Always Crashing in the Same Car
| "Always Crashing in the Same Car" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by David Bowie from the album Low | ||||
| Released | 14 January 1977 | |||
| Recorded | September–October 1976 | |||
| Genre | Art rock | |||
| Length | 3:33 | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Writer | David Bowie | |||
| Producer | David Bowie and Tony Visconti | |||
| Low track listing | ||||
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"Always Crashing in the Same Car" is a song by David Bowie from his album Low from 1977.
The song's lyrics express the frustration of making the same mistake over and over. The narrator of the song recounts driving at high speed in circles around a hotel garage, cautiously checking for danger, yet still inevitably crashing, while a girl named Jasmine looks on.
The song refers to a real life incident in Bowie's life that occurred at the height of his cocaine addiction. Driving his Mercedes, Bowie had spotted a drug dealer on the streets who he believed had ripped him off. In retaliation, Bowie repeatedly rammed his own car into the dealer's car, after which he returned to his hotel and ended up driving around in circles in the hotel's underground garage.[1]
There are two verses to the piece, although three were planned. In the studio, Bowie sang a third verse in a Bob Dylan style. However, given Bob Dylan's infamous motorcycling accident years earlier and the song's subject matter, the band considered such a move to be crass, and Bowie asked for Tony Visconti to delete the verse from the recording.
The song features the use of synthesizers and treatments to bring Bowie's largely calm vocals over the sound of the band. A long guitar solo completes the song.
The song's title appears in the novel "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger as the subtitle of the chapter "Christmas Eve, One". Media scientist Dr. Annette Bitsch's German language book on Jacques Lacan's mathematics of the unconscious is titled after the song in the original English.
Other recorded versions
- Bowie and Reeves Gabrels performed an all-acoustic version of the song for the radio station WRXT on 16 October 1997.
- A live version recorded at BBC Radio Theatre, London on 27 June 2000 was released on the bonus disc accompanying the first releases of Bowie at the Beeb in 2000. This version contains an extended opening featuring acoustic guitar.
Personnel
- David Bowie: Vocals, ARP Synthesizers
- Ricky Gardiner: Lead Guitar
- Carlos Alomar: Rhythm Guitar
- Brian Eno: E.M.I Synthesizers, Guitar Treatments
- George Murray: Bass Guitar
- Roy Young: Piano, Organ
- Dennis Davis: Drums
Cover versions
- Ultramar - Web site release
- The Yummy Fur - Stereo Girls (1997)
- Bluvertigo - Zero (1999)
- Stevie Salas - Shapeshifter: The Fall and Rise of Stevie No Wonder (2002)
- Danny Michel - Loving the Alien: Danny Michel Sings the Songs of David Bowie (2004)
- Chairlift (band) - We Were So Turned On: A Tribute to David Bowie (2010)
- Geoff Berner - Ikh Krakh Tomid Arayn In Der Zelber Mashin (2015)
Trivia
The pub rock band Eddie and The Hot Rods, as a pun, titled a song of theirs "Always Crashing in the Same Bar".
Sources
- Greatorex, Johnathan. "Just a Mortal With Potential." Teenage Wildlife. Nov. 1996. 06 Mar. 2006 <http://www.teenagewildlife.com/Interact/fc/misc/JG/index.html>.
- Griffin, R. "Low." Bowie Golden Years. Jan. 2005. 06 Mar. 2006 <http://www.bowiegoldenyears.com/low.html>.
References
- ↑ Hugo Wilcken. 33&1/3: Low. Continuum. p. 92.
External links
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