A recent issue of Uncut Magazine lists the top 30 Bowie songs - apparently these magazines sell x% more copies with Lennon, Dylan or Bowie on the cover. Interesting article, but I had one problem with it: ‘Station To Station’ wasn’t voted his best song, when in actual fact it is, objectively and obviously, Bowie’s creative high watermark.

The song kicks off the Station To Station album with over a minute of…train noises. Think ‘Down In The Tube Station At Midnight’, but going on forever. Then a very Germanic thump on a piano, some guitar feedback, and a monster bass line that cuts through the start of the song. These three instruments build up a fantastic riff that…keeps going. And going.

By the time Bowie starts singing, well past the 3-minute mark, you’re thinking “Hah? Oh yeah, it’s a Bowie song”. And of course, he starts with the immortal line, “The return of the thin white duke”. The lyrics make little sense to me at the start, but he appears to reference Kabbalah-related stuff (years before Madonna and Britney made it ‘cool’).

The monster riff tales off, and a driving piano line starts up, almost as if Bowie got bored of the ouija board and decided he wants to rock ‘n’ roll his paranoia away. The line, “It’s not the side effects of the cocaine/I’m thinking that it must be love” seems to sum up how things were for Dave in his mid-’70’s Los Angelese superstar period. The song has turned from alienated dirge to hip-grinding rocker, and all seems well, even though Bowie reckons that “It’s too late”.

It’s obvious that Bowie was listening to a bit of Kraftwerk, specifically Autobahn, with his references to stations, trains, and “The European Cannon”. Kraftwerk would repay the compliment, name-checking Bowie on their Trans-Europe Express album.

At 10 minutes, this is a really long tune, probably my favourite long song (although ‘Bros’ by Panda Bear is up there too). Unfortunately, I can’t find a studio version of the song on YouTube, only this performance by some bloked with an awful quiff from the ’80’s (nah, it’s Bowie). I strongly recommend you download the original song - if you ever need a song to get you geared up for a night on the town, you can’t do better than this.

Last 5 posts by Dave

• 'Sunflower' - Paul Weller, 1993 - December 18th, 2008
• 'Brilliant Mistake' - Elvis Costello, 1986 - December 16th, 2008
• 'Icky Thump' - The White Stripes, 2007 - December 11th, 2008
• 'Careering' - Public Image Limited, 1979 - December 10th, 2008
• 'We'll Meet Again' - Vera Lynn, 1939 - December 5th, 2008

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 5:00 am and is filed under Retro Classics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.