It's No Game

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"It's No Game" is a song written by David Bowie for the 1980 album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), with lead guitar played by Robert Fripp. The song is in two parts, opening and closing the album. Part 1 features lyrics sung in Japanese by Michi Hirota and Bowie screaming his words. In contrast, Part 2 is much calmer; NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray interpreted this as meaning that by the album's close, Bowie is "facing the same situation which he confronted when the album began, but with the force of his rage somewhat spent. Things haven't improved, but he's taking it better."^[1] The song contains lyrics and a vocal melody borrowed from an early unreleased Bowie song called "Tired of My Life", demoed in 1970 but said to have been written when he was 16.^[2]

[edit] Other releases

Part 1 was released as the B-side of the US version of the single "Ashes to Ashes" in August 1980.
The Japan release of the single "Fashion" also featured Part 1 of "It's No Game" as the B-side.

[edit] Cover versions

Born to Worry - A version called "It's No Game Part 3" on the album Loving the Alien: Athens Georgia Salutes David Bowie.
Nine Inch Nails - Guitar samples from the Bowie song, slowed and in reverse, on "Pinion" from the album Broken;^[2] the sample is more clearly heard in the intro tape played prior to most Nine Inch Nails concerts.