Young Americans (song)

"Young Americans" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie from his ninth studio album of the same name. It was mostly recorded in August 1974 at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia and was debuted on the Soul tour the following month. The song featured contributions from then-unknown singer Luther Vandross, who conceived the backing vocal arrangement. An embracement of R&B and Philadelphia soul, the song presents an Englishman's impressionist portrait of America at the time, featuring various characters and allusions to American totems and events.

Released by RCA Records as the lead single on 21 February 1975, the song reached number 18 on the UK Singles Chart but was a breakthrough in the United States, at the time becoming Bowie's second highest charting single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 28. He promoted it with an appearance on ''The Dick Cavett Show'' in November 1974 and on ''The Cher Show'' the following year. Bowie performed the song on his concert tours throughout the 1980s, before retiring it after the Sound+Vision Tour in 1990. Ranked among Bowie's best songs by numerous publications, critics praise "Young Americans" as a successful transition to soul music following the artist's glam rock releases. It has since appeared on several compilation albums and was remastered in 2016 for the ''Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976)'' box set.

Overview

Music and lyrics

"Young Americans" was a major musical departure for David Bowie. Following years of glam rock and hard rock releases, the song represented a full embracement of the R&B and Philadelphia soul sound of the mid-1970s. Bowie himself referred to the sound as "plastic soul". Discussing the stylistic departure in his book ''Starman: The Definitive Biography'', author Paul Trynka describes the song as a "statement of intent", wherein Bowie was "repositioning the brand".

"Young Americans" compositionally stands out from Bowie's prior recordings. With an improvisational song structure containing three verses and refrains, a saxophone solo, a bridge, a breakdown and two additional extended verses and refrains, author James E. Perone says the use of four-measure phrases flow together through the usage of dominant chords "in a completely natural way". The song is primarily in the key of C major; the verses end on G major, extending into the refrains with F major before reverting back to C on the title phrases. The bridge deviates into A minor before the guitar closes it with A major, while the fourth verse is in D major.

According to biographer Nicholas Pegg, "Young Americans" presents a rapid lyric "sketching an Englishman's impressionist portrait of 20th century America". Production team the Matrix noted "America" as "a bit like a teenager: brimming with energy and imagination, occasionally overstepping the mark, but always with a great sense of possibility". The title itself does not appear in the song, only "the young American", who runs through various myths to the point that by the end, he does not know which ones to believe or follow. Author Peter Doggett interprets the song, in one way, as "the portrait of a fantasy: the global dream of how it would feel to have life laid out before you in the land of plenty". The opening verse describes a frigid sexual encounter, which "took him minutes, took her nowhere". Perone says the story informs listeners that issues related to sex and "emotional impotence" exist both outside and in mainstream society, while additional verses reveal the discriminations between race and social classes that exist in American society.

Unlike the fractured imagery of Bowie's previous album ''Diamond Dogs'' (1974), "Young Americans" is observational and lyrically influenced by the works of Bruce Springsteen; biographer Chris O'Leary compares the song's clutter of characters to Springsteen's ''The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle'' (1973). Throughout the song, allusions are made to the Watergate scandal – US President Richard Nixon having resigned only three days prior to its recording – the McCarthy witch hunts ("now you have been the un-American") and civil rights struggles ("sit on your hands on a bus of survivors"). Additional references are made to charms of American society, including " Afro-sheen" – a hair-care product regularly advertised on ''Soul Train'' – "Ford Mustang", "Barbie doll", " Cadi" and "Chrysler", and lyrics that provoke images of violence and anguish ("would you carry a razor in case, just in case of depression?" and "ain't there a woman I can sock on the jaw?") Pegg argues the lyrics "cut as deep as 'I'm Afraid of Americans' twenty years later".

The song also makes several British allusions. The opening line, "they pulled in just behind the fridge", was a reference to the comedic English duo Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's stage revue ''Behind the Fridge'', which Bowie had attended in London in 1973. The revue painted American life as a British comedy rather than, in O'Leary's words, "a standard-issue American make-out session in a car parked off the highway". "Young Americans" also contains a vocal quotation of the Beatles' " A Day in the Life" (1967): "I heard the news today, oh boy", which anticipated Bowie's imminent collaboration with former band member John Lennon. Drawing further Lennon comparisons, Perone relates the song's production on saxophone to Phil Spector's work on Lennon's initial post-Beatle recordings.

Recording

Recording for "Young Americans" began at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the first day of the ''Young Americans'' album sessions, on 11 or 13 August 1974. Additional recording took place later on in November. With Tony Visconti producing and Carl Paruolo engineering, the lineup consisted of Bowie, Carlos Alomar on guitar, Willie Weeks on bass, Mike Garson on piano, Andy Newmark on drums, David Sanborn on alto saxophone and Larry Washington on congas. Singer Ava Cherry, Alomar's wife Robin Clark and then-unknown singer Luther Vandross contributed backing vocals.

Unlike other songs recorded at Sigma Sound, the song's structure was mostly already written before the sessions began. The gospel and soul backing vocal arrangements in the refrains were constructed by Vandross with help from Clark, and eagerly added by Bowie. Bowie wrote the middle section after visiting various New York clubs in the spring of 1974 and learning DJs enjoyed singles with breakdowns, such as Eddie Kendricks' "Girl You Need a Change of Mind". For "Young Americans", this sequence initially boasted a phased guitar solo by Alomar.

In September 2009, take three of the song, dated 13 August 1974 on the Sigma Sound reel tape, was leaked online. In this version, all the lyrics are the same but the saxophone and backing vocals are absent, and Bowie's vocal delivery is more conventional than the funkier, syncopated feel of the final version.

Release and promotion

Bowie premiered "Young Americans" live on the opening show of his Soul tour in Los Angeles on 2 September 1974, introducing it as "The Young American", and it was a regular throughout the remaining tour; a live version recorded in October was released on '' I'm Only Dancing (The Soul Tour 74)'' in 2020. The song, the then-upcoming album's title track, was selected as the lead single and released by RCA Records on 21 February 1975. The UK single (RCA 2523) featured the full five-minute album cut, while the US single (RCA JB 10152) was edited to 3:11, excluding two verses and a refrain. The former's B-side was the '' Ziggy Stardust'' track "Suffragette City" (1972), while the latter's was Bowie's 1974 cover of Eddie Floyd's " Knock on Wood" (1966).

Reaching number 18 on the UK Singles Chart and number 28 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the single represented a downturn for Bowie on the United Kingdom charts but was a breakthrough in the United States, becoming his second highest charting single since "Space Oddity" in 1973 and raised his profile significantly in the country. Bowie's 2 November 1974 performance of the song on ''The Dick Cavett Show'' was used as promotion, airing on the BBC
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