Romantic Melancholy Underneath the Guard Towers of the Berlin Wall: The Meaning Behind “Heroes” by David Bowie

David Bowie always seemed ageless. Though he used reinvention as a primary tool, he never seemed to do so to slow time. He was an alien rock star masquerading as a pop star. His work cycled through many genres and trends, standing like cultural bookmarks for an individual whose life was one big art project. Bowie may have been searching, but looking back on his career, he was just traveling. Like everyone, he was passing by, leaving mementos behind to document his journey. 

Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy is considered by many to be his finest work. Low was recorded first in 1976, but his record label delayed its release, concerned it would fail commercially. Neither Bowie nor RCA did much to promote the album. 

In 1977, following sessions for Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life, Bowie worked with Brian Eno and longtime producer Tony Visconti and recorded “Heroes” in a West Berlin concert hall that was a former ballroom for the Gestapo. The politics of Berlin impacted the album. Visconti recalled seeing Russian Red Guards spying on the musicians with binoculars, and the tension of mines in the Berlin Wall, only 500 yards away, added frightened energy to the band. 

Working within an atmosphere of oppression while viewing the industrial landscape, complete with Bauhaus architecture, shaped “Heroes.” Bowie worked at a frantic pace and gave little instruction to the musicians. Basic tracks were finished in a few days. After a quick start, Bowie sporadically finished the album. 

Standing by the Wall

Bowie wrote “Heroes” about two lovers meeting each day below the guards at the Berlin Wall. He was inspired by Visconti’s relationship with German singer Antonia Maass. Bowie saw them through the studio window, meeting and kissing at the Wall. Because Visconti was married then, Bowie had to keep quiet about the song’s inspiration.

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be heroes just for one day

Eno co-wrote the song with Bowie. Like Berlin at the time, melancholy hangs over the music, casting darkness over the inspiring sentiment. 

I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns shot above our heads (over our heads)
And we kissed as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
And the shame was on the other side
Oh, we can beat them forever and ever
Then we could be heroes, just for one day

It must have been easy for people to descend into nihilism during the occupation. Bowie’s reflection zooms in on the mundane human moments that history’s books sometimes fail to convey. But the ordinary becomes extraordinary when the threat of execution restricts freedom. As Bowie held Visconti’s secret, the clandestine nature of the affair added intrigue to a dangerous moment in Europe’s history. People attempted to continue daily life while Germany split into competing realities. 

King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp played on the album, adding layers of experimentalism to match Eno’s treatments. The basic track sounds like something groovy Phil Spector might have produced in the early ’60s. But the easy vibe overlaps with Fripp and Eno’s droning noises, unsettling the love story. Eno’s genius is how he turned the world around him into a soundtrack by condensing it down into a pop song. “Heroes” is a defining song for Bowie; it’s also one of his most distressing moments. 

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The background vocalists repeatedly sing We can be heroes, but it sounds more like an attempt to convince themselves there is still hope. The only thing more intense than love is desperate love. 

In 1987, Bowie performed “Heroes” at the Berlin Wall. It was a double concert as people on the other side of the wall gathered in the thousands to listen to the music. It was a profoundly beautiful moment in human history that brought the “Fame” singer to tears. 

“Heroes” was modestly successful in 1977. But the music industry, as is often the case, was too shortsighted, too zoomed-in to understand how important this song was. Only with the luxury of hindsight and an unfolding history can it be possible to see the song’s significance. 

Life Imitating Art

Building on Low’s electronic and ambient experimentation, “Heroes” was written entirely in the moment. The Berlin Wall, like a giant gravestone, was a symbol of wasting human ingenuity on destruction. In an old ballroom where the Gestapo used to meet, sing, and dance, Bowie built something, too. Most of the Wall eventually came down, but “Heroes” has endured as a beacon of restorative human creativity. 

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images