Repetition, acoustic version (1997)

I was listening to an obscure CD of a BBC broadcast celebrating Bowie’s 50th birthday (click here for my 2021 commentary on the CD) and was struck by Bowie’s acoustic version of the 1979 song, “Repetition.” It turns out that, while the performance on the BBC show was exclusive content, Bowie had been performing an acoustic version of the song that year and included a similar version on the compilation album, Changesonebowie. This video includes the version for that latter album.

Although I’ve heard this before, I haven’t heard it recently and was just struck by how it sounds. The song itself leaves little for analysis— it’s a straightforward song about domestic violence. In that respect, it has some of the qualities I don’t especially like about some of the more overt songs on the first Tin Machine album. The message is pretty inarguable, but the lyrics are not challenging in any way. That said, I still like the way it sounds. So, I’m posting this today for no reason other than that.