peaking. So when people tell you to cheer up, it's not always the best thing.
I find rebellion packaged by a major corporation a little hard to take seriously.
We don't make music, it makes us
Well, you don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind. You don't pull on the mask of old Lone Ranger and you don't mess around with Jim.
President Bush has embarked on an eight-day tour of the continent. He hopes this one goes better than the other ones he's made recently. Obviously he's not doing that well in North America [on screen: '36% Approval'], his South American trip had a few bumps [on screen: 'Angry mobs of torch-carrying bumps'], Europe seems to think the president doesn't care what they think, but hey, who cares what they think? They could at least thank him for what he's done for their burning effigy industry.
The world is filled with unmarried marriage counselors.
KILT, n. A costume sometimes worn by Scotchmen in America and Americans in Scotland.
If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?
Before I had a double mastectomy, I was already pretty flat-chested, and I made so many jokes over the years about how small my chest was that I started to think that maybe my boobs overheard me... and were just like, 'You know what? We're sick of this. Let's kill her.'
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