"Quicksand" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 for the album Hunky Dory; it was recorded on 14 July 1971. This ballad features multi-tracked acoustic guitars and a string arrangement by Mick Ronson. Producer Ken Scott, having recently engineered George Harrison's album All Things Must Pass, attempted to create a similarly powerful acoustic sound with this track.
Lyrically the song, like much of Bowie's work at this time, was influenced by Buddhism, occultism, and Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of the Superman. It refers to the magical society Golden Dawn and name-checks one of its most famous members, Aleister Crowley, as well as Heinrich Himmler, Winston Churchill and Juan Pujol (codename: Garbo).
NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray have described it as "Bowie in his darkest and most metaphysical mood", while a contemporary review in Rolling Stone remarked on its "superb singing" and "beautiful guitar motif".
Marilyn Manson has stated this as one of his favorite Bowie songs.
It was released as the B-side of the single "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" in April 1974.RCA included the song in the picture disc set Life Time.A studio demo version of the song was released as a bonus track on the Rykodisc release of Hunky Dory in 1990.David Bowie: lead vocals, acoustic guitarMick Ronson: acoustic guitars, Mellotron, string arrangementTrevor Bolder: bass guitarRick Wakeman: pianoMick Woodmansey: drumsEmilíana Torrini's 2001 single 'Unemployed in Summertime' uses the same verse melodyDinosaur Jr. – single (1991) (Dinosaur Jr.'s version makes several changes to the lyrics)Seu Jorge - a Portuguese version for the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)Seal - live recording (MTV)Robert Smith - live recording (with David Bowie) (1997)End of Fashion - part of Australian radio station Triple J's Like a Version series (2005)Aslan - On their 2009 album, Uncase'dAbbeyvein - .2 Contamination: A Tribute to David Bowie (2006)Rainbow Arabia - We Were So Turned On: A Tribute to David Bowie (2010)Züri West - Tribsand (adaption to Swiss German), on Aloha from Züri West (2004)Temple of the Dog performed the song live during their 25th Anniversary Tour in 2016