DoM’s Latest Mashup Highlights the Dark Side of “Let’s Dance”

DoM’s mashups are usually pretty funny. They illustrate how two songs can be combined to create a new song that sounds like it should have always existed in the form he presents it. I often think these songs sound terrific, but there’s also something funny about them because I wouldn’t have guessed that the two songs could be combined in the way he does it. That’s usually why I keep posting DoM’s mashups in this blog.

What he did today by mashing up “Lazarus” and “Let’s Dance” is something different. First, I don’t think it’s funny. I think it’s almost creepy. That’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing, because I think what DoM’s mashup does here is illustrate just how dark “Let’s Dance” actually is based on what Bowie is singing.

“Let’s Dance,” of course, was a huge pop hit. It sounds upbeat, and it’s often cited as an example of Bowie selling out in the ‘80s, shifting away from the more anxious, introspective songs of the ‘70s. But the lyrics themselves betray darker implications beneath the upbeat sound of the song. He sings, “Let’s dance, for fear your grace should fall.” He sings, “Let’s dance, for fear tonight is all.” This suggests an urgency—a proposition to dance in the face of something terrible and imminent.

In this respect, “Let’s Dance” reminds me of “Heroes,” where Bowie is proposing that two people be heroes for one day in the face of impending separation or disaster, with guns firing above their heads. You might not pick this up if you’re not paying attention. But DoM’s combination of Bowie’s vocal with the serious, haunting music of “Lazarus” really highlights the dark nature of “Let’s Dance” itself. I think it also suggests that, at least with this particular song, Bowie was not abandoning the subject matter he had been addressing during the previous decade and even earlier.

I’m also reminded of seeing Carmine Rojas perform with musicians who played with Bowie mostly later than he did at one of the Sound and Vision of David Bowie shows that have become an annual tradition in New York City. Donny McCaslin and Carmine Rojas were playing together, I think, on “Let’s Dance,” and McCaslin’s style of saxophone added an element to the song that really changed its feel.

DoM’s mashup does something similar. I’m not suggesting that DoM’s mashup is the same type of artistic expression that McCaslin brings to a live performance. I am suggesting that the radically different musical setting highlights something that’s been hiding in plain sight all along.