Hear David Byrne’s Remix to Support Ailing P-Funk Great Bernie Worrell
David Byrne has remixed “How Does the Brain Wave,” his 2007 collaboration with Baby Elephant — the project of DJ Prince Paul and Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell — to help raise funds for Worrell. Worrell is struggling to pay his medical bills after being diagnosed with prostate cancer and stage-four liver and lung cancer.
The former Talking Head has also tapped Jamie Lidell to remix the song, both of which are available to stream and purchase. Fans can choose how much they donate for the two songs, though there is a $1.99 minimum.
The two cuts have also been pressed into five dub plates, which will be auctioned off along with Byrne’s original sketch of the cover art.
All proceeds from the auction and downloads will benefit the Bernie Worrell branch of the charitable organization, Sweet Relief, which helps musicians with their medical needs. Music Glue — the site through which the “How Does the Brain Wave” remixes are being sold — will also donate their usual fee (minus a small transaction fee) to Worrell as well. Fans are also encouraged to make donations directly to Worrell’s Sweet Relief fund.
Byrne and Lidell’s remixes arrive the day after a slew of musicians and stars gathered at Webster Hall for a concert benefiting Worrell. The lineup featured Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, Living Colour, Meryl Streep, Rick Springfield and Paul Shaffer.
On his website, Byrne also wrote of his admiration for Worrell and the significant influence the keyboardist has had on him as a musician, member of P-Funk and de facto member of the Talking Heads throughout much of the Eighties.
“Bernie is classically trained (as well as having perfect pitch — I’ve heard him improvise with the sounds of traffic), so he brought those skills to the Afro-Futurism of the P-Funk universe,” Byrne wrote. “A bit of keyboard cosmos into the funk chants and beats of that world that made it what it was. I learned a lot from that music, and of course from the time spent traveling and playing with Bernie — wordplay, musical attitude and lot more. He informed the musician and composer I was to become.”