Scream Like a Baby
"Scream Like a Baby" is a song written by David Bowie. It appears on the 1980 album Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps).
| "Scream Like a Baby" | |
|---|---|
| Song by David Bowie | |
| from the album Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) | |
| Released | September 12, 1980 |
| Recorded | The Power Station, New York, February 1980; Good Earth, London, April 1980 |
| Genre | Post-punk |
| Length | 3:35 |
| Label | RCA |
| Songwriter(s) | David Bowie |
| Producer(s) | David Bowie, Tony Visconti |
Music and lyrics
The song focuses on a protagonist called Sam who is evidently being held, along with the track's narrator, in a political prison. Though set in the future, the story is related in the past tense, in a fashion Bowie has described as "future nostalgia... A past look at something that hasn't happened yet".[1] Musically the song is noted for its "ultra-modern new wave guitar/synth sound",[1] as well as for Bowie's use of varispeed vocals to illustrate Sam's downward spiral in the prison hospital – according to NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray, the effect is "as if the narrator of 'All the Madmen' inhabited the world of '1984'".[2]
"Scream Like a Baby" was one of several tracks on Scary Monsters that evolved from pieces Bowie had written years before. It was originally composed in 1973, with different lyrics, as "I Am a Laser" for The Astronettes (Ava Cherry, Geoffrey MacCormack and Jason Guess).[3] Bowie worked on an album for the group but it was eventually dropped, finally surfacing in 1995 as the Ava Cherry album People from Bad Homes; "I Am a Laser" was one of the tracks.[4]
Bowie intended to play the song during his 1987 Glass Spider Tour, but dropped the song from the set list before the tour started.[5]
Other releases
- It was released as the B-side of the single "Fashion" in October 1980.
Personnel
According to Chris O'Leary:[6]
- David Bowie – lead and backing vocals
- Carlos Alomar – guitar
- Andy Clark – synthesizer
- George Murray – bass
- Dennis Davis – drums
Production
- David Bowie – producer
- Tony Visconti – producer
Notes
- Nicholas Pegg (2000). The Complete David Bowie: p.181
- Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: p.113
- David Buckley (1999). Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story: p.207
- O’Leary, Chris. "Pushing ahead of the dame".
- Currie, David (1987), David Bowie: Glass Idol (1st ed.), London and Margate, England: Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-1182-7
- O'Leary, Chris (2019). Ashes to Ashes: The Songs of David Bowie 1976–2016. London: Repeater. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-91224-830-8.