Scream Like a Baby

The song focusses on a protagonist called Sam who is evidently being held, along with the track's narrator, in a political prison. Though set in the future, the story is related in the past tense, in a fashion Bowie has described as "future nostalgia... A past look at something that hasn't happened yet".^[1] Musically the song is noted for its "ultra-modern new wave guitar/synth sound",^[1] as well as for Bowie's use of varispeed vocals to illustrate Sam's downward spiral in the prison hospital – according to NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray, the effect is "as if the narrator of 'All the Madmen' inhabited the world of '1984'".^[2]

"Scream Like a Baby" was one several tracks on Scary Monsters that evolved from pieces Bowie had written years before. It was originally composed in 1973, with different lyrics, as "I Am a Laser" for The Astronettes (Ava Cherry, Geoffrey MacCormack and Jason Guess).^[3] Bowie worked on an album for the group but it was eventually dropped, finally surfacing in 1995 as the Ava Cherry album People from Bad Homes; "I Am a Laser" was one of the tracks.

Other releases

It was released as the B-side of the single "Fashion" in October 1980.

Personnel

David Bowie – lead vocals
Tony Visconti – backing vocals
Carlos Alomar – guitars
Andy Clark – synthesizers
George Murray – bass guitar
Dennis Davis – drums

Notes

1 2 Nicholas Pegg (2000). The Complete David Bowie: p.181
↑ Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: p.113
↑ David Buckley (1999). Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story: p.207

External links

Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

David Bowie singles

1960s

1964	"Liza Jane"

1965	"I Pity the Fool" "You've Got a Habit of Leaving"

1966	"Can't Help Thinking About Me" "Do Anything You Say" "I Dig Everything" "Rubber Band"

1967	"The Laughing Gnome" "Love You till Tuesday"

1969	"Space Oddity" "Ragazzo solo, ragazza sola"

1970s

1970	"The Prettiest Star" "Memory of a Free Festival"

1971	"Holy Holy" "Moonage Daydream" "Hang On to Yourself"

1972	"Changes" "Starman" "John, I'm Only Dancing" "The Jean Genie"

1973	"Drive-In Saturday" "Time" "Life on Mars" "Let's Spend the Night Together" "Sorrow"

1974	"Rebel Rebel" "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" "Diamond Dogs" "Knock on Wood" "Rock 'n' Roll with Me"

1975	"Young Americans" "Fame" "Golden Years"

1976	"TVC 15" "Suffragette City" "Stay"

1977	"Sound and Vision" "Be My Wife" "'Heroes'"

1978	"Beauty and the Beast" "Breaking Glass"

1979	"Boys Keep Swinging" "DJ" "Yassassin" "Look Back in Anger" "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)"

1980s

1980	"Alabama Song" "Crystal Japan" "Ashes to Ashes" "Fashion"

1981	"Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" "Up the Hill Backwards" "Under Pressure" "Wild Is the Wind" "The Drowned Girl"

1982	"Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy"

1983	"Let's Dance" "China Girl" "Modern Love" "Without You" "White Light/White Heat"

1984	"Blue Jean" "Tonight"

1985	"This Is Not America" "Loving the Alien" "Dancing in the Street"

1986	"Absolute Beginners" "Underground" "As the World Falls Down" "Magic Dance" "When the Wind Blows"

1987	"Day-In Day-Out" "Time Will Crawl" "Never Let Me Down"

1989	"Under the God" "Heaven's in Here" "Tin Machine" / "Maggie's Farm (live)" "Prisoner of Love"

1990s

1990	"Fame '90"

1991	"You Belong in Rock n' Roll" "Baby Universal" "One Shot"

1992	"Real Cool World"

1993	"Jump They Say" "Black Tie White Noise" "Miracle Goodnight" "The Buddha of Suburbia"

1994	"Ziggy Stardust"

1995	"The Hearts Filthy Lesson" "Strangers When We Meet" / "The Man Who Sold the World (live)"

1996	"Hallo Spaceboy" "Telling Lies"

1997	"Little Wonder" "Dead Man Walking" "Seven Years in Tibet" "Pallas Athena" "I'm Afraid of Americans" "I Can't Read"

1999	"Without You I'm Nothing" "Thursday's Child" "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell"

2000s

2000	"Survive" "Seven"

2002	"Slow Burn" "Everyone Says 'Hi'" "I've Been Waiting for You"

2003	"New Killer Star" "Just for One Day (Heroes)"

2004	"Never Get Old" "Rebel Never Gets Old"

2006	"Arnold Layne" (David Gilmour version)

2010s

2011	"Golden Years - David Bowie vs KCRW"

2013	"Where Are We Now?" "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" "The Next Day" "Valentine's Day" "Love Is Lost"

2014	"'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)"

2015	"Blackstar" "Lazarus"

2016	"I Can't Give Everything Away"

Discography
Book:David Bowie Book:Bowie singles and songs
Category:David Bowie

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