Released November 1978 Genre Art rock | Format 7" single | |
B-side "Art Decade"
"Ziggy Stardust" Recorded Either Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 28/29 April; Providence, Rhode Island, 5 May or Boston, Massachusetts, 6 May 1978 Length 1:52 (Low version)
3:28 (Stage version) | ||
"Breaking Glass" is a song by the English singer/songwriter David Bowie. It was co-written by Bowie, bassist George Murray and drummer Dennis Davis in September 1976. Originally a track on Bowie's 1977 album Low, a reworked version of the song was a regular on the singer's 1978 tour. A live version from that tour was used as the lead track on a 7" EP to promote Bowie's second live album, Stage in 1978. The EP reached number 54 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1978.
Contents
In the US, the track "Star" was chosen as the lead track for the live EP (with "What in the World" and "Breaking Glass" as B-sides), but failed to chart, while in Japan "Blackout" was released to promote Stage.
"Breaking Glass" has been performed on subsequent Bowie tours in 1978, 1983, 1995–1996, 2002 and 2003-2004 tours.
Lyrics
The original song was uncompromising even by Low's standards. The fractured lyric is, like several songs written during Bowie's stay in Berlin, introspective of his dark, drug-filled period living in America in 1975-1976. Its lyrics, when written out, look potentially more like a paragraph than a song, and when separated into phrases, the song has a disjointed feeling. The song is also curiously short, not spanning two minutes and only going through one verse.
The lines "Don't look at the carpet; I drew something awful on it" refer to Bowie's practice of drawing the Tree of Life on the floor during that period, as he was interested in Aleister Crowley and Qabbala at the time.
Track listing
- "Breaking Glass" (David Bowie, Dennis Davis, George Murray) – 3:28
- "Art Decade" (Bowie) – 3:10
- "Ziggy Stardust" (Bowie) – 3:32