"Breaking Glass" is a song by the English singer-songwriter

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

. It was co-written by Bowie, bassist George Murray and drummer

Dennis Davis Dennis Davis (August 28, 1951 – April 6, 2016) was an American drummer and session musician best known for his work with David Bowie, playing on ten albums—including seven successive studio albums—during the singer's classic mid- and late ...

in September 1976. Originally a track on Bowie's eleventh studio album ''

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'' (1977), a reworked version of the song was a regular on the Isolar II Tour. A live version from that tour was used as the lead track on a 7-inch EP to promote his second live album, ''

Stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

'' in 1978. The EP reached number 54 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1978. In the US, the track "Star" was chosen as the lead track for the live EP (with "What in the World" and "Breaking Glass" as B-sides), but failed to chart, while in Japan, "Soul Love" was released to promote ''

'' (with "Blackout" as the B-side). Bowie performed "Breaking Glass" on his Isolar II, Serious Moonlight,

Outside Outside or Outsides may refer to: * Wilderness Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, theatre and TV * Outside TV (formerly RSN Television), a television network * '' ...

, Heathen, and A Reality tours.

Lyrics

The original song was uncompromising even by ''

''s standards. The fractured lyrics are, like several songs written during Bowie's stay in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, introspective of his dark, drug-filled period living in America in 1975–1976. Its lyrics, when written out, look potentially more like a paragraph than a song, and when separated into phrases, the song has a disjointed feeling. The song is also curiously short, not spanning two minutes and only going through one verse. The lines ''"Don't look at the carpet; I drew something awful on it"'' refer to Bowie's practice of drawing the

tree of life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythology, mythological, religion, religious, and philosophy, philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The ...

on the floor during that period, as he was interested in

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

and

Hermetic Qabalah Hermetic Qabalah () is a Western esoteric tradition involving mysticism and the occult. It is the underlying philosophy and framework for magical societies such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, has inspired esoteric Christian organiz ...

at the time.

Track listing

# "Breaking Glass" (David Bowie,

, George Murray) – 3:28 # " Art Decade" (Bowie) – 3:10 # " Ziggy Stardust" (Bowie) – 3:32

Personnel

– vocals, production *

Carlos Alomar Carlos Alomar (born 7 May 1951) is a Puerto Rican guitarist. He is best known for his work with David Bowie from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s, having played on more Bowie albums than any other musician. History The son of a Pentecostal mi ...

– lead guitar *

Ricky Gardiner Ricky Gardiner (31 August 1948 – 13 May 2022) was a Scottish guitarist and composer. Biography Gardiner joined his first band, the Vostoks, at school in 1962. Before joining both The Kingbees and The System, with whom he formed Beggars ...

– rhythm guitar * George Murray – bass *

– drums *

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

– Minimoog synthesizer *

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

– production

Live versions

* A spring 1978 live version recorded on the Isolar II Tour was released on ''

'' and on the above-mentioned single. This live version was also released as the B-side of the single "

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

" in 1978. A summer 1978 performance from the same tour was included on '' Welcome to the Blackout'', released in 2018. * A live performance during the

Serious Moonlight Tour The Serious Moonlight Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the English musician David Bowie, launched in May 1983 in support of his album '' Let's Dance'' (1983). The tour opened at the Vorst Forest Nationaal, Brussels, on 18 May 1983 and ended ...

, filmed on 12 September 1983, was included on the ''Serious Moonlight'' concert video (1984) and the identically-named live album included with the ''

Loving the Alien (1983–1988) ''Loving the Alien (1983–1988)'' is a box set by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released on 12 October 2018. A follow-up to the compilations '' Five Years (1969–1973)'', '' Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976)'', and '' A New Career in ...

'' box set (2018) and released separately in 2019. * Two separate live recordings of the song, performed during Bowie's 1995–96

Outside Tour The Outside World Tour was a tour by the English rock musician David Bowie, opening in September 1995 and lasting over a year. The opening shows preceded the release of the ''Outside (David Bowie album), 1. Outside'' album which it supported. T ...

, appear on the live albums '' Ouvre le Chien (Live Dallas 95)'' (2020) and '' No Trendy Réchauffé (Live Birmingham 95)'' (2020). * A November 2003 live version recorded on the

A Reality Tour A Reality Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie in support of his 2003 album ''Reality''. The tour began on 7 October 2003 at the Forum Copenhagen, Denmark, continuing through Europe, North America, Asi ...

was released on the ''

'' album, in 2010.

Other releases

* The song appeared on the following compilations: * ''

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'' (Holland 1979) (studio version) * '' The Best of Bowie'' (1980) (1978 live version) * '' Sound + Vision'' box set (1989) (1978 live version) * '' The Best of David Bowie 1974/1979'' (1998) (studio version) * '' The Platinum Collection'' (2005/2006) (studio version) * It was released as a picture disc in the

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

''Life Time'' picture disc set. * An extended version of the studio recording of the song, originally released as a single in Australia, was made available in digital and CD formats for the first time in 2017, on ''Re:Call 3'', part of the '' A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982)'' compilation.

References

*Pegg, Nicholas, ''The Complete David Bowie'', Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, *Wilcken, Hugo, ''Low'', Continuum International Publishing Group Inc, 2005, Specific {{authority control 1978 singles David Bowie songs 1977 songs Songs written by David Bowie Song recordings produced by Tony Visconti RCA Records singles