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Bowie
Never let me down
Although I would tend to disagree with the overall assessment of Never
Let Ale Down by All Music Guide's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, who gives the
album only two out of a possible five stars,8 I would agree with his assess-
ment of "Never Let Me Down" as one of David Bowie's most underrated
songs.9 Here, Bowie pays tribute to one of his most important songwriting
influences, John Lennon. Unlike Lennon's friend and former bandmate Paul
McCartney, who in "Tug of War" grappled with the complex relationship he
shared with Lennon, and unlike Lennon's former bandmate George Harri-
son, who in "All Those Years Ago" documented Lennon's vision and the way
in which some of Lennon's work (musically and otherwise) was misunder-
stood both by close associates and the public at large, co-writers Bowie and
Carlos Alomar provide a song that is thoroughly in the mold, both musically
and lyrically, of Lennon's work. It is not about John Lennon. Instead, "Never
Let Me Down" resembles, more than anything else, a logical extension of
Lennon's work just before the time he was murdered. In fact, the style and
arrangement of "Never Let Me Down," along with Bowie's eerily Lennon-
like vocals, fits with both Lennon and Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy (the last
release of Lennon's life) and Lennon's posthumous 1983 album Milk and
Honey. It is not just that David Bowie proves himself to be possibly the great-
est Lennon imitator ever—there is even some of Lennon's son Julian Len-
non's vocal tone color in Bowie's voice, too—his compositional approach
is thoroughly in the mold of Lennon. In particular, Bowie contrasts phrase
lengths in the songs sections—a technique that Lennon employed on more
than one occasional. Even more Lennon-esque, however, is Bowie's use of
clear chromatic (moving by half-steps) vocals leading in the inner notes of the
chords in the accompaniment. The listener can find this in numerous Lennon
songs; however, Lennon's last great single "(Just Like) Starting Over" might
be the best example, since the rhythmic style and the style of the arrange-
ment and record production is also so closely captured by Bowie. Bowie's
lyrics capture the vulnerability that pervades much of Lennon's best work as
a lyricist. This stands out quite starkly, because Bowie's lyrics usually come
from the viewpoint of characters who are a lot of things, but rarely vulnerable
in the manner of Lennon's characters. And, Bowie's harmonica playing eerily
calls to mind Lennon's instrumental work on such early Beatles's songs as
"Love Me Do." All in all, this song, perhaps more than any other song David
Bowie has written and recorded, proves his skill as a pop craftsman.
The words and music of David Bowie
James E. Perone
