Run for the shadows in these golden years, David Bowie sings on his 1975 Top 10 single “Golden Years.” Bowie was dealing with some serious shadows of his own in his personal life at the time, but that didn’t stop him from continuing his incredible hot stretch with the song.
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What is “Golden Years” about? Why was Bowie in such rough shape at the time he wrote and recorded it? And what music legend did Bowie first imagine singing the song? Let’s take a look back at one of David Bowie’s most successful singles.
The Rise of the Thin White Duke
To fans just following along on the radio and buying his albums, David Bowie probably seemed on top of the world in late 1975. His album from earlier that year, Young Americans, had broken through to a mainstream U.S. audiences like none of his previous records, in large part thanks to its urban sound and the No. 1 single “Fame.” The stateside commercial love was icing on the cake, as he had already achieved widespread critical acclaim and cultivated a fiercely devoted fandom that would follow him as he bounced through his various recording alter egos.
Yet Bowie was struggling in his personal life. His marriage to wife Angie was on the rocks, and he was also embroiled in legal proceedings with his former management. A massive cocaine habit, coupled with little sleep and a meager diet, left him looking emaciated.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that the persona that he would inhabit for his 1976 album Station to Station was known as The Thin White Duke. The look was largely borrowed from the 1975 film The Man Who Fell to Earth, in which Bowie starred as an alien. Station to Station came to life with that haunting amalgam of character and artist as the driving force. Bowie would later claim in interviews he had hardly any recollection of making the album.
Going “Golden”
Even though Bowie’s deteriorating condition made the bulk of Station to Station a chore, “Golden Years,” which would be chosen as the first single, came together quickly as the first track written and recorded for the album. The slinky, somewhat elusive doo-wop/funk vibe of the song was an interesting progression from the more obvious dance music/Philly soul feel of the Young Americans album.
There are two competing stories about what Bowie had in mind when writing it. His then-wife Angie claimed “Golden Years” was meant to launch her singing career, but her husband didn’t follow through. Bowie himself said in an interview with Blender (as reported by The Bowie Bible) he actually was going to use the song as the springboard to a writing relationship with none other than Elvis Presley:
“Apparently Elvis heard the demos, because we were both on RCA, and Colonel Tom [Parker, Presley’s manager] thought I should write Elvis some songs. There was talk between our offices that I should be introduced to Elvis and maybe start working with him in a production/writer capacity. But it never came to pass. I would have loved to have worked with him. God, I would have adored it. He did send me a note once. (Perfectly imitates Presley’s drawl) ‘All the best, and have a great tour.’ I still have that note.”
What is the Meaning of “Golden Years”?
“Golden Years” encourages a positive outlook, but it does so in a way that acknowledges the forces that might make you want to look at the glass as half-empty. The narrator keeps giving advice to get the person he’s addressing to look on the bright side: Don’t let me hear that life’s taking you nowhere.
Still, there are moments when he realizes this girl might need a little help to get to a happy ending: There’s my baby, lost, that’s all / Once I’m begging you save her little soul. Bowie also seems to be dealing out pointers to himself. When he sings, Last night they loved you / Opening doors and pulling some strings, he was perhaps anticipating a time when he wouldn’t be everybody’s darling.
Although it jockeys back and forth between cheerful promises and concerned realities, “Golden Years” seems to end on an up note when Bowie sings, I believe, oh Lord, I believe all the way. Considering his own state as he created the song, however, that just might have been an earnest prayer emerging from David Bowie in the midst of this sneakily affecting hit.
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Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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