“Lazy” by David Byrne

"Lazy" started life in 2002 as a single by the British house duo X-Press 2 with David Byrne singing, and he co-wrote it with them (the credit lists Ashley Beedle, Darren House and Rocky alongside him). Byrne had first asked them to be his backing band; they turned him down as mere studio creatures, so he sang over their beats instead, cutting his vocal at home in New York City and emailing it across. He loved the contrast: a pounding dancefloor track with a singer extolling the virtues of doing nothing.

It was a hit in the UK and won the Ivors Dance Award in 2003, and for his 2004 solo album Grown Backwards Byrne recast it with an orchestra, producing the new version with Patrick Dillett, who recorded and mixed it. He was still singing it on his American Utopia tour in 2018.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.