"Sense of Doubt" is an instrumental piece written by

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 ...

in 1977 for the album '' "Heroes"''. It was the first of three instrumentals on Side Two of the original vinyl album that

segue A segue (; ) is a smooth transition from one topic or section to the next. The term is derived from Italian ''segue'', which literally means "follows". In music In music, ''segue'' is a direction to the performer. It means ''continue (the next ...

d into one another, preceding " Moss Garden" and "

Neuköln "Neuköln" is an instrumental piece written by David Bowie and Brian Eno 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" and "Moss Garden ...

". Cited as "portentous" and "thoroughly foreboding",David Buckley (1999). ''Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story'': p.324

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 Blackpoo ...

Charles Shaar Murray Charles Shaar Murray (born Charles Maximillian Murray; 27 June 1951) is an English music journalist and broadcaster. He has worked on the '' New Musical Express'' and many other magazines and newspapers, and has been interviewed for a number of ...

(1981). ''Bowie: An Illustrated Record'': pp.92-94 "Sense of Doubt" is one of the darker tracks of the album, with a descending four-note

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

motif juxtaposed with "an eerie

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

line like a scrap of sound from a silent expressionist-era soundtrack".

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 ...

suggested that the contrasting themes were the result of him and Bowie each following an

Oblique Strategies Oblique Strategies (subtitled ''Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas'') is a card-based method for promoting creativity jointly created by musician/artist Brian Eno and multimedia artist Peter Schmidt, first published in 1975. Physically, it takes ...

card to guide them in the track's

overdubbing Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

, Eno's directing him to "make everything as similar as possible" and Bowie's to "emphasize differences". "Sense of Doubt" was performed on the Italian TV programme '' L’altra domenica'' in 1977 and throughout the ''"Heroes"'' tour in 1978.

Nicholas Pegg Nicholas Pegg is a British actor, writer and director. Educated at Nottingham High School and graduating with a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Exeter, Pegg subsequently trained at the Guildford School of Acting. Acti ...

(2000). ''The Complete David Bowie'': p.183

Live versions

* Performances from the 1978 "Heroes" tour have been released on ''

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 ...

'' (1978) and '' Welcome to the Blackout'' (2018).

Other releases

* It was released as the B-side of the single "

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' ( ...

" in January 1978, a pairing that ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' editors

and

considered "must be good fun on pub juke-boxes". * A picture disc release appeared in the ''RCA Life Time'' picture disc set. * The film ''

Christiane F. Christiane Vera Felscherinow (born 20 May 1962) is a German actress and musician who is best known for her contribution to the 1978 autobiographical book ''Christiane F.'' (original title: ), and the film and television miniseries based on the ...

'' and its soundtrack featured the song.

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) * Musician Steve Adey covered the track on his 2017 LP ''"Do Me a Kindness"''. *

Shearwater Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae The family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the diving petrels, the prions, and the shearwa ...

– 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). The trilogy originated following Bowie's move from Los Angeles, California, to Europe to rid himsel ...

for

WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that di ...

(2018)

Notes

{{authority control David Bowie songs 1977 songs Rock instrumentals Songs written by David Bowie Song recordings produced by David Bowie Song recordings produced by Tony Visconti