Bowie also released German and French-language versions of ''Heroes '', titled ''Helden '' and ''Héros '', respectively. Bowie heavily promoted the song with a music video and sang it on numerous television programmes, including Marc Bolan's Marc and Bing Crosby's Christmas special. Released in edited form by RCA Records on 23 September 1977 as the album's lead single, initial reviews for the song were mostly positive, with some welcoming it as a classic addition to the artist's catalogue. Directly inspired by Bowie witnessing a kiss between Visconti and singer Antonia Maass next to the Berlin Wall, other inspirations included a painting by Otto Mueller and a short story by Alberto Denti di Pirajno. Bowie placed the title in quotation marks as an expression of irony on the otherwise romantic or triumphant words and music. Under constant fear of death, they dream they are free, swimming with dolphins.

Like other album tracks, he improvised lyrics while standing at the microphone.Īn art rock song that builds throughout its runtime, ''Heroes '' concerns two lovers, one from East Berlin and the other from the West. To record the vocal, Visconti devised a 'multi-latch' system, wherein three microphones were placed at different distances from Bowie and would open when he sang loud enough.

Using a G– D chord progression, the backing track was recorded fully before lyrics were written Bowie and Eno added synthesiser overdubs while Robert Fripp contributed guitar. Co-written by Bowie and Brian Eno and co-produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, the song was recorded in mid-1977 at Hansa Studio 2 in West Berlin. ' 'Heroes '' is a song by the English musician David Bowie from his 12th studio album of the same name. One of the A-side labels for the UK vinyl single

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