0:00:02 > 0:00:05This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11# Something happened on the day he died
0:00:11 > 0:00:15# Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside
0:00:15 > 0:00:18# Somebody else took his place
0:00:18 > 0:00:21# And bravely cried... #
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Always remember that the reason that you initially started working
0:00:24 > 0:00:28was that there was something inside yourself that you felt
0:00:28 > 0:00:30that if you could manifest it in some way,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33you would understand more about yourself
0:00:33 > 0:00:35and how you coexist with the rest of society.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40# How many times does an angel fall?
0:00:41 > 0:00:45# How many people lie instead of talking tall?... #
0:00:45 > 0:00:49People have either really accepted what I do or they absolutely
0:00:49 > 0:00:53sort of push it away from them. I guess that's what I am, you know?
0:00:53 > 0:00:55But I would love to feel that what I did
0:00:55 > 0:00:58actually changed the fabric of music.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Even though I seem to superficially change such a lot,
0:01:12 > 0:01:14a style does come through.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21By virtue of the fact that I'm getting older,
0:01:21 > 0:01:24it's given me quite a scope on what I can draw from
0:01:24 > 0:01:26within my own catalogue of albums.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40# Look up here
0:01:40 > 0:01:41# I'm in heaven
0:01:43 > 0:01:46# I've got scars that can't be seen... #
0:01:58 > 0:02:00Hello, hello, hello!
0:02:00 > 0:02:02# It's your lucky day!... #
0:02:05 > 0:02:11# Where are we now? Where are we now?... #
0:02:11 > 0:02:15I think that David's music is totally autobiographical.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19He's telling you everything if you just know what to look for.
0:02:19 > 0:02:25# The moment you know You know, you know... #
0:02:25 > 0:02:27He was a kind of provocateur.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31# Where in the fuck did Monday go? #
0:02:31 > 0:02:34He offered an alternative to people.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38And that, to me, is a great artist, you know,
0:02:38 > 0:02:42someone who can offer that for generations to come.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48This is one human being who has single-handedly changed
0:02:48 > 0:02:50basically the course of my life.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52And you can't say that about most people.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04# Loving the alien... #
0:03:04 > 0:03:06# Watch that man
0:03:07 > 0:03:10# Oh, honey, watch that man... #
0:03:10 > 0:03:14# Blue, blue, electric blue That's the colour of my room... #
0:03:14 > 0:03:17# I'm looking for a vehicle I'm looking for a ride
0:03:17 > 0:03:21# I'm looking for a party I'm looking for a side... #
0:03:21 > 0:03:24# We can be heroes
0:03:25 > 0:03:27# Just for one day. #
0:03:30 > 0:03:33CHEERING
0:03:41 > 0:03:44I had this poetic, romantic, kind of juvenile idea
0:03:44 > 0:03:46that I would be dead by 30.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50Suddenly you're 30 and you're 40, then you're 50 and 57 and all that,
0:03:50 > 0:03:54and it's a new land, you know, I pioneer.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56# You've got your mother in a whirl
0:03:57 > 0:04:00# She's not sure if you're a boy or girl
0:04:01 > 0:04:05# Hey, baby, your hair's all right
0:04:05 > 0:04:08# Hey, baby, let's stay out tonight... #
0:04:08 > 0:04:11- It's a big tour you're starting, isn't it?- Yes, it's going to go on
0:04:11 > 0:04:13for months and months, but I think we're up for it.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15How do you feel right now?
0:04:15 > 0:04:17Pretty relaxed, you know.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22I enjoy the songs a lot, so I'm going to have a good time.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29I'm going to be honest with you,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31the happiest I've ever seen that man
0:04:31 > 0:04:33in 42 years that I've spent
0:04:33 > 0:04:35on and off with him, was that tour.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38I'd never seen him like that before.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40- You! - # Rebel, rebel
0:04:40 > 0:04:42# You've torn your dress
0:04:43 > 0:04:45- # Rebel, rebel - Your face is a mess
0:04:47 > 0:04:50- # Rebel, rebel - How could they know?
0:04:51 > 0:04:54- # Hot tramp, I love you so... # - You bet!
0:04:54 > 0:04:58At a certain time in your life, you get to a point where
0:04:58 > 0:05:00you do feel freer and you don't
0:05:00 > 0:05:02really care what people think
0:05:02 > 0:05:04and you can be yourself
0:05:04 > 0:05:05and you can laugh at things
0:05:05 > 0:05:08and you can not take things maybe so seriously.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12# Hey, baby, let's stay out tonight... #
0:05:12 > 0:05:15When it came to the Reality tour
0:05:15 > 0:05:18I think he had decided that he was going to take down
0:05:18 > 0:05:22that kind of screen, if you like, and be David Bowie.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24Not in a cheesy way,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27but he allowed more access to himself.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32On guitar, from Dublin, fair city, Gerry Leonard.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34CHEERING
0:05:34 > 0:05:37Actually, he's from Tunbridge Wells,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40but it always gets a good applause when I say that.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43I'm not really very keen to put on much of a theatrical show, you know,
0:05:43 > 0:05:47in terms of big sets and elephants and fireworks and things like that.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50But of course, it doesn't mean that I won't go back on my word
0:05:50 > 0:05:53because that's part and parcel of what I do for you.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57It's part of my entertaining factor, is lying to you.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03His sense of humour was on.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05He always had one anyway,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08but publicly he didn't show it as much, you know what I mean?
0:06:08 > 0:06:13There was that serious artist thing going on, you know,
0:06:13 > 0:06:15during some of the tours.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17The Reality tour wasn't like that because there were some nights
0:06:17 > 0:06:19I was falling down laughing at some of the shit
0:06:19 > 0:06:21that he would say or do or that happened.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24These must be albums that nobody ever bought,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27- so they're going real cheap. - Did you see the guy last night?
0:06:27 > 0:06:29They've got Lodger and Tin Machine... That figures.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32We're that some truck stop up in Montana
0:06:32 > 0:06:34and I'm at...you know those machines
0:06:34 > 0:06:37that you never win at, or you put in the quarter
0:06:37 > 0:06:40and then the claw comes down and picks up the stuffed animal?
0:06:42 > 0:06:43THEY CHEER
0:06:43 > 0:06:46I do it and I actually get the thing out.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48And it's the two of us,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51it's this competition of who's going to get the stuffed animal.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55I think it's a kind of a 50-50 thing. So I'll take that one.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00That's just not the David that I had known in earlier years.
0:07:01 > 0:07:02That's brilliant.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04Some of the fun and games that were going on,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07I think that really was who he was, you know.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09There you go.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11The real David was the one that you saw
0:07:11 > 0:07:14at the time of the Reality tour.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17He was always funny, he always had a funny sense of humour.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20He was always joking about things.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24De-de-de-de-de!
0:07:26 > 0:07:28LAUGHTER
0:07:28 > 0:07:30There was a sense that David looked
0:07:30 > 0:07:34as young and as youthful as ever on that tour.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39It did seem like he had the gift from the gods, you know,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42that he was never going to get old.
0:07:42 > 0:07:48# Never ever gonna get old. #
0:07:53 > 0:07:56It's a lie, but it's only a little lie.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01He looked so good and youthful at the same time.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03And one night I said,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05"You look really good in that suit."
0:08:05 > 0:08:08And for some reason, the way I said it,
0:08:08 > 0:08:10he said, "I'm happily married."
0:08:12 > 0:08:16So I didn't realise how I was saying that, but, yeah,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19he just looked great...
0:08:19 > 0:08:20all the time.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26# Billy rapped all night about his suicide
0:08:26 > 0:08:29# How he'd kick it in the head when he was 25
0:08:31 > 0:08:32# Just speed jive
0:08:32 > 0:08:35# Don't want to stay alive when you're 25... #
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Playing All The Young Dudes, that's just such an anthem, really,
0:08:39 > 0:08:41in a way, it was almost like church, you know,
0:08:41 > 0:08:45when you really do feel like you have this congregation of people
0:08:45 > 0:08:49and everyone's singing and the whole place is swinging.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51# All the young dudes... #
0:08:51 > 0:08:52Yeah, you at the back.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55# Carry the news... #
0:08:55 > 0:08:57In the St George T-shirt.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01# Carry the news... #
0:09:04 > 0:09:08It was just an incredible connection to the audience, I think,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11for that show, for pretty much the whole show.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15# Carry the news... #
0:09:18 > 0:09:20He just got into tunnel vision,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23like he was going to make this not just successful,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25but just be prepared to play it
0:09:25 > 0:09:27because there was a lot of music every night.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31We were doing two-and-a-half-hour sets.
0:09:31 > 0:09:37And, you know, you have to really be physically capable to handle that.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47Going on tour excited him very much,
0:09:47 > 0:09:51but he said to me, flat out, "I'm tired."
0:09:52 > 0:09:55So I think he fulfilled all his wishes and dreams
0:09:55 > 0:10:00and maybe he got a little oversaturated in touring.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12We got to Prague, and then during the show,
0:10:12 > 0:10:16David was sweating profusely
0:10:16 > 0:10:18and unable to sing.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21And then he started to hunch over.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24He looked over, and I looked over at him,
0:10:24 > 0:10:26and I went, "There's something really wrong."
0:10:26 > 0:10:29And I signalled to his floor manager
0:10:29 > 0:10:31and I went, "Boy, you're not OK."
0:10:31 > 0:10:34The security person ran out and took him off the stage,
0:10:34 > 0:10:36just took him away.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39It was a little mysterious to everybody as to what it might be
0:10:39 > 0:10:41because it really did come out of the blue.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43I was just thinking, OK, he's seen the doctor,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46maybe they've given him a shot or whatever.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49Then we got ready to go to the Hurricane Festival.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55We leave this one for you, for me, for my band, for all our families.
0:10:55 > 0:10:56Thanks very much.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00We played the entire set and it seemed, you know, normal,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02not quite as energetic,
0:11:02 > 0:11:06and as charged as the performances before.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13# But I'll drink all the time
0:11:16 > 0:11:18# Cos we're lovers
0:11:20 > 0:11:22# That is a fact
0:11:24 > 0:11:26# Yes, we're lovers... #
0:11:26 > 0:11:28We finished the show...
0:11:29 > 0:11:32..and then it seemed like David was in a lot of pain,
0:11:32 > 0:11:34and obviously something was wrong.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38They sent an ambulance and took him away.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40We went back in the vans with the band
0:11:40 > 0:11:43and he went off in an ambulance that night.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47I think we were told that he'd had a mild heart attack
0:11:47 > 0:11:50and that his life wasn't in danger,
0:11:50 > 0:11:52but that was it, we were going home.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09He said he wasn't going to work for a while
0:12:09 > 0:12:13and he wasn't sure if you'd ever record again or tour again.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15He just wanted to take time off.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19CAR HORNS BLARE
0:12:24 > 0:12:27I think any kind of unexpected thing like a heart attack,
0:12:27 > 0:12:32it makes you re-evaluate things, but I never thought he'd stop working.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38We would exchange e-mails about things that were interesting
0:12:38 > 0:12:43to each or relevant, but it wasn't a lot of contact.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49It's hard to figure out David, you know,
0:12:49 > 0:12:51and I stopped trying to figure him out.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56Just hoped the phone would ring or get an e-mail from him.
0:12:56 > 0:12:57And I did.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20BAND REHEARSE
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Having not heard from him for a while, I suddenly got an e-mail
0:13:35 > 0:13:38to see if I was available to come and play on the album.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43I received then an e-mail from the management about the fact
0:13:43 > 0:13:47that IF I was going to do this, it would have to be secret.
0:13:47 > 0:13:53And if I said anything about it, I would be in big trouble...legally.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59I got an e-mail really out of the blue from David.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04Do you want to come and work on some new songs for a week?
0:14:04 > 0:14:08PS, keep shtoom.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12Once we got to the studio,
0:14:12 > 0:14:13one of the first things he did
0:14:13 > 0:14:15was hand out NDAs to everybody,
0:14:15 > 0:14:17these papers to sign.
0:14:17 > 0:14:18It was the first time
0:14:18 > 0:14:21I'd ever been asked to do something like that for him.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25The hours were very short compared to normal.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27By six o'clock that was it, no matter what.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29And some days even earlier than that.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33That was not the David Bowie that I ever worked with before,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35ever, I'd never seen that.
0:14:35 > 0:14:40He would go in there and stay there until he was spent or done.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46But this was like, "I'm leaving, six o'clock. See ya."
0:14:48 > 0:14:51He really wanted no pressure on him to release an album.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56There was no press release saying expect a Bowie album on this date.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00This way, he could finish every song to perfection.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13I'm much more interested in the process of life
0:15:13 > 0:15:17and what is it that we're uncovering with our every move.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21The celebrity side of it, I couldn't give a sausage.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38# The stars are never sleeping
0:15:40 > 0:15:43# Ooh-hoo-ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo-ooh-hoo
0:15:43 > 0:15:46# Dead ones and the living
0:15:46 > 0:15:50# We live closer to the Earth
0:15:50 > 0:15:53# Never to the heavens
0:15:53 > 0:15:56# The stars are never far away
0:15:56 > 0:15:59# Stars are out tonight... #
0:15:59 > 0:16:00- WOMANS VOICE:- David.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04David, give me a wave.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08The Stars (Are Out Tonight), the song,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11is about David's attitude towards celebrities.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14He's had a good dose of other people's celebrity,
0:16:14 > 0:16:15which he found distasteful.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21He had different things on his mind he'd been ruminating over
0:16:21 > 0:16:23and it was all coming out now,
0:16:23 > 0:16:28it was like he was birthing this stuff.
0:16:28 > 0:16:29He was trying a lot of things,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32he had to flex his muscles to get back in shape,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35like a runner or an athlete, that's what he had to do.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39You know, we just would throw these songs at the musicians,
0:16:39 > 0:16:40they'd never heard them before.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43So we have David Torn on this track.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46For instance, the intro, if I play David Torn...
0:16:46 > 0:16:49MUSIC TRACK ALTERNATES WITH GUITAR
0:16:57 > 0:16:59That's his role in this, you know.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02I had this loop, something like this, going.
0:17:02 > 0:17:03Which sounded like this.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10And I was moving it in and out while the line was happening.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15And I remember also that he was changing his vocal
0:17:15 > 0:17:18over the chords to create different sections,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22so we kind of have the idea to put some little different guitar riffs
0:17:22 > 0:17:25to kind of signify the changes over there.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35I put Torn and Leonard together. Torn and Leonard.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41Very complementary.
0:17:42 > 0:17:43OK.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51It's almost a Motown kind of thing.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54- I don't know where that kind of comes from.- Very Motown-y, yeah.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00# Sugar pie, honey bunch... #
0:18:00 > 0:18:02But he never said anything about doing that.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04- That's right. - We kind of assumed.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06If you've got a smile, you're going in the right direction.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08If you get that kind of like...
0:18:08 > 0:18:12he's like, "No, I wasn't thinking that at all."
0:18:12 > 0:18:15And it made me think of another song which is a David song,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18which was China Girl.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26David would come to the studio with pages full of lyrics
0:18:26 > 0:18:28and start scratching them out.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31Up until the last minute, he would keep revising.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35And sometimes he would come in and just re-sing one line.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53Stars (Are Out Tonight),
0:18:53 > 0:18:55I think that's one of my favourite songs on the record, actually.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00I think that song was, for lack of a better word, a good piss take...
0:19:00 > 0:19:01in a way...
0:19:01 > 0:19:07on what fame has become, which is this out-of-control machine.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12You know, David had great, grand ideas.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17To become well-known, famous, was for him, initially,
0:19:17 > 0:19:21was to have the resources to realise what his ideas were.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24He really does come from that spirit.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27He just didn't want to be famous per se.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40I just wanted to make a really big name for myself.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42I wanted to make a mark.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44# Just look through your window
0:19:45 > 0:19:48# Look who sits outside... #
0:19:48 > 0:19:53David had quite an edgy personality. He was intrigued by edgy stuff.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56He wanted to do many things,
0:19:56 > 0:20:00he loved the idea of theatre, he loved the idea of acting,
0:20:00 > 0:20:02he loved the idea of working with actors.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07# Oh, beautiful baby and my heart's aflame
0:20:07 > 0:20:09# I'll love you till Tuesday
0:20:09 > 0:20:13# My head's in a whirl and I'll love you till Tuesday... #
0:20:13 > 0:20:16He loved the idea of working with musicians.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20Being one himself, he always was looking right and left
0:20:20 > 0:20:24or over his shoulder at what might be
0:20:24 > 0:20:26or, "What could I do next?"
0:20:28 > 0:20:32It took me all the '60s to try everything I could think of
0:20:32 > 0:20:35to find out exactly what it was I wanted to do anyway.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39But just about the end of the '60s, it just started to come together.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43# Strange games they would play then
0:20:44 > 0:20:48# No death for the perfect men
0:20:49 > 0:20:54# Life rolls into one for them
0:20:54 > 0:20:58# So softly, a super god
0:20:58 > 0:21:03# Cries... #
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Through circumstances,
0:21:05 > 0:21:08I'd run into a drummer, called John Cambridge, and Tony Visconti
0:21:08 > 0:21:12and Mick Ronson, and we put together a band called Hype.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14It was probably my first costume band.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18As far as I'm aware, that was the very first so-called glam rock gig.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20# ..No flesh, no power to... #
0:21:20 > 0:21:24Hype was very important to David's development.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27This was the only way he could see, at that time,
0:21:27 > 0:21:33that he could be famous, become famous and become well-known.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36And it wasn't quite the right incarnation
0:21:36 > 0:21:39because he was not yet dyeing his hair orange
0:21:39 > 0:21:42and he hadn't taken on the Ziggy persona yet.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46# And he was all right
0:21:47 > 0:21:50# The band was all together
0:21:50 > 0:21:54# Yes, he was all right
0:21:54 > 0:21:57# The song went on for ever
0:21:57 > 0:22:01# And he was awful nice
0:22:02 > 0:22:05# Really quite out of sight
0:22:05 > 0:22:09# And he sang all night
0:22:09 > 0:22:11# All night long
0:22:14 > 0:22:17# Oh, how I sighed
0:22:17 > 0:22:20# When they asked if I knew his name... #
0:22:24 > 0:22:28The real characterisation really didn't kick in till the Ziggy.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30I mean, I was always quite a shy kid.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33And I didn't come alive on stage, I just got even shier.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37But I found I didn't get so shy if I adopted a character.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39So it was a convenience,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42as well as a very bright theatrical idea.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47# Didn't know what time it was The lights were low
0:22:47 > 0:22:52# I leaned back on my radio
0:22:52 > 0:22:57# Some cat was laying down some get-it-on rock and roll, he said
0:22:59 > 0:23:04# Then the loud sound did seem to fade
0:23:04 > 0:23:08# It came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase
0:23:08 > 0:23:13# That was no DJ That was hazy cosmic jive
0:23:17 > 0:23:20# There's a starman
0:23:20 > 0:23:22# Waiting in the sky
0:23:22 > 0:23:24# He'd like to come and meet us
0:23:24 > 0:23:27# But he thinks he'd blow our minds
0:23:27 > 0:23:29# There's a starman
0:23:29 > 0:23:32# Waiting in the sky
0:23:32 > 0:23:34# He told us not to blow it
0:23:34 > 0:23:36# Cos he knows it's all worthwhile
0:23:36 > 0:23:39# He told me Let the children use it
0:23:39 > 0:23:42# Let the children lose it
0:23:42 > 0:23:44# Let all the children boogie... #
0:23:44 > 0:23:47- Have you always wanted to be a star? - Yeah.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50It's more than being a star.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54What it is really is that I want to be productive.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59I'm not content to be just a rock and roll star all my life.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02I am trying to be one at the moment
0:24:02 > 0:24:04because I need it for a particular reason
0:24:04 > 0:24:07so that I can get off and do other things.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10# There's a starman
0:24:10 > 0:24:11# Waiting in the sky
0:24:11 > 0:24:14# He told us not to blow it
0:24:14 > 0:24:16# Cos he knows it's all worthwhile
0:24:16 > 0:24:19# He told me Let the children use it
0:24:19 > 0:24:22# Let the children lose it
0:24:22 > 0:24:24# Let all the children boogie... #
0:24:25 > 0:24:30You could feel that David wanted to be the greatest artist
0:24:30 > 0:24:33and the next Elvis Presley.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36You could feel it from every pore of his body.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41He would bring me up to his suite
0:24:41 > 0:24:44and we would watch
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Elvis Presley videos and Frank Sinatra
0:24:47 > 0:24:49and we'd have discussions about it
0:24:49 > 0:24:52and he would do certain moves and "Does this seem right and natural?"
0:24:52 > 0:24:56I mean, he was interested to look at those people
0:24:56 > 0:24:59and set such icons as his goals.
0:25:00 > 0:25:05Oh, yes, David wanted to be famous, David wanted to be an icon,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08like he is now. He was saying things to me like,
0:25:08 > 0:25:10"You have to be someone that
0:25:10 > 0:25:13"thousands and millions of people
0:25:13 > 0:25:17"want to listen to and believe in."
0:25:22 > 0:25:23But he once said, too,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27that being super-successful was like living in a goldfish bowl.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31And it was for him because people became totally obsessed with him.
0:25:31 > 0:25:36# Fame makes a man take things over... #
0:25:37 > 0:25:39You know that feeling you get in a car when someone's accelerating
0:25:39 > 0:25:42very fast and you're not driving and you get that thing in your chest
0:25:42 > 0:25:44when you're being forced backwards and think, oh,
0:25:44 > 0:25:46and you're not sure whether you like it or not.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50It's that kind of feeling. That's what success was like.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54The first thrust of being totally unknown
0:25:54 > 0:25:57to being what seemed to be very quickly known.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59It was very frightening for me.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03# Fame puts you there where things are hollow... #
0:26:06 > 0:26:09I'm not sure if he can handle it consistently
0:26:09 > 0:26:12because it is a demanding mistress
0:26:12 > 0:26:14that doesn't take no for an answer
0:26:14 > 0:26:16and is on call 24 hours.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20So it makes you a bit more paranoid than you used to, doesn't it?
0:26:20 > 0:26:25And now we are being looked upon as we have to deliver something.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29The minute you go outside - let me look a certain way, I'm famous now.
0:26:29 > 0:26:30# Fame
0:26:30 > 0:26:33# What you need is in the limo
0:26:34 > 0:26:39- # Fame - What you get is no tomorrow
0:26:39 > 0:26:40# Fame
0:26:40 > 0:26:44# What you need you have to borrow
0:26:45 > 0:26:47- # Fame - Fame
0:26:49 > 0:26:51- # Fame - "Mine, it's mine!"
0:26:51 > 0:26:54# It's just his line to bind you to trying
0:26:54 > 0:26:56# Crime... #
0:26:59 > 0:27:00This rock star thing,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03you once described it as being a dreadful existence.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06In a sort of very luxuriant mental hospital...
0:27:08 > 0:27:10..where you're sort of put in a padded room...
0:27:12 > 0:27:13..and meals are brought to you
0:27:13 > 0:27:16and the only time you're let out on your lead is when you're supposed to
0:27:16 > 0:27:20go and earn money for just about everybody else except yourself.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23# Is it any wonder I reject you first?
0:27:24 > 0:27:28# Fame, fame, fame, fame, fame
0:27:29 > 0:27:33# Is it any wonder You're far too cool to fool?
0:27:35 > 0:27:36# Fame... #
0:27:36 > 0:27:40Did David enjoyed being a star? I would say what he said to me.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44It's great when you want to get tickets for a concert,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47when you want to get backstage and see your friends
0:27:47 > 0:27:50or if you want a good table at a restaurant.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52But the rest of the time it's a pain in the ass.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56And I think that's pretty much a verbatim quote.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59I watched him deal with it too many times.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03That was his view on it.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06- I think we did...- I find this an incredible intrusion.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09Fuck off!
0:28:10 > 0:28:14- You know that's the only bit we're going to use, don't you?- Yeah.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17THEY LAUGH I know when to pick me lines.
0:28:20 > 0:28:21Yeah, that's better.
0:28:23 > 0:28:28Once he experienced the fame, and all that comes with that,
0:28:28 > 0:28:32I think he was done with it.
0:28:33 > 0:28:34He was done with it.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38And I think he realised he'd made a deal with the devil
0:28:38 > 0:28:42and it would be the rest of his life trying to undo that.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44Happy hump today, Phil.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47- I didn't get humped. You?- Yeah.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51Some people, huh? They just get lost.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55Well, it's more exciting than anything we've got around here.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57I wouldn't say that.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59We have a nice life.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02We have a nice life.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06The idea that he had for The Stars (Are Out Tonight) video
0:29:06 > 0:29:08was that there were celebrities
0:29:08 > 0:29:12that were stalking normal people to study them.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16And then he whipped out the photograph of Tilda Swinton.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18And I was like, OK, that's fantastic,
0:29:18 > 0:29:21you know, him and Tilda were to play "the normal couple".
0:29:24 > 0:29:28David really wanted to play up the androgyny card because,
0:29:28 > 0:29:33you know, he is the androgynous being that we've grown up with.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39So I cast boys in the girls' parts and girls in the boys' parts.
0:29:40 > 0:29:45At that stage, I think he was able to definitely sit back
0:29:45 > 0:29:48and reflect on what fame meant.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51And I think that song, in a way, is kind of like
0:29:51 > 0:29:55stars are never sleeping, you can't escape it.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57# They know just what we do
0:29:57 > 0:30:01# That we toss and turn at night
0:30:01 > 0:30:05# They're waiting to make their moves
0:30:05 > 0:30:08# For the stars are out tonight
0:30:09 > 0:30:10# Tonight. #
0:30:11 > 0:30:15Eventually, the celebrities, they are in their home.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19And when they come into the home, there's a transfer that happens.
0:30:22 > 0:30:27And now, the normal people are dressed like celebrities,
0:30:27 > 0:30:33and the celebrities have succeeded in becoming the normal people.
0:30:33 > 0:30:35You know, as an artist, you collect things,
0:30:35 > 0:30:38and he's had years of not having to put things out,
0:30:38 > 0:30:39so he's collecting things.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41He wants to, sort of, hold up a mirror and say,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44"Hey, look at this over here, look at this over here."
0:30:44 > 0:30:48You know, "Comment on it, but make it, you know... In an artistic way."
0:30:51 > 0:30:55# The stars are out tonight, yeah. #
0:31:03 > 0:31:05- 'Do you ever look back'? - 'Er...
0:31:05 > 0:31:07'Only with fond amusement, you know,
0:31:07 > 0:31:10'cos I've done such a lot of work in 40 years.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13'It's only recently that maybe I've started to write
0:31:13 > 0:31:15'in a kind of autobiographical way,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17'and this may be something to do with age,
0:31:17 > 0:31:19'and the way that one matures.'
0:31:22 > 0:31:25HE PLAYS INTRO
0:31:30 > 0:31:31And then...
0:31:31 > 0:31:32HE PLAYS A CHORD
0:31:32 > 0:31:34'I don't recall David on the sessions
0:31:34 > 0:31:36'really talking a lot about being old.'
0:31:36 > 0:31:40I think maybe he would joke that he would wear his slippers, you know?
0:31:40 > 0:31:43He had his slippers brought down, and he'd pop his slippers...
0:31:43 > 0:31:46You know, when he got to the studio, he'd pop his slippers on.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48We'd made a few jokes about that.
0:31:48 > 0:31:53# Where are we now? Where are we now?... #
0:31:55 > 0:31:58So, David came in with a piano demo.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00PIANO MUSIC PLAYS
0:32:00 > 0:32:04This is the DB piano - David Bowie piano.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10It's got a combination of piano and strings on the patch.
0:32:10 > 0:32:12I couldn't take the strings off,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15so those strings are him playing at home.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19We found this kind of atmosphere in the demo.
0:32:19 > 0:32:20The next time we played that
0:32:20 > 0:32:23was when we went in the studio, and Zach was there.
0:32:24 > 0:32:26I should add the drums in here.
0:32:28 > 0:32:29DRUMBEAT STARTS
0:32:29 > 0:32:32David's instruction, I remember specifically, was...
0:32:34 > 0:32:35- IN TIME WITH RHYTHM:- "One."
0:32:35 > 0:32:36Yeah.
0:32:36 > 0:32:37"One."
0:32:37 > 0:32:39He just said, "Emphasise the 'one'."
0:32:39 > 0:32:40So...
0:32:40 > 0:32:43HE PLAYS SONG RHYTHM
0:32:48 > 0:32:53If I add David, it's practically it.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56PIANO PLAYS
0:32:57 > 0:32:59It's...
0:32:59 > 0:33:04# Where are we now? Where are we now?
0:33:10 > 0:33:16# The moment you know You know, you know... #
0:33:16 > 0:33:18Out of the blue, he called me up,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21and said he'd like to talk to me about something.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24He explained the situation,
0:33:24 > 0:33:27that he had been secretly working on this track,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29And I was, like, "Oh, that's fantastic," you know?
0:33:29 > 0:33:31"What do I have to do with it?"
0:33:31 > 0:33:34And he goes, "Well, I'd like you to make the video for that."
0:33:35 > 0:33:37"Oh, that's quite a task."
0:33:37 > 0:33:41You know, and I was thinking, this big-budget video, you know,
0:33:41 > 0:33:43and I was thinking, "I have to do this justice, you know,
0:33:43 > 0:33:47"it has to be this momentous video that's going to break
0:33:47 > 0:33:50"the silence of all these years," you know?
0:33:50 > 0:33:51And David said,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54"No, I want to do it, like, in your studio,
0:33:54 > 0:33:58"it'll be these figures - very simple, rough."
0:34:06 > 0:34:10These figures were something I was making fairly exclusively,
0:34:10 > 0:34:13and did a number of exhibitions of them,
0:34:13 > 0:34:16and David, of course, loved these figures, you know?
0:34:18 > 0:34:20# Just walking the dead... #
0:34:20 > 0:34:22I did a rough sketch, and I was like,
0:34:22 > 0:34:24"This is what you have in mind, right?
0:34:24 > 0:34:29"This rough-hewn, stretched face, you know? It's not very flattering."
0:34:29 > 0:34:32But that's exactly what he wanted -
0:34:32 > 0:34:37to look, actually, beyond what the years had done to him.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40It's a strange, you know... Through the...
0:34:40 > 0:34:41Here he is leaving.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43He's had enough!
0:34:43 > 0:34:45HE LAUGHS
0:34:45 > 0:34:48He's like, "Stop going on about my face!"
0:34:48 > 0:34:52# Where are we now?... #
0:34:52 > 0:34:59So, the idea was that he wanted all this stuff in the studio situation,
0:34:59 > 0:35:02and we kind of arranged things around,
0:35:02 > 0:35:05and we talked about transparency and reflection,
0:35:05 > 0:35:10and as this was coming together, I said to him, "You know...
0:35:11 > 0:35:14"..people can read into every part of this."
0:35:39 > 0:35:45This one is perhaps the most deliberately nostalgic
0:35:45 > 0:35:47look into his past, and...
0:35:48 > 0:35:51- ..you know, he's talking about all the old places...- Yeah.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55..he frequented in Berlin, and it's deliberately sad.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59He's in the latter part of his life. Those days are gone, you know?
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Berlin was the first freedom I'd had
0:36:08 > 0:36:12from all the so-called trappings of celebrity, and, er...
0:36:12 > 0:36:14And my own problems.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17Really, I'm quite fond of that freedom that it gave me.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23I put myself in a very anonymous situation,
0:36:23 > 0:36:26in a quite working-class part of Berlin, Turkish area,
0:36:26 > 0:36:28and started to live a different life,
0:36:28 > 0:36:33and I tried to distance myself from the very drug-oriented lifestyle
0:36:33 > 0:36:34that I'd been leading.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36# Had to get the train
0:36:38 > 0:36:40# From Potsdamer Platz... #
0:36:42 > 0:36:44It was just a tremendous place to be.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46And the music was some of the most rewarding
0:36:46 > 0:36:47for me as an artist in my life.
0:36:49 > 0:36:50# I
0:36:52 > 0:36:55# I will be king
0:36:58 > 0:37:01# And you
0:37:01 > 0:37:03# You will be queen
0:37:06 > 0:37:07# Though nothing
0:37:09 > 0:37:12# Will drive them away
0:37:14 > 0:37:16# We can beat them
0:37:18 > 0:37:20# For ever and ever
0:37:22 > 0:37:24# We can be heroes
0:37:27 > 0:37:29# Just for one day
0:37:32 > 0:37:34# I
0:37:35 > 0:37:38# I can remember
0:37:38 > 0:37:40# I remember
0:37:41 > 0:37:42# Standing
0:37:44 > 0:37:46# By the wall... #
0:37:46 > 0:37:48But you can't read Where Are We Now?
0:37:48 > 0:37:53as just a nostalgic story about Berlin, at all, you know?
0:37:53 > 0:37:54But, I mean, really,
0:37:54 > 0:38:01it's much more how memories affect the way we move forward, or not.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07The Song of Norway T-shirt - I said,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10"That's very cheeky," and he goes, "I know," or something like that,
0:38:10 > 0:38:13and he never explained why he wore it.
0:38:16 > 0:38:21'Her name is Hermione Farthingale, and I absolutely adored her,
0:38:21 > 0:38:23'I mean, she was the real first love in my life.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27'And she was a ballet dancer, and a very good little singer,
0:38:27 > 0:38:31'and she played a little bit of bed-sitting room guitar,
0:38:31 > 0:38:32'you know, that kind of folk guitar
0:38:32 > 0:38:35'that every girl that looked beautiful could play in those days.
0:38:35 > 0:38:37'I don't know why, but all the beautiful girls
0:38:37 > 0:38:40'could play a little bit of acoustic guitar.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45'She was doing a film called Song of Norway.' HE CHUCKLES
0:38:45 > 0:38:47'And she fell in love with one of the actors on it,
0:38:47 > 0:38:49'and she left me for him.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52'God, I didn't get over that for such a long time.
0:38:52 > 0:38:54'It really broke me up.'
0:38:55 > 0:38:59I did see David when he'd just separated from her,
0:38:59 > 0:39:01and he was very, very upset.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06I think it was also, he was working with her, so it was a double thing,
0:39:06 > 0:39:12that he'd lost his girlfriend, and he'd lost someone in his band.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14I don't know which one was the worst, to be honest, but...
0:39:14 > 0:39:16Yeah, it did hit him pretty hard.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22I think he wanted to release something that would cause
0:39:22 > 0:39:26a lot of ripples and question marks all around,
0:39:26 > 0:39:30and he was able to get that with this.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38# As long as there's sun
0:39:47 > 0:39:50# As long as there's rain
0:39:53 > 0:39:55# As long as there's fire
0:39:58 > 0:40:01# As long as there's fire... #
0:40:01 > 0:40:02I knew this was about Berlin,
0:40:02 > 0:40:06and I thought it was really, really sweet, and quite nostalgic.
0:40:06 > 0:40:07But, er...
0:40:07 > 0:40:09The thing that really made me teary-eyed
0:40:09 > 0:40:13was when I saw the video for it.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16Oh, my gosh, you know? I thought...
0:40:16 > 0:40:18I'd never expect him to look back, you know?
0:40:18 > 0:40:20This is a new thing for him.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37CAR HORN BLARES
0:40:37 > 0:40:38SIREN WAILS
0:40:38 > 0:40:41'I think because of my orientation towards the apocalyptic,
0:40:41 > 0:40:45'I think it rather hones that low-level anxiety.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50'Especially with, you know, the advent of a new child.
0:40:50 > 0:40:55'My daughter really sort of focused my fears and apprehensions.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57'I mean, what a disappointing 21st century
0:40:57 > 0:40:59'this has been so far, you know?'
0:41:16 > 0:41:19I have to say, this track has swagger.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21All this loose playing, it's all on purpose.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25But we didn't want it to get too fancy, and it had to sound
0:41:25 > 0:41:29like a bunch of high school kids playing their instruments.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38Very, very cheesy-sounding, but perfect for this song,
0:41:38 > 0:41:40because of the lyrical content of the song,
0:41:40 > 0:41:45about this, you know, person called Valentine, who is a mass-murderer.
0:41:48 > 0:41:50'I mean, Valentine's Day,'
0:41:50 > 0:41:52from a musical point of view,
0:41:52 > 0:41:55that is way old, that's like old-school,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58all those chord changes, and the whole thing.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01But if you listen to the lyrics, there's subject matter there.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06# Valentine told me who's to go
0:42:12 > 0:42:17# Feelings he's treasured most of all... #
0:42:17 > 0:42:20There had been a number of incidents prior to creating this song
0:42:20 > 0:42:22that had moved him.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25I think he was really troubled by this trend
0:42:25 > 0:42:27of people going and shooting kids.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31# The teachers and the football stars
0:42:33 > 0:42:36# It's in his tiny face
0:42:38 > 0:42:41# It's in his scrawny hand
0:42:43 > 0:42:46# Valentine told me so
0:42:46 > 0:42:49# He's got something to say
0:42:49 > 0:42:52# It's Valentine's day... #
0:42:53 > 0:42:55He really wanted to bring the audience
0:42:55 > 0:42:57into the mind of that killer,
0:42:57 > 0:43:01and that transition from the David that we know
0:43:01 > 0:43:06to this other character that he was inhabiting in this song
0:43:06 > 0:43:08was very shocking, really.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14# Valentine told me how he feels
0:43:19 > 0:43:24# If all the world were under his heels... #
0:43:24 > 0:43:26Being right there in front of him,
0:43:26 > 0:43:30and seeing him pull this out of himself - it was, er...
0:43:30 > 0:43:33It was quite terrifying just to watch.
0:43:33 > 0:43:34# It's in his tiny face
0:43:36 > 0:43:39# It's in his scrawny hand... #
0:43:39 > 0:43:42I really wanted to introduce a weapon into the video,
0:43:42 > 0:43:44and David was really against it.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47He didn't want any guns, he didn't want any blood.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51But he was very much aware of making a statement about gun control
0:43:51 > 0:43:54and the importance of that, in his own style.
0:43:55 > 0:44:00To defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away...
0:44:00 > 0:44:02I want to say those fighting words...
0:44:03 > 0:44:06"From my cold, dead hands!"
0:44:06 > 0:44:07CHEERING
0:44:07 > 0:44:09# Valentine, Valentine
0:44:09 > 0:44:11# It's in his scrawny hand
0:44:11 > 0:44:13# It's in his icy heart
0:44:13 > 0:44:16# It's happening today
0:44:16 > 0:44:19# Valentine, Valentine... #
0:44:19 > 0:44:24He was very interested in society, you know, what makes people operate,
0:44:24 > 0:44:26what makes societies operate,
0:44:26 > 0:44:30and that was one of his less cryptic and more straight-up lyrics
0:44:30 > 0:44:32that he's ever written.
0:44:35 > 0:44:36'I'm not an original thinker.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40'What I'm best at doing is synthesising those things
0:44:40 > 0:44:44'in society or culture, refracting those things,
0:44:44 > 0:44:46'and producing some kind of glob
0:44:46 > 0:44:50'of how it is that we live at this particular time.'
0:44:53 > 0:44:55# Pushing through the market square
0:44:58 > 0:45:01# So many mothers crying
0:45:04 > 0:45:06# News had just come over
0:45:10 > 0:45:13# We had five years left to sigh in
0:45:17 > 0:45:19# News guy wept when he told us
0:45:23 > 0:45:25# Earth was really dying
0:45:29 > 0:45:32# Cried so much that his face was wet
0:45:33 > 0:45:36# Then I knew he was not lying... #
0:45:38 > 0:45:40He let you know, something's not right here,
0:45:40 > 0:45:41so that's the best I knew.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43He didn't come up with the solutions,
0:45:43 > 0:45:48but at least he could express, and others could resonate with that.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53# A girl my age went off her head
0:45:56 > 0:45:58# Hit some tiny children
0:46:03 > 0:46:06# If the black hadn't 'a pulled her off
0:46:09 > 0:46:11# I think she would have killed them... #
0:46:11 > 0:46:13'I'm not a Dylan, and I'm not a...
0:46:13 > 0:46:16'I'm not somebody who can sit down
0:46:16 > 0:46:20'and stoically write a clear picture of what's happening, you know?
0:46:20 > 0:46:23'But I can leave a very strong impression of how I feel about it.'
0:46:23 > 0:46:26- # Five years - # Five years
0:46:26 > 0:46:28# Mmm-doo-doo, yeah
0:46:28 > 0:46:31# Five years
0:46:32 > 0:46:34# Doo-doo-doo, yeah
0:46:34 > 0:46:37# Five years
0:46:37 > 0:46:40# Doo-hee, yeah
0:46:40 > 0:46:43- # Five years - # Five years
0:46:43 > 0:46:45# That's all we've got. #
0:46:49 > 0:46:51CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:47:00 > 0:47:02APPLAUSE BECOMES RHYTHMIC
0:47:02 > 0:47:04ELECTRO INTRO PLAYS
0:47:06 > 0:47:08'It's very hard to not continue
0:47:08 > 0:47:11'to readdress the same subject matter endlessly.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14'I mean, I just have a certain niche that I work in.
0:47:14 > 0:47:16'A lot of it, until recently,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19'tends to be about alienation, and being on the outside of things.'
0:47:19 > 0:47:22# It's the darkest hour
0:47:22 > 0:47:24# You're 22
0:47:25 > 0:47:27# The voice of youth
0:47:27 > 0:47:29# The hour of dread... #
0:47:30 > 0:47:32'That tends to be where I feel more comfortable as a writer,
0:47:32 > 0:47:34'but I think one keeps readdressing that situation,
0:47:34 > 0:47:37'and trying to express it in a different way.
0:47:37 > 0:47:38'I guess that's what I do.'
0:47:39 > 0:47:41# Love is lost
0:47:41 > 0:47:43# Lost is love
0:47:55 > 0:47:59When I spoke to David on the phone, it was definitely,
0:47:59 > 0:48:00"Don't say a word about this,"
0:48:00 > 0:48:03In fact, we even had a code word for it,
0:48:03 > 0:48:05so if anybody intercepted the phone calls,
0:48:05 > 0:48:09they wouldn't know we were talking about the album.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13So, the album was actually codenamed The Table.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15HE LAUGHS
0:48:18 > 0:48:19There was a lot of discussion
0:48:19 > 0:48:21about what the album would be called at the time.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23It was quite gratifying to know that not even David Bowie
0:48:23 > 0:48:26has everything planned out.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28So, it was possibly going to be called Love Is Lost...
0:48:30 > 0:48:33..possibly going to be called The Next Day...
0:48:33 > 0:48:36possibly going to be called Where Are We Now?
0:48:37 > 0:48:41The thing that started the concept for the design was this photograph.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44It's from the '70s, and he said,
0:48:44 > 0:48:47"I want to do something with this photo for the cover."
0:48:47 > 0:48:49Which I found quite puzzling.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53He was looking back on his life, even looking at that image.
0:48:53 > 0:48:55I really struggled with using the image,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58and then it took Bowie to say, "Jonathan...
0:48:58 > 0:49:01"Why don't you just turn the image upside down?"
0:49:01 > 0:49:05And within that moment, he subverted his whole history.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11So, the process was to go through every record cover,
0:49:11 > 0:49:14every printed image of him, and see how we could subvert it.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24The cover of "Heroes" really had that youthful image of Bowie
0:49:24 > 0:49:29looking forward to the future, and the square obliterates it.
0:49:29 > 0:49:34It's existentially talking about someone who's coming closer
0:49:34 > 0:49:38to the end of their life, and looking back on the past.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42I really wasn't sure about it at the time,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45to the point that in fact, the night before it was sent off
0:49:45 > 0:49:48to the record company, I wrote to him and said, "Are you sure?"
0:49:48 > 0:49:49And he actually said to me,
0:49:49 > 0:49:54"No, have faith, Jonathan, this is a good idea, it's an original idea."
0:49:54 > 0:49:57# I'd rather be high... #
0:49:57 > 0:49:59I think he was subverting people's expectation
0:49:59 > 0:50:04because of the years away, so he could play with his image.
0:50:04 > 0:50:09He wasn't a young man desperate to be original.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12He was someone who'd lived life,
0:50:12 > 0:50:16and was not up for playing the game of being in the media all the time.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23Bowie was incredibly happy
0:50:23 > 0:50:27that we'd managed to keep this thing secret all this time.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29We had accomplished something unique
0:50:29 > 0:50:32in a time when everybody knows everything.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38He was quite attracted to all the furore
0:50:38 > 0:50:43around an album being released, but he wanted to play the right way.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47# Then we saw... #
0:50:47 > 0:50:49- REPORTER:- Hello. David Bowie is back in sound and vision
0:50:49 > 0:50:52with his first new album in a decade.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54- REPORTER:- He hasn't performed since 2006,
0:50:54 > 0:50:58and has rarely been seen in public since then, but now he's back.
0:50:58 > 0:50:59- REPORTER:- But after a bout of ill-health,
0:50:59 > 0:51:01it was thought he had retired. Wrong.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03- REPORTER:- His new album, his first in ten years,
0:51:03 > 0:51:05shot to the number one spot last weekend.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08In fact, it's the fastest-selling of the year so far,
0:51:08 > 0:51:12having shifted over 100,000 copies in less than two weeks.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15# The night was always falling
0:51:17 > 0:51:20# The peacock in the snow
0:51:21 > 0:51:24# And I tell myself
0:51:26 > 0:51:29# I don't know who I am... #
0:51:32 > 0:51:36He just stopped giving interviews many years ago, and, erm...
0:51:36 > 0:51:40this is something that he needed to do, I think, for himself.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43He couldn't have his life examined any longer,
0:51:43 > 0:51:45he didn't want any speculation about his life.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07I think it's terribly dangerous for an artist
0:52:07 > 0:52:09to fulfil other people's expectations.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12If you feel safe in the area that you're working in,
0:52:12 > 0:52:14you're not working in the right area.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18Always go further in the water than you feel you're capable of being in.
0:52:18 > 0:52:20Go a little bit out of your depth,
0:52:20 > 0:52:23and when you don't feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom,
0:52:23 > 0:52:26you're just about in the right place to do something exciting.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32The way David works, he just keeps evolving, evolving, evolving.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36David's always looking for that new element, and unique musicians,
0:52:36 > 0:52:38to be the carriage for his new ideas.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45Maria Schneider is an amazing jazz composer,
0:52:45 > 0:52:48and how she could have been off my radar, I don't know,
0:52:48 > 0:52:53because she suddenly appeared in my life through David,
0:52:53 > 0:52:55and when I heard her compositions,
0:52:55 > 0:52:58it was everything David and I loved about big band music,
0:52:58 > 0:53:03that it was discordant and strange and ethereal.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14Out of the blue, David called.
0:53:14 > 0:53:15- "Hello?" - SHE CHUCKLES
0:53:15 > 0:53:20And then I proceeded to start to talk to him about the idea
0:53:20 > 0:53:23that he had to collaborate on a song.
0:53:27 > 0:53:32David brought a little demo of Sue, so, I listened to it,
0:53:32 > 0:53:34and immediately heard this.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37DISCORDANT CHORDS
0:53:37 > 0:53:40I said, "Where do you want this to go?"
0:53:40 > 0:53:43So, it's... It's pretty bright-sounding, you know,
0:53:43 > 0:53:46and he said, "Oh, I want it to be really dark,"
0:53:46 > 0:53:47so, then I started playing around
0:53:47 > 0:53:51with ways in which I could make that...
0:53:52 > 0:53:55..that melody dark, and I just fooled around over here,
0:53:55 > 0:53:58and then I looked at him, and I said, "OK, let's try this."
0:53:58 > 0:53:59CAR HORN BLARES
0:54:00 > 0:54:02Maria Schneider said,
0:54:02 > 0:54:05"You have to listen to this guy, Donny McCaslin."
0:54:05 > 0:54:07Donny had a band.
0:54:10 > 0:54:12This band were trained jazz musicians,
0:54:12 > 0:54:15so we had more colours to the palette.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20Then I just worked on it on my own a little bit,
0:54:20 > 0:54:22and then David came over,
0:54:22 > 0:54:25and then I presented him with all these sketches of ideas,
0:54:25 > 0:54:28and said, "OK, let me play you lots of different things,"
0:54:28 > 0:54:31and he would either say,
0:54:31 > 0:54:33"Yeah, yeah," or, "Oh, I really like that!"
0:54:33 > 0:54:37You know, and if it's got a real reaction from him, then I said,
0:54:37 > 0:54:39"OK, maybe that's the direction."
0:54:39 > 0:54:41So, I just kind of tried to feel him out.
0:54:55 > 0:54:56It was adventure.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59Adventure, adventure, "Let's try this, let's try that,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01"let's make it as far-out as possible.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04"Let's go somewhere no-one's ever gone before," you know?
0:55:07 > 0:55:09And when we recorded it, it was like, six hours or something.
0:55:09 > 0:55:15- Yeah.- So, he comes out, then he lays down the vocal for the whole song -
0:55:15 > 0:55:17seven, eight minutes.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20- So, he's been in the studio all day long...- Just sitting there!
0:55:20 > 0:55:23Just sitting there, listening, you know, taking this all in,
0:55:23 > 0:55:26goes out, a little "one-two-three" on the mic, and then, boom.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28# Sue
0:55:30 > 0:55:34# I got the job
0:55:37 > 0:55:43# We'll buy the house
0:55:43 > 0:55:45# You'll need to rest
0:55:45 > 0:55:51# But now we'll make it... #
0:55:51 > 0:55:54So, I remember doing this interview with Tony Visconti.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56The interviewer asked us both,
0:55:56 > 0:56:00what was David's relationship to jazz music? Something like that,
0:56:00 > 0:56:04and Tony's response was that he thought that that influence
0:56:04 > 0:56:06had always been there in David's music,
0:56:06 > 0:56:08but it was just sort of underneath the surface,
0:56:08 > 0:56:11and that now, it was just, you know, out there.
0:56:13 > 0:56:19# Sue, I pushed you down beneath the weeds
0:56:19 > 0:56:25# Endless faith in hopeless deeds... #
0:56:25 > 0:56:26Of course, when this thing was released,
0:56:26 > 0:56:28there were all sorts of comments.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31Some people were just absolutely hating it,
0:56:31 > 0:56:33and some people were loving it,
0:56:33 > 0:56:34and some people didn't know what to think.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41# Goodbye. #
0:56:41 > 0:56:46This is David Bowie. He's not going to pigeonhole even himself.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48Imagine how ridiculous he would have looked, you know,
0:56:48 > 0:56:52if he'd kept dying his hair orange when he was 65 years old?
0:56:52 > 0:56:56Orange hair and platform shoes, you know? He's smart.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08The radical shift between Sue and The Next Day
0:57:08 > 0:57:13is like when he did the ambient music of Low and "Heroes"
0:57:13 > 0:57:14with Brian Eno.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18# Dun-dun-dun-dun... #
0:57:18 > 0:57:19HE CHUCKLES
0:57:19 > 0:57:21Oh, I'm going to play that again!
0:57:21 > 0:57:23# Dun-dun-dun-dun... #
0:57:23 > 0:57:26Oh, wow! I'm feeling Low.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30Brian Eno's methodology is a little bit different
0:57:30 > 0:57:33than any methodology I've ever encountered.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35That's not rock and roll.
0:57:35 > 0:57:36Rock and roll is,
0:57:36 > 0:57:39"Hey, man, I've got this great riff, listen to this, waaah!"
0:57:39 > 0:57:40You know?
0:57:40 > 0:57:43But when you start experimenting with soundscapes,
0:57:43 > 0:57:49which is what they were doing, it makes other things come to light.
0:57:50 > 0:57:54David was listening to a few German bands back then
0:57:54 > 0:57:57that were at the epicentre of electronic music,
0:57:57 > 0:58:01and I think that the electronical part was too much.
0:58:01 > 0:58:06That's why he had an R&B, a black rhythm section, being,
0:58:06 > 0:58:09"You want a machine? Let me give you a funk band..."
0:58:09 > 0:58:12INTRO TO "SOUND AND VISION" PLAYS
0:58:12 > 0:58:16"..but I'll add all the electronic stuff on top of that."
0:58:16 > 0:58:19Otherwise, he might take the chance
0:58:19 > 0:58:24of sounding like European electronic music,
0:58:24 > 0:58:27which he did not want to reproduce.
0:58:29 > 0:58:32I'd gotten into the idea of real experimentation in music
0:58:32 > 0:58:34with the new sounds of Europe,
0:58:34 > 0:58:38and it was this kind of hybrid thing that appealed to me so much.
0:58:38 > 0:58:40The idea of mixtures
0:58:40 > 0:58:44has always been something that I've found absolutely fascinating.
0:58:44 > 0:58:46# Blue, blue, electric blue
0:58:46 > 0:58:48# That's the colour of my room
0:58:48 > 0:58:51# Where I will live
0:58:52 > 0:58:54# Blue, blue
0:58:57 > 0:59:00# Pale blinds drawn all day
0:59:00 > 0:59:02# Nothing to do, nothing to say
0:59:06 > 0:59:08# Blue, blue
0:59:11 > 0:59:13# I will sit right down
0:59:13 > 0:59:16# Waiting for the gift of sound and vision... #
0:59:16 > 0:59:20I was just amazed that David was the kind of person that he was,
0:59:20 > 0:59:22because I wasn't expecting that.
0:59:22 > 0:59:24I was expecting something, sort of...
0:59:24 > 0:59:27superhuman, strange, walking in...
0:59:27 > 0:59:28SHE CHUCKLES
0:59:28 > 0:59:30..and he presented himself so normal.
0:59:30 > 0:59:34As a matter of fact, the doorman from downstairs called me and said,
0:59:34 > 0:59:38"There's a... What's your name? Oh, David, here to see you."
0:59:38 > 0:59:40And I thought, "Oh, dear!"
0:59:46 > 0:59:49Can I just stop for a second? Did I just say he was normal?
0:59:49 > 0:59:53- There was really nothing normal about David Bowie! - SHE CHUCKLES
0:59:53 > 0:59:54But anyway...
1:00:16 > 1:00:20When I was around 17, 18, what I wanted to do more than anything else
1:00:20 > 1:00:22was write something for Broadway.
1:00:22 > 1:00:26I wanted to write a musical, had no idea of how you did it,
1:00:26 > 1:00:31or how musicals were constructed, but the idea of writing something
1:00:31 > 1:00:34that was rock-based for Broadway really intrigued me.
1:00:34 > 1:00:37I thought that would be a wonderful thing to do.
1:00:39 > 1:00:41When we first talked,
1:00:41 > 1:00:45quite quickly, he said, "I want to do a musical,"
1:00:45 > 1:00:49and I said, "Great," and he said,
1:00:49 > 1:00:51"all I know is that it's called Lazarus,
1:00:51 > 1:00:55"it's going to be called Lazarus, and it's based on the character
1:00:55 > 1:00:58"I played in The Man Who Fell To Earth, in the movie,
1:00:58 > 1:01:00"Thomas Jerome Newton."
1:01:04 > 1:01:06Thomas Newton is an alien.
1:01:06 > 1:01:10He can't get home, he's relegated to this Earth.
1:01:10 > 1:01:11He is...
1:01:11 > 1:01:14in the world, but not of it.
1:01:15 > 1:01:18Outsiders, marginalised people,
1:01:18 > 1:01:20people that don't belong, that are...
1:01:20 > 1:01:24That feel displaced, not at home,
1:01:24 > 1:01:26even when they have a house, like Newton,
1:01:26 > 1:01:29rich, you know, on Earth, but lost on Earth.
1:01:29 > 1:01:31It resonated with him.
1:01:34 > 1:01:37My initial reaction was,
1:01:37 > 1:01:41"I've got the chance to do a musical with David, which is wonderful.
1:01:41 > 1:01:44"But it sure ain't going to buy me a yacht!"
1:01:44 > 1:01:46# Oh, say can you see... #
1:01:46 > 1:01:50That was my amused comment to myself.
1:01:50 > 1:01:53But he said, "I want to see this. I want this on."
1:01:53 > 1:01:55OK...
1:01:55 > 1:01:58So, erm... Thank you very much...
1:01:58 > 1:02:04But just before we were due to start a small workshop,
1:02:04 > 1:02:09I was asked to go to David's office in New York at a specific time,
1:02:09 > 1:02:14and when I walked in the room, David was on Skype.
1:02:15 > 1:02:16And then he said,
1:02:16 > 1:02:18"I need to explain something to you,
1:02:18 > 1:02:23"because I'm not going to be able to be around a lot
1:02:23 > 1:02:24"during this workshop...
1:02:25 > 1:02:30"..which doesn't that I'm not going to be totally involved in it,
1:02:30 > 1:02:33"it just means that I can't be there sometimes,
1:02:33 > 1:02:39"because I'm having treatment, because I have a cancer."
1:02:42 > 1:02:44I was shocked.
1:02:44 > 1:02:47But his attitude was that he was going to be OK,
1:02:47 > 1:02:50and that was kind of the end of the conversation.
1:02:50 > 1:02:52I'm here to get you out of this apartment,
1:02:52 > 1:02:55get you home to your planet.
1:02:55 > 1:02:57I think we should build a rocket!
1:02:59 > 1:03:03But, of course, once we started rehearsal, he was there a lot.
1:03:03 > 1:03:06He was sort of in and out and in and out, you know?
1:03:08 > 1:03:13So, he would go, "Oh, let's remove that scene, and can I write a song?
1:03:13 > 1:03:15"I feel as if I should write a song here."
1:03:15 > 1:03:16And he was really excited about that.
1:03:18 > 1:03:22He was ill, and he said that writing the musical
1:03:22 > 1:03:26was on his bucket list, you know, finally writing a musical,
1:03:26 > 1:03:29and all that, so, that's the only time he got a little bit,
1:03:29 > 1:03:33you know, sentimental, maybe, like, "I've got to do these things."
1:03:33 > 1:03:39- Stupid creature!- Why don't you tell me what's going on?- Because I can't.
1:03:41 > 1:03:44I think that David intended it to be a play
1:03:44 > 1:03:47that's supported by music, rather than a musical
1:03:47 > 1:03:50that's supported by dialogue.
1:03:50 > 1:03:53# But the film is a saddening bore... #
1:03:53 > 1:03:57It's about as far from a typical West End or Broadway show
1:03:57 > 1:03:59as you could get. He wanted this to be an art piece.
1:04:01 > 1:04:04# As I ask you to focus on
1:04:04 > 1:04:08# Sailors fighting in the dance hall
1:04:08 > 1:04:14# Oh, man Look at those cavemen go
1:04:14 > 1:04:16# It's the freakiest show... #
1:04:16 > 1:04:19I'd heard that he'd wanted to do musicals since,
1:04:19 > 1:04:21someone said the mid-'70s, or something or other,
1:04:21 > 1:04:24and I thought, "Oh, God, we're beginning something
1:04:24 > 1:04:27"that feels very, very close to his heart and his head
1:04:27 > 1:04:28"and where he's at."
1:04:40 > 1:04:44'I really had it in my mind to do a musical of Nineteen Eighty-Four.'
1:04:44 > 1:04:46'It was a book that I'd loved all through my youth.
1:04:46 > 1:04:51'But of course, I didn't really take into account the second Mrs Orwell,
1:04:51 > 1:04:53'who, when she got wind of what we were doing,
1:04:53 > 1:04:55'absolutely put her foot down, and said,
1:04:55 > 1:04:57'"I'm not having rock and roll people
1:04:57 > 1:05:00'"work on my late husband's great piece of work."
1:05:00 > 1:05:03'And I thought, "Well, sod it, I'll do my own version, then!"'
1:05:03 > 1:05:05That's a nought.
1:05:05 > 1:05:08This is the beginning of a film called Diamond Dogs,
1:05:08 > 1:05:11and I've put nought in because I don't know what year it says.
1:05:13 > 1:05:17Wanting to do something like write a musical for Nineteen Eighty-Four,
1:05:17 > 1:05:21and then not being able to do it, via the album Diamond Dogs,
1:05:21 > 1:05:25kind of gelled into this thing that we later toured in America.
1:05:25 > 1:05:28# A small Jean Genie snuck off to the city... #
1:05:28 > 1:05:31David had the idea of using dance
1:05:31 > 1:05:36and mime with two vocalists,
1:05:36 > 1:05:38myself being one...
1:05:41 > 1:05:44..and Gui Andrisano, who had been a child star.
1:05:47 > 1:05:50# Jean Genie, let yourself go... #
1:05:58 > 1:06:02It kind of worked with the input we had from Toni Basil
1:06:02 > 1:06:04in terms of choreography.
1:06:05 > 1:06:11Well, when I met him, the first day, in his hotel suite,
1:06:11 > 1:06:14the set was there.
1:06:14 > 1:06:17The set was already a little mock-up set.
1:06:17 > 1:06:20# We feel that we are paper
1:06:20 > 1:06:22# Choking on you nightly
1:06:22 > 1:06:26# They tell me Son, we want you
1:06:26 > 1:06:29# Be elusive but don't walk far... #
1:06:30 > 1:06:34He had the cityscape and a set list.
1:06:34 > 1:06:40So, for me, the set list was my thread
1:06:40 > 1:06:46of what ideas I could come up with in collaboration with him
1:06:46 > 1:06:50to make this theatrical piece happen.
1:06:50 > 1:06:53# But I love you in your fuck-me pumps
1:06:53 > 1:06:56# And your nimble dress that trails
1:06:56 > 1:06:58# Oh, dress yourself... #
1:06:58 > 1:07:03At that time, there was not really a lot of rock stars
1:07:03 > 1:07:06that focused on theatricality.
1:07:06 > 1:07:10A lot of them thought it was corny, or they were afraid to approach it.
1:07:10 > 1:07:15So, I knew he was a great performer, extremely theatrical,
1:07:15 > 1:07:19that would just always be outside the box,
1:07:19 > 1:07:21always be walking on the edge.
1:07:28 > 1:07:32# In the year of the scavenger The season of the bitch
1:07:32 > 1:07:35# Sashay on the boardwalk Scurry to the ditch
1:07:35 > 1:07:39# Just another future song Lonely little kitsch... #
1:07:39 > 1:07:43Diamond Dogs was probably the most difficult one to choreograph,
1:07:43 > 1:07:46because we were on long pieces of rope,
1:07:46 > 1:07:52and the idea was to tie him down, without fully disabling him, and...
1:07:52 > 1:07:55- HE CHUCKLES - And, er...tripping him up.
1:07:57 > 1:08:00- # Hey, you dogs - Whoo
1:08:00 > 1:08:02# Call them the Diamond Dogs... #
1:08:02 > 1:08:04'It was hideously pressurised for me,
1:08:04 > 1:08:06'these awful tensions and stresses,
1:08:06 > 1:08:09'but the physicality of performing a show like that
1:08:09 > 1:08:11'was alarmingly strenuous.'
1:08:12 > 1:08:14# Oh, honey
1:08:14 > 1:08:15# You're so bad... #
1:08:15 > 1:08:21Diamond Dogs is a series of vignettes of what could happen
1:08:21 > 1:08:25when society breaks down, so it was more sketchy,
1:08:25 > 1:08:27rather than a story from beginning to end.
1:08:31 > 1:08:34'I started getting into the idea of writing...
1:08:34 > 1:08:38'a kind of non-narrative, that just had situations within it,
1:08:38 > 1:08:41'and the audience kind of joins up the dots their own way,
1:08:41 > 1:08:42'in the way they want to make it.
1:08:42 > 1:08:45'They remake the material they're offered.'
1:08:45 > 1:08:48# Just for a day
1:08:49 > 1:08:51# Oh, honey
1:08:51 > 1:08:53# You're so bad... #
1:09:03 > 1:09:05He brought me another song to work on.
1:09:05 > 1:09:06And I said to him,
1:09:06 > 1:09:08"I would love to do this, but I just...
1:09:08 > 1:09:12"I can't, David, I'm recording an album with my own band!"
1:09:17 > 1:09:19And then, I said to him,
1:09:19 > 1:09:22"I think you should do a record with Donny's group."
1:09:22 > 1:09:25He said, "Really, you think so? You think they'd want to do that?"
1:09:25 > 1:09:28And I said, "Are you kidding me?"
1:09:28 > 1:09:30And I said, "I think it would be amazing."
1:09:32 > 1:09:35I got an e-mail from him, and...
1:09:35 > 1:09:38Basically saying that he would really like to record
1:09:38 > 1:09:39a few tunes with us.
1:09:39 > 1:09:42There was a sentence that he said, something like, you know,
1:09:42 > 1:09:45"It would be my dream to record a few songs
1:09:45 > 1:09:48"with the Donny McCaslin Group," I think that...
1:09:48 > 1:09:52That sentence was kind of, like, "Wow!"
1:10:00 > 1:10:03Whatever he was going through health-wise at the time,
1:10:03 > 1:10:08one thing that was really inspiring was how, from the first day,
1:10:08 > 1:10:12the first note, he was just totally in it.
1:10:12 > 1:10:15By the time I joined you guys, I was not aware of anything,
1:10:15 > 1:10:16and I was actually...
1:10:16 > 1:10:18Even being ignorant of all this,
1:10:18 > 1:10:21I was struck by how healthy and energetic
1:10:21 > 1:10:22and in great spirits he was.
1:10:29 > 1:10:33So, David had a lot of vocal ideas that needed to be done.
1:10:33 > 1:10:35You have him singing this.
1:10:35 > 1:10:37BOWIE'S VOICE DOUBLE-TRACKED: # In the villa of Ormen
1:10:38 > 1:10:41# In the villa of Ormen
1:10:42 > 1:10:44# Stands a solitary candle
1:10:44 > 1:10:48# Ah-ah
1:10:48 > 1:10:52# Ah-ah
1:10:52 > 1:10:55# In the centre of it all
1:10:56 > 1:11:00# In the centre of it all
1:11:00 > 1:11:03# Your eyes... #
1:11:03 > 1:11:06Now, the reason it sounds so good is,
1:11:06 > 1:11:08that's just one David Bowie singing,
1:11:08 > 1:11:11but with his voice put up a fifth interval.
1:11:12 > 1:11:14# On the day of execution
1:11:16 > 1:11:18# On the day of execution
1:11:19 > 1:11:22# Only women kneel and smile
1:11:22 > 1:11:26# Ah-ah
1:11:26 > 1:11:29# Ah-ah
1:11:29 > 1:11:32# At the centre of it all
1:11:33 > 1:11:36# At the centre of it all
1:11:37 > 1:11:41# Your eyes
1:11:44 > 1:11:47# Your eyes... #
1:11:47 > 1:11:49He asked me if I would be interested
1:11:49 > 1:11:52in perhaps putting some images to this song,
1:11:52 > 1:11:53and then began, you know,
1:11:53 > 1:11:57a couple of months of a very interesting collaborative process.
1:11:57 > 1:12:02He would send me drawings, that he would literally say,
1:12:02 > 1:12:04"Do what you want with these drawings," you know?
1:12:05 > 1:12:08He would have this character that he drew,
1:12:08 > 1:12:11the man with sort of gauze, you know, across his face,
1:12:11 > 1:12:16with two buttons for eyes, and we named him Button Eyes.
1:12:20 > 1:12:25And he also sent me an image of a spaceman with a skeleton inside.
1:12:26 > 1:12:32# Ah-ah-ah... #
1:12:32 > 1:12:35To me, it was 100% Major Tom, you know?
1:12:35 > 1:12:39A character that he had, you know, revisited and used over his career.
1:12:40 > 1:12:44Major Tom for him was like some sort of talisman or something.
1:12:44 > 1:12:46He was really along for the ride with David,
1:12:46 > 1:12:50and the idea of space, I think represented...
1:12:50 > 1:12:52Maybe it represented freedom.
1:12:56 > 1:12:58Major Tom still means a lot to me.
1:12:58 > 1:13:01It was the first time I'd been able to create a character
1:13:01 > 1:13:03that was very credible -
1:13:03 > 1:13:05I think for any writer, that's a high point.
1:13:05 > 1:13:07He preceded all the others,
1:13:07 > 1:13:09and I suppose one has a special place for him.
1:13:09 > 1:13:10I do.
1:13:10 > 1:13:13# Ground Control to Major Tom
1:13:17 > 1:13:21# Ground Control to Major Tom
1:13:25 > 1:13:30# Take your protein pills and put your helmet on... #
1:13:31 > 1:13:33- INTERVIEWER: - What is it with spaceships?
1:13:33 > 1:13:37Well, it's an interior dialogue that you manifest physically.
1:13:40 > 1:13:44It's my little inner space, isn't it? Writ large.
1:13:44 > 1:13:46I wouldn't dream of getting on a spaceship.
1:13:46 > 1:13:48It'd scare the shit out of me!
1:13:48 > 1:13:49HE LAUGHS
1:13:49 > 1:13:52I have absolutely no interest or ambition
1:13:52 > 1:13:54to go into space whatsoever.
1:13:54 > 1:13:56I'm scared going down the end of the garden!
1:13:58 > 1:14:02# Though I'm past 100,000 miles
1:14:02 > 1:14:06# I'm feeling very still
1:14:07 > 1:14:12# And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
1:14:14 > 1:14:20# Tell my wife I love her very much She knows
1:14:22 > 1:14:25# Ground Control to Major Tom
1:14:25 > 1:14:28# Your circuit's dead There's something wrong
1:14:28 > 1:14:31# Can you hear me, Major Tom?
1:14:31 > 1:14:35# Can you hear me, Major Tom?
1:14:35 > 1:14:38# Can you hear me, Major Tom? #
1:14:39 > 1:14:44Major Tom was a really great device to keep returning to.
1:14:44 > 1:14:46Maybe there was some little, you know,
1:14:46 > 1:14:48obviously a bit of maybe sentimental attachment to it,
1:14:48 > 1:14:52because it represented a lot in terms of how he became known to us
1:14:52 > 1:14:54and became famous.
1:14:54 > 1:14:57# The shrieking of nothing is killing
1:14:57 > 1:15:01# Just pictures of Jap girls in synthesis
1:15:01 > 1:15:05# And I ain't got no money and I ain't got no hair
1:15:10 > 1:15:14# But I'm hoping to kick But the planet is glowing
1:15:17 > 1:15:21# Ashes to ashes Funk to funky
1:15:21 > 1:15:25# We know Major Tom's a junkie
1:15:25 > 1:15:28# Strung out in heaven's high
1:15:28 > 1:15:32# Hitting an all-time low... #
1:15:34 > 1:15:37He just would take these bits of the past,
1:15:37 > 1:15:39and fashion the future out of them,
1:15:39 > 1:15:42and Major Tom was a big part of that.
1:15:44 > 1:15:47And he's been looking for a home for, you know, how long,
1:15:47 > 1:15:4950 years or something, you know?
1:15:49 > 1:15:53A long time, Major Tom's been trying to find peace and rest,
1:15:53 > 1:15:54and he found it in Blackstar.
1:15:54 > 1:15:57Major Tom is home, finally.
1:15:57 > 1:16:02# Ooh-ooh-ooh... #
1:16:02 > 1:16:05Blackstar, you know, it's really wildly open to interpretation,
1:16:05 > 1:16:09and I think he enjoyed this very much, like any artist.
1:16:09 > 1:16:12Any great artist wants you to stand back and look at the work
1:16:12 > 1:16:16and analyse it and feel things from it.
1:16:16 > 1:16:19And you might not feel the same things.
1:16:19 > 1:16:23The idea of art is to stimulate your own imagination.
1:16:24 > 1:16:28# Ooh-ooh-ooh... #
1:16:28 > 1:16:32You know, after a week or two of us having these chats
1:16:32 > 1:16:36about Button Eyes and the spaceman,
1:16:36 > 1:16:38I get a text message from him, it said,
1:16:38 > 1:16:39"I need to Skype with you, can you Skype?"
1:16:39 > 1:16:42And he's saying, "There's something I have to tell you."
1:16:42 > 1:16:44And I said, "Yeah, sure."
1:16:44 > 1:16:46And then he says, "I have to tell you that I'm very ill,
1:16:46 > 1:16:49"and that I'm probably going to die." You know?
1:16:49 > 1:16:53You know, utterly out of the blue, you know, just like that.
1:16:54 > 1:16:59# Ooh-ooh-ooh... #
1:16:59 > 1:17:01Let this be only coming from me,
1:17:01 > 1:17:04but I think part of the way I reacted, also,
1:17:04 > 1:17:06I felt that when he was saying that,
1:17:06 > 1:17:10I thought for a brief second that he looked scared, actually.
1:17:13 > 1:17:16And then, a second later, he would joke about it, you know?
1:17:19 > 1:17:20Over the next six or eight months,
1:17:20 > 1:17:23the disease or illness was never mentioned,
1:17:23 > 1:17:28and he was in no way, in my mind, you know, affected by his illness.
1:17:28 > 1:17:32# Something happened on the day he died
1:17:33 > 1:17:38# Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside
1:17:38 > 1:17:43# Somebody else took his place And bravely cried
1:17:43 > 1:17:45BOWIE'S VOICE DOUBLE-TRACKED: # I'm a blackstar
1:17:45 > 1:17:48# I'm a blackstar... #
1:17:48 > 1:17:52This is a tradition that David and I always had, like,
1:17:52 > 1:17:56how can we mangle the voice, you know, how can we change it?
1:17:56 > 1:17:59And make one person sound like many people,
1:17:59 > 1:18:03and in many different contexts, and in many different spatial areas.
1:18:03 > 1:18:08# I'm a blackstar, way up, on money I've got game
1:18:08 > 1:18:13# I see right, so wide So open-hearted pain
1:18:13 > 1:18:18# I want eagles in my daydreams Diamonds in my eyes
1:18:18 > 1:18:19# I'm a blackstar
1:18:19 > 1:18:22# I'm a blackstar... #
1:18:22 > 1:18:26David is like some bizarre, skeletal choir, doing,
1:18:26 > 1:18:30"I'm a blackstar, I'm a blackstar," this weird thing.
1:18:30 > 1:18:32It makes this whole section very supernatural.
1:18:32 > 1:18:37# Somebody else took his place and bravely cried
1:18:37 > 1:18:39# I'm a blackstar
1:18:39 > 1:18:41# I'm a star star
1:18:41 > 1:18:44# I'm a blackstar
1:18:44 > 1:18:46# I'm a blackstar... #
1:18:46 > 1:18:48I imagine it must have been cathartic for him.
1:18:48 > 1:18:50He was working tirelessly,
1:18:50 > 1:18:57both on Blackstar, and on Lazarus at the same time.
1:18:57 > 1:18:59Perhaps the catharsis...
1:19:01 > 1:19:05..surrounding Lazarus was unique, inasmuch as its execution
1:19:05 > 1:19:10required him to relinquish control, and allow so many other people
1:19:10 > 1:19:12to take it and make it happen.
1:19:13 > 1:19:16Countryside disappears beneath my feet.
1:19:16 > 1:19:17You know, I mean, I must say,
1:19:17 > 1:19:20there were times when David and me would be reading scenes together...
1:19:20 > 1:19:23You could feel him...more in there.
1:19:23 > 1:19:25MUSIC PLAYS ON PIANO
1:19:25 > 1:19:27This isn't happening.
1:19:27 > 1:19:29I'm still inside my head.
1:19:29 > 1:19:32You know, you forget, you forget that, actually he's...
1:19:32 > 1:19:34Of course, we forgot that he was dying.
1:19:34 > 1:19:36I'm done with this life!
1:19:36 > 1:19:40The cast, of course, never knew. Only me, Ivo and Robert.
1:19:40 > 1:19:43And so, a new universe I'll dream,
1:19:43 > 1:19:44big, up there.
1:19:47 > 1:19:50And although always stuck inside my breaking mind...
1:19:52 > 1:19:55..I've stepped off the Earth, and into a better place.
1:19:55 > 1:19:58David didn't want "Heroes" in Lazarus,
1:19:58 > 1:20:02because "Heroes" had become like an anthem.
1:20:02 > 1:20:05He wanted a song that would have sent everyone out
1:20:05 > 1:20:07slitting their wrists.
1:20:09 > 1:20:16Ivo and Enda persuaded him that if "Heroes" was treated musically
1:20:16 > 1:20:21in a different way, it would work for the ending of Lazarus.
1:20:25 > 1:20:26# I
1:20:28 > 1:20:31# I will be king
1:20:34 > 1:20:36# And you
1:20:38 > 1:20:40# You will be queen... #
1:20:41 > 1:20:44It's a reflective, it's a beautiful moment.
1:20:44 > 1:20:47Here is this melancholy, instead of triumphant.
1:20:50 > 1:20:52'Through his relationship with this girl,
1:20:52 > 1:20:56'and her re-awakening him to his vitality,
1:20:56 > 1:20:59'Newton is brought back to life,'
1:20:59 > 1:21:02that he may ready himself to die.
1:21:02 > 1:21:04Perhaps.
1:21:04 > 1:21:05Or not.
1:21:05 > 1:21:06HE LAUGHS
1:21:06 > 1:21:09# But we could be safer
1:21:10 > 1:21:15# Just for one day. #
1:21:15 > 1:21:18There is a catharsis moment at the end, with "Heroes", you know,
1:21:18 > 1:21:20when things clear up.
1:21:20 > 1:21:21He cuts loose everything
1:21:21 > 1:21:25which in a normal life of a normal human being is important...
1:21:25 > 1:21:27- BOTH:- # We can be heroes... #
1:21:27 > 1:21:31.. and then he has to let go every hope, just accepting...
1:21:32 > 1:21:34..well, his own death, at the end.
1:21:34 > 1:21:38- BOTH:- # We can be heroes
1:21:44 > 1:21:47- BOTH:- # We can be heroes... #
1:21:47 > 1:21:49So, the last thing that you see is,
1:21:49 > 1:21:51Michael C Hall is still on stage, alive,
1:21:51 > 1:21:56but in his mind, he is flying away into the stars.
1:21:56 > 1:21:59That's the last image.
1:21:59 > 1:22:05# Just for one day. #
1:22:15 > 1:22:17APPLAUSE
1:22:18 > 1:22:21I didn't expect David to be there on our opening night.
1:22:21 > 1:22:25We had heard that he was getting weak, but he so wanted to be there.
1:22:25 > 1:22:26And er...
1:22:26 > 1:22:28And he turned up, and he watched it, and then afterwards,
1:22:28 > 1:22:31he took the bows with us, it was very, very sweet.
1:22:32 > 1:22:35You know, he got through the night, but I really am convinced
1:22:35 > 1:22:40that he was fighting death, and he wanted to continue and to continue.
1:22:41 > 1:22:44And then afterwards, we were sitting a little bit,
1:22:44 > 1:22:46talking behind the stage, and he said,
1:22:46 > 1:22:51"Let's start the second one now, the sequel to Lazarus!"
1:22:52 > 1:22:55The last thing I remember David saying to me,
1:22:55 > 1:22:58after, you know, the hugs and the smiles,
1:22:58 > 1:23:01and after that opening night performance was,
1:23:01 > 1:23:04"I think it went well tonight, don't you?"
1:23:04 > 1:23:06That's the last thing I remember him saying.
1:23:06 > 1:23:08And I said, "Yeah, I think it did."
1:23:14 > 1:23:18After the musical opened, I got a call saying,
1:23:18 > 1:23:22"David would love to see you," and so I went over to see him,
1:23:22 > 1:23:26and he was in his bedroom, and we chatted.
1:23:26 > 1:23:31And it was all very lovely, peaceful.
1:23:31 > 1:23:37And so, then we walked to the elevator, and he said,
1:23:37 > 1:23:42"You're a genius," to me, and I said, "No, no, no, I'm not a genius.
1:23:42 > 1:23:46"I'm just the producer. YOU'RE the fucking genius."
1:23:46 > 1:23:48And, erm...
1:23:49 > 1:23:52We had a hug, I got in the elevator, and that was it.
1:23:52 > 1:23:54Last time I saw him.
1:24:18 > 1:24:22David said, "I just want to make a simple performance video."
1:24:22 > 1:24:24I immediately said,
1:24:24 > 1:24:27"The song is called Lazarus. He should be in the bed."
1:24:29 > 1:24:32To me, it had to do with the biblical aspect of it, you know?
1:24:32 > 1:24:34The man who would rise again.
1:24:34 > 1:24:37And it had nothing to do with him being ill.
1:24:37 > 1:24:40That was only because I liked the imagery of it, you know?
1:24:42 > 1:24:46I found out later that the week we were shooting
1:24:46 > 1:24:48was when he found out that this is...
1:24:48 > 1:24:49It's over, you know?
1:24:49 > 1:24:53We'll end treatments, you know, in whatever capacity,
1:24:53 > 1:24:56that means that his illness has won.
1:24:58 > 1:25:00# Look up here
1:25:00 > 1:25:02# I'm in heaven
1:25:06 > 1:25:10# I've got scars that can't be seen
1:25:13 > 1:25:17# I've got drama Can't be stolen
1:25:20 > 1:25:24# Everybody knows me now... #
1:25:27 > 1:25:31I've watched him record, and he's in that song, in that feeling,
1:25:31 > 1:25:32in that moment.
1:25:32 > 1:25:34He would stand in front of the mic,
1:25:34 > 1:25:36and for the four or five minutes he was singing,
1:25:36 > 1:25:38he would pour his heart out.
1:25:39 > 1:25:42The audio picked up his breathing in between those lines.
1:25:42 > 1:25:47# Look up here, man I'm in danger... #
1:25:47 > 1:25:50HE BREATHES
1:25:50 > 1:25:54# I've got nothing left to lose... #
1:25:54 > 1:25:57HE BREATHES
1:25:57 > 1:26:01# I'm so high it makes my brain whirl... #
1:26:01 > 1:26:04HE BREATHES
1:26:04 > 1:26:09# Dropped my cellphone down below... #
1:26:12 > 1:26:14It wasn't that he was out of breath - he was...
1:26:14 > 1:26:17like, hyperventilating, in a way, like,
1:26:17 > 1:26:21getting his energy up to sing this, to deliver this song.
1:26:21 > 1:26:23# You know, I'll be free... #
1:26:23 > 1:26:25He was quite stoked.
1:26:25 > 1:26:29I like to say, in the zone, and I could see him through the window,
1:26:29 > 1:26:31that he was really feeling it.
1:26:35 > 1:26:39# Oh, I'll be free... #
1:26:39 > 1:26:41HE BREATHES
1:26:43 > 1:26:48# Ain't that just like me? #
1:26:50 > 1:26:52A man on top of his game.
1:26:52 > 1:26:54It's brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
1:26:54 > 1:26:57And the saddest lyrics to hear them now.
1:26:58 > 1:26:59HE SIGHS
1:27:19 > 1:27:21- REPORTER:- It's 7:09.
1:27:21 > 1:27:25Well, the shock news has only just been officially confirmed.
1:27:25 > 1:27:27David Bowie is dead.
1:27:27 > 1:27:30David Bowie, rock and roll rebel, actor and cultural icon,
1:27:30 > 1:27:32has died at age 69.
1:27:32 > 1:27:35We lost David Bowie this morning.
1:27:37 > 1:27:39Erm... And it's a big deal.
1:27:40 > 1:27:42There have been news crews,
1:27:42 > 1:27:44and fans from all around the world leaving floral tributes...
1:27:44 > 1:27:47..in downtown Manhattan, and you can see behind me...
1:27:47 > 1:27:49David Bowie, il est mort...
1:27:49 > 1:27:51Fans laying flowers...
1:27:51 > 1:27:54Even the Archbishop of Canterbury was a fan.
1:27:55 > 1:27:57# Heaven loves ya
1:27:59 > 1:28:01# The clouds part for ya
1:28:02 > 1:28:05# Nothing stands in your way
1:28:05 > 1:28:06# When you're a boy
1:28:11 > 1:28:13# Clothes always fit ya
1:28:14 > 1:28:16# Life is a pop of the cherry
1:28:16 > 1:28:18# When you're a boy... #
1:28:18 > 1:28:22'It's been an incredibly full life, and, er...'
1:28:22 > 1:28:25Apart from the drugs in the '70s, I think little of it has been wasted
1:28:25 > 1:28:29in terms of, I've been able to, sort of, harness every moment, in a way.
1:28:29 > 1:28:31I'm... I'm a really lucky chap.
1:28:33 > 1:28:37- INTERVIEWER:- And legacy - how would you like your legacy written?
1:28:37 > 1:28:40'I'd love people to believe that I really had great haircuts.'
1:28:40 > 1:28:41HE LAUGHS
1:28:41 > 1:28:42# Boys
1:28:45 > 1:28:47# Boys keep swinging
1:28:47 > 1:28:49# Boys always work it out... #
1:28:58 > 1:29:00OK, so, at the beginning of this track,
1:29:00 > 1:29:03I noticed there's some waveforms. I said, "What's all this?"
1:29:03 > 1:29:06So, here's Space Oddity.
1:29:07 > 1:29:09'Little mouse fart.'
1:29:09 > 1:29:10Little mouse part.
1:29:10 > 1:29:12'The mouse... A part for the mouse?'
1:29:12 > 1:29:14- Oh... - 'Little mouse FART.'
1:29:14 > 1:29:17- 'Oh, little mouse FART!' - 'Yeah.'
1:29:17 > 1:29:18'Little mouse fart.'
1:29:18 > 1:29:19Ah!
1:29:20 > 1:29:21Oh, he farted!
1:29:21 > 1:29:23HE LAUGHS
1:29:26 > 1:29:29He... David Bowie doesn't fart!
1:29:30 > 1:29:32No, we don't... We'll never hear David Bowie fart.