10 Greatest David Bowie Songs
2. Up The Hill Backwards
This song contains almost every musical component Bowie had experimented with up to that point. It has the folky sensibilities of his early 1970s work. The bass in the track sounds like something you'd find on an album like Station to Station. And the harsh, almost dissonant experimental guitars sound like they were ripped straight from his Berlin trilogy. Far from his most commercially successful songs, it serves as the perfect example for his musical diversity and poetic songwriting style.
"The vacuum created by the arrival of freedom/ And the possibilities it seems to offer" is the very first lyric in the song, and it conveys so many ideas in so few words. It seems to describe the meaningless of freewill and the façade that it seems to bring with it that we are in control of our lives. The song is full of lyrics like this and it makes for arguably one of his most lyrically concise songs ever.
Like a lot of Bowie songs, it is bittersweet. It has Bowie accepting his existence in this world, but that existence is one of indifference and inevitable defeat. And it's that lyrical message that is reflected in the eclectic and experimental instrumentation.
Although not one of his most popular songs, Up the Hill Backwards is the prime example of what Bowie does best, distilled down to the core elements.