Photo by Jimmy King
It was BBC 6 Music that I and I imagine millions of others turned to on the morning of David Bowie's death in January, and today they had the exclusive on a brand new song. Radio 2 had another, so this was going to be a day once again dominated by the much missed legend. Much has been made of how carefully organised Bowie's final days seemed to be, with special messages apparently being spread through Blackstar, the final album released just days before his death. I'm not sure his passing was as meticulously planned as we are led to believe, (or would like to believe) but I do think that knowing he was ill with cancer prompted his final burst of creative output beginning with his single release 'Where Are We Now', the moment you know, you know. As such a detailed archivist in life I don't doubt that he left instructions regarding his work in the future, and to be honest he has a good team of people in charge of this; Tony Visconti among them.
David Bowie's final job was the writing of the musical Lazarus, based on the film The Man Who Fell to Earth, and was made with the same level of secrecy that surrounded the final two albums. This might be seen as a strange thing for Bowie to do given that he was always about the future, but when you know how your future is going to pan out, I suppose it is time to look back. As someone on Twitter pointed out in January, we were so pleased to see him back that we didn't realise he was saying goodbye.
'When I Met You' is a charming pop song that could have come from early 1980s David Bowie, and appears at the end of the play. With the lyrics "I was the walking dead/ I was kicked in the head/ I was too insane/ Could not trust the game/ Before I met you" this is a song about being saved from himself by a loved one, possibly his wife Iman or possibly the character's love.
'No Plan' was premiered on Radio 2 at lunchtime and is, in my opinion, a more Bowie sounding song if such a thing is possible from someone who kept switching styles and influences. It's a smooth jazz number, something he had been playing with on Blackstar and I don't doubt that the kind of people who over analyse will surmise that this is David Bowie sending a message from beyond the grave - "All the things that are in my life/ My moods/ My beliefs/ My desires/ Me alone/ Nothing to regret/ This is no place, but here I am".
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