You Know You Know

"Hey, what do you think of the David Bowie single? Is this a subject due for exploration on Compartmentsee........?"

I do not normally respond to reader’s requests, partly because I haven’t had any yet. So I was thrilled when one of my long term readers, Louise, emailed me this with this request to explore the new David Bowie single, Where are we Now.

But as I am not a Bowie expert, reviewing this could prove to be difficult.

I turn to my friend Joe. Joe is my musical tastemaker. He supplies me with musical inspiration with his sublimely crafted compilations. If faced with a tricky music trivia question where my life depended on it, I know Joe would come through for me.

I send him a message on Facebook asking him what he thinks of the new single, to which he replies:

"I Love it and all of its Berlin references "

If he likes the song I know it will only be a matter of time, then, before I like it.

I first hear it premiered on early morning BBC Radio 4. I am trying to hear it over the general din of my kids having breakfast. (While my kids eat breakfast I am in the habit of dashing over and turning down BBC Radio 4 at the mention of rape, child abuse and serial killings. On some mornings I am up and down quite a bit, begging the question as to why we listen to it at all).

Bowie’s voice sounds all at once fragile,lamenting, haunting and haunted. It could break, it is old, but sings true and endures with powerful emotion to the end of the song.

I get up, this time not to protect my kids from the content of Radio 4 but to put my ear up close enough to the radio to hear the song at all. I have the feeling that a lot in my life is mediated in a way that is distracted, including friends and family, which is a terrifying thought.

The Today programme presenter perhaps wonders for a moment how to create the right mood with his voice to introduce the new song by David Bowie, that is being officially introduced to the world. The presenter, let’s call him Jon, is tired, beat. His children kept him up last night. He had a row with his wife. Reading the news everyday is getting him down. Is the world really so bad? Is it so terrible?  Let us imagine it for a minute his internal monologue as he hears the Bowie song he has just introduced:

Here comes Bowie, yeah yeah, and soon we will be back to financial news, wars and death. God I am tired. Bowie, you hit it on the nail, mate. This is how I feel. I should be reading the news as you are singing your song. Please God, give me the courage to read the news with your voice. This news is sad, and I want to remember or imagine a better time when there was hope. Your voice has a sadness to it, but in your voice there is also hope. You sing about Berlin, a city destroyed by bombs, divided by a wall, lives blighted by political circumstance. But you also sing about the constants in our lives, if we might just look for them. As long as there’s sun, as long as there’s rain, as long as there’s fire. Bloody poignant stuff, mate. You know it has really got me thinking about my wife and our row. The line, as long as there’s me, as long as there’s you. …..

Well. That was, “Where are we now?”  by David Bowie so let’s move on the financial markets……..

Don’t they know that I am dying inside? I met my wife when I was working as a correspondent In Berlin. God, what an exciting time that was, just as the wall was coming down! What a great fucking story that was!!!

On Facebook, I later see that Joe has 'liked' a cover version of David Bowie’s,Where Are We Now by musical experimenter and artist extraordinaire Momus. Clicking then onto the Momus website I discover that he is soon to play in Berlin in the district of Wedding, where I used to live!

Everything just seems to come together and I feel able to review the song. From Louise, to Joe, to BBC Radio 4, from Bowie, to Berlin, to Momus, to Wedding, it feels like the circle has closed. And all this via email, Facebook and the internet, without exchanging a single word with anyone.

So soon I will be returning to Berlin, with David Bowie’s lyrics ringing in my ears channeled through the medium of Momus. Or will I? The Momus concert is a secret gig, though advertised as taking place in Wedding. Curiously it may cost either 5 Euros or be free. 

The concert begins at 10pm but even if I don’t manage to find it I will be accompanied by a now familiar soundtrack as I wander around my old stamping ground reminiscing about what just might have been.

Where are we now?

Where are we now?

As long as you know

You know you know.

As long as there’s sun

As long as there’s sun

As long as there’s rain

As long as there’s rain

As long as there’s fire

As long as there’s fire

As long as there’s me

As long as there’s you

And I may not be in the know You know You know, but between Bowie and Momus and the city of Berlin, I do know what I can be grateful for.

Thanks are due to Mr Momus