In the back woods of our music crew’s collective beard, David Byrne is more myth than man. But, is he beyond all reproach? Sure, the ex-Talking Heads frontman is a pop genius, an avant-garde instigator, a digital-age prophet, an A&R wonder, and a continuing friend to the indie fringe, but what about his writing? It turns out he isn’t perfect after all (the bad-grammar bug can get the best of anyone). After the jump, a wordsy no-no that any ol’ person might have made.
From an insightful blog entry on Byrne’s recent Dark Was the Night performance:
That’s a really different approach than what might be called traditional rock or pop, which can be extremely dogmatic — not to mention disposable — with proscribed instrumentation, tempos and subjects. There’s a sense of seriousness about this crop of artists — serious play, but still serious.
Overuse of em dashes aside, we can’t help but notice his use of “proscribed” is incorrect. “Prescribed” means “to lay down as a guide, direction, or rule of action” whereas “proscribed” implies a condemnation (thanks English Police!).
Does this change anything about big daddy Bryne? Nope, but, it’s nice to know that genuises also make mistakes (see Caroline, we aren’t alone!).