"Heroes" is 40!

In honor of David Bowie's song and album "Heroes" turning 40 a few months ago, let's revisit this iconic musical moment.

I first heard this song one Friday or Saturday night when I was young. My parents would go to bed and let me stay up to watch "Midnight Special" or "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" or whatever was on after 11PM--or even after 1AM! There I was, on the shag carpet in front of the TV quite late at night, when Bowie's silhouette appeared, long and slim, seeming to float in a wash of bright light. The image was stark and otherworldy. But what really got me was the sound--that sound. How to describe it? A magical, heart-stopping wall of sound that seemed to pulse from another dimension, a rumbling, reverberating drone... a roaring that could be a billion heartbeats, the grinding of time itself. I mean, come on... what else sounded like this at that time? Nothing. Bowie, his band, guitarist Robert Fripp, producer Tony Visconti, and genius Brian Eno created a sonic texture never heard before.

And then there's Bowie's stunning vocal performance... screaming out with emotion, his voice breaking as he howls out images that evoke concentration camps or the divided Berlin, where the song was recorded. I have heard "Heroes" probably a million times over the years, but I can still think back to that time when the sound of the music and his voice were startling, improbable, but so inexplicably fresh. Watch him perform "Heroes" and see and hear for yourself... try to feel it again like it is the first time.

And here is a very special treat: producer Tony Visconti demonstrating with the original tracks how the song was created. Fascinating!

We miss you, David.

http://www.davidbowie.com

The Poetry of Rock n' Roll: "Always Crashing In The Same Car," "Heroes," and "Repetition"

To observe National Poetry Month, once a week I will be featuring lyrics of rock n' roll or pop songs that also double as exquisite poetry.

And seeing as we just lost one of the greats of contemporary music, here are lyrics to three different songs by David Bowie. His impact on not only the music world but the worlds of art, fashion, film, and literature is immeasurable.

I have chosen to share three songs, one each from his legendary Berlin Trilogy. This first song was recorded for his phenomenal 1977 release "Low" which, as I wrote in a past post (here), emerged smack in the middle of the disco and punk eras. Along came this avant-garde-ambient-electronic-abstract collection which had nothing to do with any other music of the time, and which stumped even Bowie fans. Unlike past Bowie songs, the lyrical offerings on "Low" were minimal but packed quite a punch. Here, our narrator is caught in a loop of bad decisions, as if sabotaging his own life...

Always Crashing In The Same Car

Every chance, every chance that I take
I take it on the road
Those kilometers and the red lights
I was always looking left and right

Oh, but I'm always crashing in the same car

Jasmine, I saw you peeping
As I pushed my foot down to the floor
I was going round and round the hotel garage
Must have been touching close to 94

Oh, but I'm always crashing in the same car

This next song is familiar to all of us, I am sure, since it became one of Bowie's most identifiable and iconic songs. The quotation marks around the title are meant to imply irony but the sentiment of the lyrics is anything but, with its imagery of love surviving under a crushing political regime. It came from the 1977 release "Heroes."

"Heroes"

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be heroes, just for one day

And you, you can be mean
And I, I'll drink all the time
'Cause we're lovers and that is a fact
Yes, we're lovers and that is that

Though nothing will keep us together
We could steal time, just for one day
We can be heroes forever and ever
What d'ya say?

I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them forever and ever
Oh we can be heroes, just for one day

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can be heroes just for one day
We can be us, just for one day

I, I can remember
Standing by the wall
And the guns shot above our heads
And we kissed as though nothing could fall
And the shame was on the other side
Oh, we can beat them, forever and ever
Then we could be heroes, just for one day

We can be heroes
We can be heroes
We can be heroes
Just for one day
We can be heroes

We're nothing, and nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay
But we could be safer, just for one day

And here are the lyrics to a song from 1979's "Lodger," perhaps the most accessible release of the Berlin Trilogy, musically speaking. In this song about domestic violence, Bowie eschews the usual sentimentalities of the subject and instead chooses to present a detached, chilling, psychological study.

Repetition

Johnny is a man
And he's bigger than you
But his overheads are high
And he looks straight through when you ask him how the kids are

He'll get home around seven
'Cuz the Chevy's really old
And he could have had a Cadillac
If the school had taught him right

And he could have married Anne with the blue silk blouse
(He could have married Anne with the blue silk blouse)

And the food is on the table
But the food is cold

(Don't hit her)

"Can't you even cook?
What's the good of me working when you can't damn cook?"

Well, Johnny is a man and he's bigger than her
I guess the bruises won't show if she wears long sleeves
But the space in her eyes shows through

R.I.P David Bowie. We miss you.

http://www.davidbowie.com/

BEAUTY: Men--Brave Gay Athletes

A collection of professional athletes who have recently come out.

Heroes.

Gareth Thomas, rugby, UK.

Jed Hooper, rugby, UK.

Anton Hysén, football, Sweden.

David Testo, soccer, US playing in Canada.

Steve Davies, cricket, UK.

Yoann Lemaire, soccer, France.

Currently listening to...

...the classic Bowie song "Heroes." I first heard this song one Friday or Saturday night when I was a young boy... my parents would go to bed and let me stay up to watch "Midnight Special" or "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" or whatever was on after 11PM--or even after 1AM! There I was, on the shag carpet in front of the TV, when Bowie's silhouette appeared, long and slim, seeming to float in a wash of bright light. The image was stark and otherworldy. But what really got me was the sound--that sound. How to describe it? A magical, heart-stopping wall of sound that seemed to pulse from another dimension, a rumbling, reverberating drone... a roaring that could be a billion heartbeats, the grinding of time itself. I mean, come on... what else sounded like this at that time? Nothing. Bowie and genius Brian Eno created a sonic texture never heard before.

And then there's Bowie's stunning vocal performance... screaming out with emotion, his voice breaking as he howls out images that evoke concentration camps or the divided Berlin, where the song was recorded. I have heard "Heroes" probably a million times over the years, but I can still think back to that time when the sound of the music and his voice were startling, improbable, but so inexplicably fresh. Watch him perform "Heroes" and see and hear for yourself... try to feel it again like it is the first time.

As you can imagine, "Heroes" has become one of Bowie's signature songs and he has performed it many times over the years. Below is a dedicated, energetic version he performed at Live Aid in 1985...

Growing old gracefully, here is Bowie performing a soaring, anthemic version of "Heroes" in 2002...

Of course with a song this great, many artists and bands have been compelled to cover this song over the decades. Some versions I love as much as the original (it is a song that is hard to ruin, afterall). Below are some highlights of this much-loved and oft-covered song...

Peter Gabriel sings a devastatingly beautiful, trembling, painful version of "Heroes." A studio version of this can be found on his "Scratch My Back" release.
At the 2:40 mark, listen to a genuine goosebump moment as Gabriel cries out and everything falls away but those high strings, hanging there, shimmering...

Australia's national treasure, Iva Davies, does a lovely and faithful version. His elegiac studio recording of "Heroes" can be found on "The Berlin Tapes," a marvelous collection of cover songs from various artists, beautifully interpreted by Davies...

English band Kasabian offers up a fantastic, down n' dirty psychedelic cover...

And just for fun, here is Gregorian doing a perfectly dignified version...