The unauthorized use of Byrne's song 'was wrong and should not have occurred,' Crist said. | AP Photos Crist apologizes to David Byrne

Charlie Crist isn’t the first or the last politician to use a pop song in a campaign ad without the artist’s OK, but now he owns a certain distinction: he is the most humiliated.

As if the former Florida governor needed more humbling after his last election, he appeared Tuesday on YouTube for the world to see, his permanently tanned skin glowing as radiantly as ever, intoning the words with a politician’s practiced seriousness: “I sincerely apologize to David Byrne.”


Crist then pauses, casts his eyes downward and bites his lip slightly before finishing the sentence: “… for using his famous song and his unique voice in my campaign advertisement without his permission.”

The video was posted as a condition of an undisclosed settlement reached between Crist and Byrne, lead singer of the band Talking Heads. At issue was Crist’s use of the 1985 hit “Road to Nowhere” — without the band’s permission — as the soundtrack for an ad produced by his 2010 Senate campaign.

Whatever else Byrne may have gotten out of his lawsuit — it originally demanded $1 million in damages — he clearly got one thing: a piece of Charlie Crist’s manhood.

Byrne underscored the point in his statement on the settlement: “It turns out I am one of the few artists who has the bucks and cojones to challenge such usage,” the artist said. “I’m feeling very manly after my trip to Tampa!”

Crist’s 90-second speech in the video has no soundtrack, despite the potential suitability of another Talking Heads hit, “Dancing for Money.”

Unsmiling and baleful, his brow furrowing as he speaks, Crist appears to be reading from an unseen paper, yet he puts a remarkable amount of feeling into his painful meal of crow. His natural political talents, acknowledged throughout his career by even his bitterest opponents, apparently do not allow for a wooden or lackluster scriptreading.

“During 2010, I ran for a seat in the United States Senate,” Crist says. “During that campaign, a video advertisement utilized a song made famous by David Byrne and the Talking Heads called ‘Road to Nowhere.’ … Regrettably, the campaign did not ask permission to obtain a license from Mr. Byrne. … In fact, Mr. Byrne has never permitted his songs to be used for advertisements of any kind, a position I respect deeply.

“The use of David Byrne’s song and his voice in my campaign advertisement without his permission was wrong and should not have occurred.”

In modern campaigns, the practice of misappropriating popular music goes back at least as far as Ronald Reagan’s deployment of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.” And yet, despite perennial complaints from artists and occasional lawsuits, it continues to occur.

The same lawyer who represented Byrne previously brought a suit against 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain on behalf of Jackson Browne, the recording artist whose song “Running on Empty” the McCain campaign used without permission. A settlement was reached.

John Hall, the Orleans guitarist-turned-Democratic-congressman, also complained about his music being used by McCain, as did John Mellencamp. As Time.com noted, numerous other rockers have protested the GOP’s use of their songs, from Heart to the Foo Fighters.

Don Henley of the Eagles won a settlement last year against former Republican Senate candidate Chuck DeVore for his campaign’s reworkings of “The Boys of Summer” and “All She Wants to Do Is Dance,” which turned those good-time anthems into anti-liberal jingles.

None of those protests or lawsuits appear to have served as a meaningful deterrent. Crist wasn’t even the only politician in his own 2010 race to use unlicensed tunes: His Republican opponent, Marco Rubio, drew a complaint from the Steve Miller Band when his campaign used “Take the Money and Run” in an anti-Crist ad.

Rubio, however, was not sued.

With the extraction of the videotaped apology, Byrne appears to be hoping he can finally put a stop to this recurring outrage on behalf of liberal-leaning musicians everywhere.

“My hope is that by standing up to this practice maybe it can be made to be a less common option, or better yet an option that is never taken in the future,” Byrne, whose recent projects have included a disco song cycle based on the life of Imelda Marcos, said in his statement.

Crist’s fall might have seemed complete already after his double-barreled 2010 loss: Once a popular centrist Republican governor, he was forced out of the GOP Senate primary a year ago this month, when Rubio, an upstart state legislator, leaped 20 points ahead of him in the polls. Running as an independent in the three-way general election, Crist drew less than 30 percent of the vote.

His name remains anathema among Florida conservatives — the chief line of attack against his onetime aide and Senate appointee George LeMieux, now seeking to return to the Senate, is his tie to Crist.

As Florida GOP strategist Rick Wilson cracked on Twitter a few days ago: “The phrase ‘Charlie Crist Republican’ is like saying ‘I’m Doctor Atheist von Gay, The French Celebrity Abortionist.’”

And yet Crist, ever the optimist, always keeps his chin up.

In his concession speech in November, Crist smiled broadly and thanked his constituents “from the bottom of my heart,” saying, “It’s a tough night, but there’s a bright future ahead.”

Similarly, in the settlement discussions in Tampa last week, Crist and Byrne “seemed like old friends,” the St. Petersburg Times reported.

Of the man who forced him to grovel for a minute and a half on the world stage, Crist told the paper afterward: “He’s a wonderful guy. A very kind man. I really have great respect for him. He’s an incredible artist. We had a good interaction last week and a nice settlement. And I’m very pleased.”

An attorney for Byrne noted that the singer and Crist bear a striking resemblance to one another, with their wide, round eyes, white hair and dark eyebrows.

In the video, Crist, now an attorney in private practice, kept hope alive for his political career, saying: “I pledge that should there be any future election campaigns for me, I will respect and uphold the rights of artists and obtain permission or a license for the use of any copyrighted work.”

In the words of the final verse of Byrne’s “Road to Nowhere”: “They can tell you what to do/ But they’ll make a fool of you/ And it’s all right, baby, it’s all right.”