David Byrne forces Charlie Crist to throw himself at the mercy of YouTube for stealing his song

By Sean O'Neal | April 12, 2011 | 4:46pm

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David Byrne forces Charlie Crist to throw himself at the mercy of YouTube for stealing his song

Striking a significant blow against the use of painfully obvious songs in political ads—at least, without permission—David Byrne has settled his lawsuit against former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist over the unauthorized use of the Talking Heads song “Road To Nowhere” in a 2010 political ad. Although the terms of the settlement were not disclosed (Byrne was initially seeking $1 million in damages), Byrne was obviously happy with the outcome judging by a statement printed in the Orlando Sentinel where he said, “I’m feeling very manly after my trip to Tampa!” and added, “It turns out I am one of the few artists who has the bucks and [guts] to challenge such usage.” He probably said “balls” there; you can’t say “balls” in Orlando?

Anyway, Byrne continued, “My hope is that by standing up to this practice maybe it can be made to be a less common option, or better yet an option that is never taken in the future,” and part of his agreement with Crist involves ensuring that by forcing Crist to make this fairly humiliating apology on YouTube, which can now be Auto-Tuned into a dance mix, mashed-up with Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” inserted into scenes from Charlie Sheen’s 20/20 interview, or whatever else that wacky Internet wants to do with it. The punishment fits the crime.