David Byrne has released a recording of his cover of Olivia Rodrigo‘s “Driver’s License” in anticipation of the 5th anniversary of Rodrigo’s debut album in June.
The song will be released as a limited edition 7″ single in April. To announce the celebration of her album’s 5th anniversary, Rodrigo wrote, “We’re starting off insanely strong with an incredible reworking of ‘drivers license’ from one of my all-time heroes, David Byrne. David is nothing short of a legend and I actually cried when I heard his version of this song.”
The sincerity that Byrne delivers all of his lyrics in make the song work. Very few performers could pull off the song’s opening couplet of “I got my driver’s license last week/just like we always talked about,” and fill it with such drama and sadness and innocence as Byrne does.
This isn’t the first time Byrne has worked with Rodrigo, in June of last year, he joined her on-stage during her set at the Governor’s Ball in New York. (The two performed Talking Heads‘ “Burning Down the House,” and if you missed it, no worries- it’ll be on the “Driver’s License” b-side.)
