Scream Like a Baby
| "Scream Like a Baby" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
"Scream Like a Baby" is a song written by David Bowie that appears on the 1980 album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps).
Music and lyrics
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 of a number of 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
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Cite error: Invalid <references> tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.
<references />, or <references group="..." />External links
<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>
 |
This 1980s rock song-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 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
