"Neuköln" is an instrumental piece written by

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 ...

and

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 ...

in 1977 for the album '' "Heroes"''. It was the last of three consecutive instrumentals on side two of the original vinyl album, following "

Sense of Doubt "Sense of Doubt" is an instrumental piece written by David Bowie in 1977 for the album '' "Heroes"''. It was the first of three instrumentals on Side Two of the original vinyl album that segued into one another, preceding " Moss Garden" and " Neuk ...

" and " Moss Garden".

Neukölln Neukölln (), officially abbreviated Neuk, is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located south-east of Berlin's center and stretches from the inner city southward to the border with Brandenburg, encompassing the eponymous quarter of Neu ...

(correctly spelled with a double "L") is both a borough and quarter of

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 ...

. Bowie's and Eno's music has been interpreted as reflecting in part the rootlessness of the Turkish immigrants who made up a large proportion of the area's population.David Buckley (1999). ''Strange Fascination – David Bowie: The Definitive Story'': p.325

Edgar Froese Edgar Willmar Froese (; 6 June 1944 – 20 January 2015) was a German musical artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for founding the electronic music group Tangerine Dream in 1967. Froese was the only continuous member of the gro ...

, founder of

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup of the grou ...

, in whose

Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Te ...

apartment Bowie lived in between 1976 and 1978,

Roy Carr Roy Carr (1945 – 1 July 2018) was an English music journalist, covering pop, rock and jazz. He joined the ''New Musical Express (NME)'' in the late 1960s, and edited ''NME'', '' Vox'' and ''Melody Maker'' magazines. Biography Born in Black ...

Charles Shaar Murray Charles Shaar Murray (born Charles Maximillian Murray; 27 June 1951) is an English Music journalism, music journalist and broadcaster. He has worked on the ''NME, New Musical Express'' (''NME'') and many other magazines and newspapers, and has ...

(1981). ''Bowie: An Illustrated Record'': p.92 had been a big influence on Bowie, and one of the driving factors that enticed him to move to Berlin. Bowie called Froese's 1975 album '' Epsilon in Malaysian Pale'', which (like ''Neuköln'') mostly played with

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

, a "soundtrack to his life in Berlin". ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' journalists

and

described "Neuköln" as "a mood piece: the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

viewed through a bubble of blood or Harry Lime's last thoughts as he dies in the sewer in ''

The Third Man ''The Third Man'' is a 1949 film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene, and starring Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, Alida Valli as Anna Schmidt, Orson Welles as Harry Lime and Trevor Howard as Major Calloway. Set in post-Worl ...

''. The final section features Bowie's plaintive

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

"booming out across a harbour of solitude, as if lost in fog". The main character Christiane from the film '' Christiane F. – We Children from Bahnhof Zoo'', starring David Bowie as himself, is also from southern

. Bowie produced the '' Christiane F.'' soundtrack which gave the film a commercial boost.

Dylan Howe Dylan Lee Howe (born 4 August 1969) is an English drummer, bandleader, session musician and composer. The son of guitarist Steve Howe (musician), Steve Howe with whom he has sometimes collaborated, Dylan is also noted for his work with rock ba ...

covered the piece for his album ''Subterranean – New Designs on Bowie's Berlin'' in 2014, in two parts, part one is called "Neukölln - Night" and part two "Neukölln - Day".

Cover versions

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

– ''"Heroes" Symphony'' (1996) *

– ''Subterranean – New Designs on Bowie's Berlin'' (2014) *

Shearwater Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season. Description These tube ...

– as part of a live performance of the entire

Berlin Trilogy The Berlin Trilogy consists of three studio albums by English musician David Bowie: '' Low'', '' "Heroes"'' (both 1977) and '' Lodger'' (1979). Bowie recorded the albums in collaboration with English musician Brian Eno and American producer T ...

for

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

(2018)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neukoln David Bowie songs 1977 songs Rock instrumentals Songs written by David Bowie Songs written by Brian Eno Song recordings produced by David Bowie Song recordings produced by Tony Visconti