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

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

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

Dennis Davis Dennis Davis (August 28, 1949 – 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 1977 album '' Low'', 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" EP to promote his second live album, ''

Stage Stage or stages may refer to: 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 British theatre newspaper * Sta ...

'' 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, Heathen, and A Reality tours.

Lyrics

The original song was uncompromising even by '' Low''s standards. The fractured lyric is, like several songs written during Bowie's stay in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, 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 mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A History ...

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, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pro ...

and

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 Golden Dawn, Thelemic orders, mystical-religious societies such as the Bu ...

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 Ricans, 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 musician other than pianist Mike Garso ...

– 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. Next there were the Kingbees and the System, with whom he formed Beggars Oper ...

– rhythm guitar * George Murray – bass *

– drums *

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

– 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 an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

" 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 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 in ...

, 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 a ...

'' 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 Tour was a tour by English rock musician David Bowie, opening in September 1995 and lasting over a year. The opening shows preceded the release of the '' 1. Outside'' album which it supported. The tour visited stops in North Americ ...

, 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 David Bowie in support of the ''Reality'' album. The tour began on 7 October 2003 at the Forum Copenhagen, Denmark, continuing through Europe, North America, Asia, including a return to New Zealan ...

was released on the ''

'' album, in 2010.

Other releases

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

Chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 202 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, bein ...

'' (Holland 1979) (studio version) * ''

The Best of Bowie ''The Best of Bowie'' is a compilation album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released in 1980 by K-tel. The cover was based on the 12-inch single sleeve design of Bowie's "Fashion".Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). ''Bowie: An ...

'' (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 The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

''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) ''A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982)'' is a box set by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released on 29 September 2017. A follow-up to the compilations ''Five Years (1969–1973)'' and ''Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976)'', the set c ...

'' 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