David Byrne’s ‘Glass, Concrete & Stone‘ superbly illustrates Richie’s irritation
Seven episodes into the superb second series of the Hulu series The Bear, and the music on its soundtrack is still bloody fabulous.
Music like that wonderful track playing on The Bear, Season 2, Episode 7, “Forks” as Richie is irritatedly cleaning the forks, and cleaning the forks, and cleaning the forks in the “best restaurant in the world”.
That track is former Talking Heads’ lead singer David Byrne’s ‘Glass, Concrete & Stone’.
The song starts playing as Richie first arrives in the kitchen, continues playing through each day he is there cleaning forks, and while other staff at Carmy’s restaurant are getting on with their days.
When and where was David Byrne’s ‘Glass, Concrete & Stone‘ released?
‘Glass, Concrete & Stone’ was released as the first song on the Scottish-American singer songwriter’s seventh studio album Grown Backwards.
The album came out in March, 2004 on the Nonesuch and Warner Bros. record labels, and eventually hit low down on album charts in the U.S. and the UK.
It is a standout album due to several songs, but in particular ‘Glass, Concrete & Stone’ which, like most David Byrne songs, could really mean anything when you drill right through the lyrics to what may be a meaning underneath.
My guess is though, while the song with its jaunty melody sounds quite upbeat and hopeful, it is actually more likely to be depressing and sad.
Particularly as Byrne talks about the home he is sending money back to not really being a home at all:
Glass and concrete and stone
It is just a house, not a home.
Almost as if he is trying to persuade himself, while he is still making sure his family is getting some of the money he earns, he doesn’t really have a family to go back to.
Listen to David Byrne’s ‘Glass, Concrete & Stone’ as heard on Richie’s fork scene on The Bear in the song’s music video, and on the American musician’s Grown Backwards album via Spotify.