Be My Wife

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"Be My Wife”
Single by David Bowie
From the album Low
B-side ”Speed of Life”
Released June 1977
Format 7" single
Recorded Château d'Hérouville Studios, Pontoise, France; September 1976
Genre Rock
Length 2:55
Label RCA
PB 1017
Producers David Bowie, Tony Visconti
Chart positions N/A
David Bowie singles chronology
"Sound and Vision"
1977		 "Be My Wife”
1977		 "Heroes"
1977

"Be My Wife" is a song and single by David Bowie.

Arguably the most conventional track on Low, "Be My Wife" toned down the electronic feel of the rest of the album. It also featured a more conventional set of lyrics, being closer to a traditional rock song that the more fragmented lyrics elsewhere on the album.

Several analysts of Bowie’s career have seen the song as a last-ditch plea to Angela Bowie in the vain hope of saving his marriage. Tension had arisen between the couple, and disagreements had risen over the location of a new residence in Europe. Angela had shown herself to be heavily affected by his music; he had proposed to her by playing "The Prettiest Star" to her over the telephone. In the end David would not agree to move back to Switzerland from Berlin, and the relationship finally ended in divorce in 1980.

The song features a ragtime piano opening, which serves the somewhat retro lyrics some justice, although it is soon set against a backdrop of guitars and drums. The song repeats its lyrics, changing the spacing of the lyrics amongst the song's verse. The song closes simply with a fadeout, as the song returns to the introductory ragtime riff repeating indefinitely, with the rest of the band playing behind it.

As the second single from Low, "Be My Wife" would receive Bowie’s first official video since "Life on Mars?." The video was in fact rather similar; Bowie stands alone against a white backdrop singing the song alone. However, Stanley Dorfman’s new clip featured a Bowie in make-up and clothing influenced by Buster Keaton and giving an irreverent, detached performance on a guitar, gelling with the candid feeling generated by the song.

Nevertheless, the song became the first new Bowie release since "Changes" to fail to break into the UK charts.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Be My Wife" (Bowie) – 2:55
  2. "Speed of Life" (Bowie) – 2:45

[edit] Production credits

[edit] Live versions

  • A live version was recorded in the 1978 tour for the Stage (album), but was not released until 2005, with the remastered re-release of Stage.
  • A live version from Earl's Court, London, July 1, 1978, was released on RarestOneBowie.
  • A live version can be viewed in the David Bowie - A Reality Tour DVD, featuring a live performance in Dublin during 2003.

[edit] Other releases

[edit] Cover versions

  • Blame - Ashes to Ashes: A Tribute to David Bowie (1998)
  • Exedra - The Dark Side of David Bowie: A Tribute to David Bowie (1997)

[edit] References

Pegg, Nicholas, The Complete David Bowie, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-14-5

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