Comments on: Bowie – A Songwriting Look Inside ‘Young Americans’

By: Young Americans (song) – Encyclopaedia Hedwig

Young Americans (song) – Encyclopaedia Hedwig — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 01:31:07 +0000

[…] A breakdown of the song from a musical perspective: http://tonyconniff.com/bowie-a-songwriting-look-inside-young-americans/ […]

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 18:29:53 +0000

In reply to jimi. Thanks, Jimi! TC

By: jimi

jimi — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 19:18:02 +0000

When I first heard that song, I thought of Jerry Lee Lewis & “Great Balls of Fire”, with the falsetto jumping/almost yodeling thing going on & that straight 4’s rock groove…and the fact that very few really know or care about the lyrics beyond the hook.
🙂

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 18:31:27 +0000

In reply to Jason Das.

Jason,
Thanks for reading and commenting!
The Luther Vandross story re: the chorus is believable – I’ve heard it before – but I wonder if it’s verified, or just an urban legend. It seems like it would be deserving of a co-write, which Bowie never seemed stingy with… but who knows?
I always thought it was ‘fridge’ until I looked it up. It sounds like ‘bridge’ on the recording (when I listened closer) but in the live version cited above he clearly sings ‘fridge’. Since I like it better anyway, I’m going with ‘fridge’! Thanks for the heads up.
Thanks,
Tony

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 18:24:39 +0000

In reply to Rick Shields.

Rick,
You’re right; that sounds really good! For that era the sound of the band and vocals on TV is pretty good too. I loved seeing the drums on the side – maybe that helped.
And thanks for straightening out the ‘fridge/bridge’ confusion!
Best wishes,
Tony

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 18:16:24 +0000

In reply to Michael Foreman.

Michael,
Thanks for reading, and for the insightful comments!
Tony

By: Jason Das

Jason Das — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 16:45:47 +0000

I really like your take on how/why this song works, Tony!

Bowie’s one of my top favorites, and this is one of my top favorite songs of his, a triumph on so many levels.

A few nerdy notes:

Luther Vandross wrote the chorus/that “foreground” vocal part in the studio. Bowie’s original chorus was simply the “all right”/”all night”. Vandross heard a playback of an early version of the song and came up with the chorus we have now. Credit to Bowie taking a great suggestion and running with it!

For better or worse, the lyric sheet for that first line has it as “behind the fridge”, rather than “bridge”—a reference to a Peter Cook/Dudley Moore parody of Beyond the Fridge. (A very Bowie-like layering of references.) But it doesn’t hurt anything that everyone hears it as “bridge”.

By: Rick Shields

Rick Shields — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 04:20:46 +0000

Fascinating live version here @ 6:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8TnXRBkYt8

By: Michael Foreman

Michael Foreman — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 15:26:03 +0000

Excellent analysis of a great song, Tony. I think the whole album is a true gem in Bowie’s catalog, and it’s one of my all-time favorite albums. For me, it’s easy to forget with all of Bowie’s musical adventures and innovations that he’s as much a songwriter as a music writer. As you point out, there’s so much going on musically, performance-wise and lyrically. The song, and certainly the entire album, showcase the full range and depth of feeling in Bowie’s singing abilities. The extended code could be viewed as a proto-rap, where the words and delivery propel the rhythm and enhance the overall feel of the song. And the use of the first line from A Day in the Life foreshadows Lennon’s own participation in the album in Across the Universe and Fame. The use of Sanborn’s sax and teh foreground vocals throughout the song, and then carried through the entire album, help to create an incredibly unified sound among all original 8 songs. Looking back on it, while I wished at the time Bowie did another soul album, it was pretty clear that there was nothing left for him to say in this genre, and he was able to use Station to Station as a pivot to his next phase, the Berlin trilogy. And, then, when he revisted the American urban pop music genre in Let’s Dance, he had a level of credibility with the music having been there before. Lyrically, the cutup method is an interesting way of taking a new look at lyrics that seem stale, or to mix up a stylistic rut. It would be great if Bowie ever marketed the computer program that he refers to in the link.