“All his own words. No editorialising. Straight from the man’s mouth to mine”.
The new feature-length documentary is made by Alex Gibney, who is behind Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief, The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley, and the Oscar-winning Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room.
Described as a “definitive and unvarnished examination” of the billionaire tycoon, Musk is set to open in cinemas on October 16, and has already been criticised by Elon Musk – who described the 235-minute film as a “hit piece”.
Now, it has come to light that David Byrne has made a song especially for the documentary, and it will be comprised entirely of Elon Musk quotes.
David Byrne Returns to Oscar Race With Original Song for Elon Musk Documentary ‘Musk’ (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/rAAOUNTRdy
— Variety (@Variety) September 2, 2026
He wrote the song alongside composer Daniel Pemberton (Project Hail Mary), and it is titled ‘Let Me Sell You A Dream’.
“I asked for good quotes from the Martian and found more of them online,” Byrne shared (via Variety). “I’m sure he loves dropping these wild statements, and those became the lyrics. All his own words. No editorialising. Straight from the man’s mouth to mine.”
Gibney also spoke about how he was “thrilled” to have Byrne agree to make a song for the documentary.
“I am a huge fan of his. My wife and I were at the Pantages for the filming of [Talking Heads documentary] Stop Making Sense, so I sensed that he would find a musical way into what the film is trying to say. And he did,” he added.
“‘Let Me Sell You a Dream’ is kick-ass. And, in writing the lyrics, David dug deep into the sayings of Musk himself to get to “extremely hard core,” foot-tapping sardonic poetry.”
WATCH
