"Joe the Lion" | |
---|---|
Song by David Bowie | |
from the album "Heroes" | |
Released | 14 October 1977 |
Recorded | July–August 1977 |
Studio | Hansa Studio by the Wall, West Berlin |
Genre | Art rock, krautrock |
Length | 3:05 |
Label | RCA |
Songwriter(s) | David Bowie |
Producer(s) | David Bowie, Tony Visconti |
"Joe the Lion" is a song by David Bowie in 1977 for the album "Heroes" . It was produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti and features lead guitar by Robert Fripp.
"Joe the Lion" has been described by critic Chris O'Leary as "phenomenal" and "one of the high peaks of Bowie's late Seventies". [1] Mojo magazine listed it as Bowie's 94th best track in 2015. [2]
The track is in part a tribute to performance artist Chris Burden, [3] who was famous for having himself crucified to a Volkswagen in 1974 ("Nail me to my car and I'll tell you who you are") and for having an assistant shoot him in the arm at an art gallery in 1971 ("Guess you'll buy a gun / You'll buy it secondhand"). "Joe the Lion" has also been seen as reflecting Bowie's struggle to overcome the emotional numbness that appeared to permeate his previous album Low ("You get up and sleep"). [4]
Bowie rehearsed the song for the Isolar II tour of 1978, [5] but it ultimately was not performed live until the first two dates on the 1983 Serious Moonlight Tour and more frequently on the 1995 Outside Tour. [6]
According to Chris O'Leary: [1]
Technical
"Heroes" is the twelfth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 14 October 1977 through RCA Records. Recorded in collaboration with the musician Brian Eno and the producer Tony Visconti, it was the second release of his Berlin Trilogy, following Low, released in January the same year, and the only one wholly recorded in Berlin. Sessions took place in mid-1977 after Bowie completed work on Iggy Pop's second solo album Lust for Life. Much of the same personnel from Low returned for "Heroes", augmented by the King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp.
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