Day 29 | Station to Station

The albums Diamond Dogs, Station to Station and Blackstar each feature long songs that are actually two songs grafted together. In each case this device is intended, I think, to convey transformation. Candidate/Sweet Thing from Diamond Dogs signaled the transition from glam to disco, while Station to Station came out on the other side and telegraphed disco to proto-new wave. Blackstar, I think was very deliberately about the final transition. There are other similarities between Station and Blackstar, such as Bowie’s striped outfit on the back cover of the earlier album making a reappearance in the Lazrus video. Station to Station is carefully orchestrated confusion — Bowie’s not sure where he’s going, just that he’s going. Album: Station to Station.

Note from 2018: This song merits a peculiar footnote in the story of the 2016 presidential race. The House band at the Republican National Convention performed it, complete with the line about the side effects of cocaine, as baffled delegates asked themselves, “did he say, ‘from Kether to Malkuth’?”