Julie (1987)

Since I was listening to my 1995 reissue of Never Let Me Down, I thought I’d post about this obscure song that was included as a bonus track but wasn’t on the original album. This is too bad, because it’s actually a decent song.

Like many Bowie songs from my 1980s, the upbeat pop sound is belied by dark lyrics. Fellow Bowie blogger Chris O’Leary points out the the song strongly hints that the narrator, who is lamenting how Julie doesn’t love him, might have murdered her true love. Actually, I don’t think it’s subtle. Much of the song is about the shooting of a gun and making excuses for it. The narrator sings of Julie having loved someone else in the past-tense and pleading that she pretend to love him instead. This all adds up to the idea that the narrator is as deranged as a character from 1. Outside.

Here are the key lyrics:

“What kind of meaning in a gun shot
It doesn’t matter what they say
I never felt I aimed at no one
And who’s gonna take the gun away
Julie
Pretend for me
That I’m someone in your life”

And then later, “ Well, I know that you really loved him” (my emphasis), but if you look up the entirety of the lyrics, the murder theory fits even better.

You might never pick up on any of that by just casually listening to what sounds, at first, like a standard pop love song. No, it’s not one of Bowie’s greats, but it sounds better than something that deserves to be so obscure (it was released as a B-side).

Also, is that Tina Turner singing backup?