David Byrne reveals how Minnesota inspired a Talking Heads classic

David Byrne has made many memorable appearances in Minnesota over the years. But none may have been as fruitful as the time he visited the state just ahead of recording The Talking Heads' final album.

During an appearance Monday on the "Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," the rocker was asked about his reputation for writing lyrics when he's behind the wheel.

Byrne launched into an anecdote about the time he was in a rental car in Minnesota — a reference that caused some in the audience to shriek.

"Hot dish!" Fallon said before Byrne continued his story.

At the time, he was struggling to come up with lyrics for a new melody and was speaking into a tape recorder, babbling whatever came into his mind as he looked out at the landscape through the car window.

"I started imagining, 'What if all this beautiful countryside, the strip malls and other things we think of as ugly, were gone?'" he said. "We'd kind of miss it. I decided to write about that."

Byrne never mentioned the name of the song on the show, but it was clear he was referring to "(Nothing But) Flowers," a single from the Talking Heads' 1988 album, "Naked."

The lyrics don't automatically have you thinking of the Midwest, especially references to rattlesnakes and honky-tonks. But at least one of the lines — "this was a discount store/now it's turned into a cornfield" — fits the setting. There's also a reference to Dairy Queen, which is headquartered in Bloomington.

Byrne was appearing on "Fallon" to promote his latest book, "A History of the World (In Dingbats)," a collection of sketches he drew during the pandemic. His long-running Broadway musical, "American Utopia," is scheduled to close April 3.