More Idols Than Realities

David Bowie “Up the Hill Backwards”

It’s funny to me that David Bowie recorded three albums in a row with Brian Eno, but waited until the record after that run was completed to make “Up the Hill Backwards,” basically his own version of an Eno rock song. It’s there in the melody, in the affect on Bowie’s vocal performance, and that solo from Robert Fripp. It’s there in the sentiment of the lyrics too, which approach complicated emotions from a cold, logical perspective without losing touch with humanity.

“Up the Hill Backwards” was written in the aftermath of Bowie’s divorce from his first wife, and he acknowledges the feeling of adjusting to a new status quo at the top of the song: “The vacuum created by the arrival of freedom and the possibilities it seems to offer.” It’s a peculiar turn of phrase, but very evocative. The language is so passive and indecisive, and the construction of the line emphasizes the “vacuum” rather than the freedom or possibilities. The melody seems vaguely upbeat, but paired with the lyric, you get the sense that any optimism in the song has been arrived at by a process of elimination. (“Well, I don’t feel miserable or angry or scared, so I must be feeling OK.”)

The rest of the song is like he’s talking himself out of having an ego. “It’s got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it,” he sings in the refrain, seeming a bit like he’s overcompensating for being self-centered and narcissistic in the past. After all, if this is in fact about his divorce, it has something to do with him, right? The passive voice continues through the song, with Bowie singing about the world moving on regardless of what happens to him or anyone else and sounding rather calmed by the notion that nothing really matters, including the difficulties ahead of him.

The odd neutrality of Bowie’s voice in this is countered by Fripp’s guitar part, which is by far the most expressive element of the song. His solo is very melodic, and starts off with this sort of casual bearing before escalating to this frantic peak that suggests a stronger feeling buried beneath the self-imposed rationality of the song – somewhat ecstatic, and more than a little bit terrified.

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