Released 12 September 1980 Label RCA Records | Genre Post-punk
new wave Writer(s) David Bowie | |
Recorded The Power Station, New York, February 1980 (No. 1, No. 2); Good Earth Studios, London, April 1980 (No. 1) Length 4:15 (No. 1)
4:22 (No. 2) | ||
"It's No Game" is a song written by David Bowie for the 1980 album Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), featuring lead guitar played by Robert Fripp. The song is in two parts, opening and closing the album.
Contents
Music and lyrics
The song contains lyrics and a vocal melody borrowed from an early unreleased Bowie song called "Tired of My Life", demoed in 1970 but said to have been written when he was 16.
No. 1
The lyrics to "It's No Game (No. 1)" are spoken in Japanese by Michi Hirota, with Bowie screaming the English translation "as if he's literally tearing out his intestines", according to NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray. Bowie said that he employed a strident female vocal "to break down a particular kind of sexist attitude" regarding Japanese girls and women in general.
No. 2
In contrast to the musical and vocal intensity of the first part, "It's No Game (No. 2)" is much calmer; Carr and Murray interpreted this as meaning that by the album's close, Bowie is "facing the same situation which he confronted when the album began, but with the force of his rage somewhat spent. Things haven't improved, but he's taking it better."