The song David Bowie said was like a "1950s variety show"

(Credit: Denis O’Regan)

Mon 25 December 2023 18:15, UK

The late David Bowie has one of music history’s most eclectic back catalogues. An artistic chameleon, the shapeshifting Londoner continually pushed himself to develop his creativity, meaning that various genres were covered across his career, from saccharine pop to dark industrial textures.

Bowie was particularly adept at drawing on the music of his past to full effect. As he emerged, like every musician of his generation, out of the rock ‘n’ roll era, which had its origins in the 1950s, the spirit of the decade would occasionally make its way into his music, evoking images of leather jackets, quiffs, drive-in cinemas and diners.

This is true throughout Bowie’s career, with the doo-wop of ‘Drive-In Saturday’ from 1973’s Aladdin Sane probably the most famous example. However, it was something that would continue to rear its head with other exhibits, including the 1975 soul-inspired album Young Americans and, more directly, the aptly named ‘Golden Years’, the lead single from 1976’s Station to Station.

Another classic example of this is ‘Fantastic Voyage’, the opener of 1979’s Lodger, the third and final instalment of the storied ‘Berlin Trilogy’. It was written by Bowie and Brian Eno, who utilised techniques from the latter’s famed Oblique Strategies cards, which are intended to spark creativity. The pair had previously used them to create several instrumentals for 1977’s Heroes.

In the doo-wop-esque track, Bowie paints a picture of the world coming to an end but maintains that he still has faith in humanity. This is because it was written during the Cold War, a time when the Soviet-American relationship was at one of its most strained stages. Bowie sings: “In the event that this fantastic voyage should turn to erosion and we never get old, remember it’s true, dignity is valuable, but our lives are valuable too.”

Bowie was also acutely aware that musically, the song is steeped in the essence of the 1950s. Speaking to the Mail on Sunday in 2008, he described it as “almost quaint, this one. It has a strong feel of the ’50s variety show to it”.

In the same discussion, he also revealed that the song’s chord progression appears on Lodger in two different ways. He explained: “First, as it appears here and then further in as ‘Boys Keep Swinging.’ Both the tempo and top-line melody are rewritten.”

Listen to ‘Fantastic Voyage’ below.