“Heroes” Covered part 3: Oasis performs “Heroes”

In contrast to the last two songs, “Beauty and the Beast” and “Joe the Lion,” “Heroes” is one of Bowie’s most frequently covered songs. There are MANY options to choose from. My selection of this cover by Oasis is almost random, except in that it is by a band with which I have some familiarity and I have not heard this before now.

Its a relatively faithful cover, with some of the lyrics moved around. If you ever wanted to hear Oasis perform “Heroes,” this is your chance.

As for the song itself, as I have mentioned before, I think it is somewhat like Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” in the sense that its sometimes used for reasons not supported by the song itself. Bowie would do this himself, for instance when he performed the song in Berlin post-wall, or at the Concert for New York, post 9/11. In these and many other cases, the emphasis is placed on “we can be heroes” and not on “just for one day.” To me, the song is similar to, “We Are The Dead,” from “Diamond Dogs,” which was clearly inspired by the novel “1984” and the love affair between Winston and Julia. In both songs, the lovers have to pretend that doom is not at hand. “Heroes” is not a hopeful song. At best, its a song about making the most of the moment and at worst its about self-delusion.

Throughout his catalogue, Bowie has songs about reveling amidst decay, or chaos or impending peril. If you accept the Ziggy Stardust album as a coherent whole (which you probably shouldn’t), everything happens after we’ve been warned the the Earth has five years. “Diamond Dogs” begins with the lines, ‘When they pulled you out of the oxygen tent, you asked for the latest party,” before the rest of the song describes a wild dystopian “Hunger City.” “Panic in Detroit” features an autograph-seeker in the midst of a riot. “The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell” is a reflection on those who lived for the moment in their time but aren’t looking too good in the aftermath. There are far, far too many examples along these lines.

To the extent these themes reflect a philosophy, it is an awfully fatalistic philosophy. You can’t do much about the world around you, so you might as well have fun while you can.

In contemplating this entry, I looked up the origin of the term, carpe diem, and see it traces back to an ancient poem by Horace, and was followed by the phrase, quam minimum credula postero, which means something like, “put little trust in tomorrow.” Exactly what point Horace was trying to make has, apparently been a subject of debate ever since— either make the most out of life today because tomorrow is unknown, or do as much as you can to make tomorrow better. Either way, Bowie embraces neither meaning. He knows what tomorrow brings: death, decay and breakdown. But since we can’t do anything about it, have fun in the moment. We can be heroes, just for one day.