Here Lies Love

Eat your heart out, Evita, there's a new crazy dictator's wife to lionize: Imelda Marcos.

Of course, I am talking about the concept-album, song cycle, whatver you call it, "Here Lies Love" by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim.

I heard one of the tracks, "Why Don't You Love Me" by Cyndi Lauper and Tori Amos, but I didn't care for it out of context. As the final track of the album, it brings it all together. Marcos was completely out of touch by the end of it all.

Of course, the whole album is itself out of context in a way. Byrne was recently interviewed on NPR and he said he specifically omitted the part about the shoes, the most notorious punchline to the fallen dictator story. I agree with Byrne though. The shoes anecdote minimize all of the great and terrible things that Imelda Marcos did. The album uses a disco milieu to bring life to the fascinating story of Imelda, who was herself a fan of discos, and all the decadence that went along with them.

There are eerie parallels to Imelda and Eva Peron, however, where Juan Peron survived Evita, making her a more tragic figure, Imelda lives on today. She's running for office in the Phillippenes, if you can believe that. This album kind of plays on the public's obsession with power and fame. It reminds us that there is often a very dark side to beauty.