Big Brother (David Bowie song)

"Big Brother" is a song written by David Bowie in 1973 and intended for his never-produced musical based on George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. In 1974 it was released on the album Diamond Dogs. It segued into the final track on the record, "Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family".

Lyrically, the song reflects the ending of Nineteen Eighty-Four, where Winston Smith's brainwashing is complete, and he loves Big Brother. This was described by Bowie biographer David Buckley as "a frightening paean to the Super God",^[2] while Nicholas Pegg considered that Bowie was showing how "the glamour of dictatorships is balanced with the banality".^[3]

The opening trumpet line, played on a Chamberlin, has been compared to Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain.^[4] The melody in the chorus was echoed in Bowie's own "Shining Star (Makin' My Love)" from Never Let Me Down (1987).^[3]

Live versions

• A live version (which included "Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family") from the Diamond Dogs Tour was released on David Live. Another live recording from the same tour was released on the semi-legal album A Portrait in Flesh.
• The song also appears live on the two-CD concert released as an extra with the DVD release of Glass Spider (1987/2004).

Other releases

• It also appeared in the Sound + Vision box set in 1989.

Cover versions

• Cream VIII - The Dark Side of David Bowie: A Tribute to David Bowie (1997). This version incorporates "The Chant of the Ever-Circling Skeletal Family".
• The Quiet Men - Loving the Alien: Athens Georgia Salutes David Bowie
• Danny Michel - Loving the Alien: Danny Michel Sings the Songs of David Bowie (2004)
• Michael and Spider [iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=304568492&s=143441]
• Enrique Seknadje - in "Diamond Dogs Revisited" (2014) On Sound Cloud

Notes

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics