Nuclear Beef

Unplugged Outtake Talking Head Maniac Audio Beef Today. David Byrne joins 10,000 Maniacs and chooses to leave unanswerable questions unanswered.

'Let The Mystery Be' by 10,000 Maniacs featuring David Byrne, collected on Campfire Songs

Every once in a while I hear a song that immediately strikes me; I get goosebumps and start singing along before the first play is over. This is one of those songs.

It's a cover of a song by country musician Iris Dement (from her album Infamous Angel), originally recorded as part of the 1993 10,000 Maniacs MTV Unplugged performance but previously only released as a CD single B-side. It features David Byrne, so you should really download it on that basis alone. It's not every day you get to hear a duet between Natalie Merchant and David Byrne, you know?

What really gets me about this song is the beautiful message, expressed in such an elegant and human way. For those of us who are overly analytical, sometimes it helps to be reminded that not everything must be analyzed.

Sometimes, you can just let the mystery be.

Some say they're goin' to a place called Glory and I ain't saying it ain't a fact.
But I've heard that I'm on the road to purgatory and I don't like the sound of that.
Well, I believe in love and I live my life accordingly.
But I choose to let the mystery be.


Everybody's wonderin' what and where they all came from.
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done.
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me.
I think I'll just let the mystery be.

(Am I the only one who feels an intense urge to sing out when the chorus hits the "no-one knows for certain" line? Yowza, intense. Oh, the Amazon page for this album has a comment which indicates that 10,000 Maniacs covered Eno's Burning Airlines..., so if anyone has a copy, feel free to mail nuclearbeef A@T gmail d0t com.)