David Byrne and Fatboy Slim featuring Santigold – Please Don’t (DavidByrne.com)

A fantastic track, this, that needs a little explaining. Fatboy Slim and David Byrne have put together a concept album called Here Lies Love, based on the life of the former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos. Yep, you read that right.

There’s some fantastic collaborations on the album, including Cyndi Lauper and Florence and the Machine, but it’s this one with Santigold that’s the real standout. As Byrne explains on his website:

At some point as first lady, Imelda began to feel that she could help Philippine interests by charming world leaders into seeing things her way. “Handbag diplomacy” she called it — as she liked to imply that to solve a problem, she could bypass President Marcos and just grab a handbag and hop on a plane with some of her assistants.

And that’s what this song is about. It’s a corker, with a video made up from archive footage. The lyrical content is also taken this way, with Byrne explaining “most of the lyrics on this one are lifted gently from interviews and quotations — the “please don’t” chorus especially.”

A fantastic concept and a brilliant song. That’s all I ask for.