PTSOTL music correspondent Jake Zavracky is a big Bowie fan. Here he is on the new single.
But wait! Unlike most of Bowie's previous catalog, the song does turn out to make sense lyrically, and it comes together in a beautiful and slightly unsettling way.
The song seems to be a vague ode to Berlin; Bowie's vision of himself as a ghost getting lost in the expanse of the city that he once walked as a vital young artist, now he struggles to understand his place in the world: "Where are we now?" The song seems to signal a surrendering to old age; in the video no attempt has been made to make Bowie look young. He looks old, but he looks good; he looks exactly like a 66 year old eccentric millionaire genius.
The music is appropriately haunting, sporadically arranged, sprawling, a little cold; a lot like the city of Berlin itself.
The song is a breakthrough for Bowie; never before has he sounded so exposed, so vulnerable. Never before has he been so willing to look imperfect in a video. Flaws on display. An artist who constantly changes and challenges himself continues to do it at age 66, and I don't think any of us will be surprised if he's still doing the same thing at 86.
--JAKE ZAVRACKY
Check out Jake's new record Narcissus in a Room Full of Mirrors
--JAKE ZAVRACKY
Check out Jake's new record Narcissus in a Room Full of Mirrors
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