David Bowie: This Is Not America (1985)

Accidentally catching David Bowie in Labyrinth on television recently reminded just how much he put himself about for a while there.

Recording Peter and the Wolf, singing the Little Drummer Boy with Bing Crosby, strutting with Mick Jagger for Dancing in the Street, the Absolute Beginners and When the Wind Blows soundtracks, knocking off stuff for Labyrinth which allowed him to dance in very tight pants wearing That Hair . . .

And around the same time he teamed up with jazz guitarist Pat Metheny for this hypnotic if rather anodyne tonal piece of obscure sentiment for the soundtrack to John Schlesinger's "bland and boring" (according Australia's Bulletin) espionage film The Falcon and the Snowman.

Metheny spoke about it to Elsewhere in this interview. 

Suitably mysterious perhaps and the title at least parallels something in the film.

But really, Bowie seemed a bit lost for direction after the success of Let's Dance in '83.

Fortunately Tin Machine was just over the horizon.

Ho ho ho!

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For more oddities, one-offs or songs with an interesting backstory check the massive back-catalogue at From the Vaults.