Subterraneans

“Subterraneans”
Song by David Bowie
Album	Low
Released	January 14, 1977
Recorded	1976
Genre	Art Rock
Length	5:39
Label	RCA
Writer	David Bowie
Producer	David Bowie and Tony Visconti
Low track listing
Weeping Wall (10) “Subterraneans” (11)

See subterranean for other Wikipedia pages with similar titles. For the rock band see Subterraneans (band).

"Subterraneans" is a song by David Bowie for his album Low (1977). "Subterraneans" is mostly instrumental, with brief, obscure lyrics sung near the song's end.

The final song of Low, "Subterraneans" was meant to invoke the misery of those in East Berlin during the Cold War. According to Bowie, people who "got caught in East Berlin after the separation - hence the faint jazz saxophones representing the memory of what it was."^[1]

Musical characteristics

Together with "Ian Fish, U.K. Heir" and "The Mysteries" from The Buddha of Suburbia, this song is among Bowie's most subdued and ambient. "Subterraneans" was ultimately the most heavily edited song on Low, with the reversed instrument sounds, saxophone, and multilayered synthesizers from Brian Eno which float underneath a moaned vocal that is worldless until about the final ninety seconds. The synthesiser melody is identical to a motif from Edward Elgar's "Nimrod", the 9th Enigma Variation.

The piece was rumoured to be originally intended for use in the soundtrack to the film The Man Who Fell to Earth, in which Bowie played the lead role. Though this rumour was false, the reversed track used as the bassline in this piece was actually the only remaining intact part of the film soundtrack that Bowie used on the Low album.

Lyrics

The lyrics are amongst Bowie's most inaccessible, and -- superficially at least -- seem to make no sense. Bowie reports^[2] that during the recording of Low he was "intolerably bored" with conventional narrative rock and roll lyrics. The lyrics of "Subterraneans" seem to resemble the "cut-up" technique popularized by William S. Burroughs, which Bowie had previously used and expressed admiration for.

According to the liner notes to the 1999 Virgin Records rerelease of Low, the lyrics are:

Share bride failing star

care-line care-line care-line care-line driving me Shirley, Shirley, Shirley, own.

Alternate interpretations

However, fans debate^{[citation needed]} that the lyric "care-line" is in fact the woman's name "Caroline," or that "Shirley" is not a name, but the word "surely." And the last word has been construed as "on" on some lyrics sites. Also, on some lyrics sites, the line has been depicted as "riding there" rather than "driving me"

So, if that is the case, then it could be interpreted as a song about a relationship parting.

• SHARE BRIGHT FAILING STAR -- Bowie sings as a man wanting to tell a pal about a very special and significant relationship in his life that is suddenly going sour. Or, alternately, the broken-hearted gentleman is describing how he and his sweetheart shared this special relationship -- this shining bright star in his life -- that is now going sour.
• CAROLINE, CAROLINE, CAROLINE, CAROLINE -- The woman the man loves is named Caroline.
• RIDING THERE -- Caroline is riding the bus or tube and away from the fellow represented by Bowie.
• SURELY SURELY SURELY ON -- Caroline is steadfastly moving on with her life and out of the life of the heartbroken Bowie-hero.

Live versions

• The song was used as an introduction to Bowie's set during the 1995 Outside tour. It was different from the album version in that its lyrics and musical themes were merged from the song "Scary Monsters" (which would follow "Subterraneans" on the setlists). This version was performed alongside their co-headliners, Nine Inch Nails.

Cover versions

• Philip Glass - Low Symphony (1992)
• Nine Inch Nails - Live recording (with David Bowie) (1995)

References

Sources

• Greatorex, Johnathan. "Just a Mortal With Potential." Teenage Wildlife. Nov. 1996. 06 Mar. 2006 <Teenage Wildlife>.