

He said that he was very happy with the album and with his lot in life. The song was apparently inspired by Pop’s attraction to Kuelan Nguygen, though Nile Rodgers, who produced the Bowie version said he believed the song was about hard drug use. He was sending out lots of emails - including one to me. “He was working very hard, putting his house in order. “Everyone told me that he mentioned it, and just moved off the subject,” said Whately. Bowie found out he was dying while onset. Compiling interviews with the collaborators the singer worked with on his final two albums and 2015 off-Broadway musical Lazarus, Whately delved into the intention of his last works, and how his cancer diagnosis in 2014 affected that work.Īlthough Bowie underwent chemotherapy, treatment was stopped in November 2015 while he filmed the video for the Blackstar track Lazarus. It’s one of the titbits of Bowie’s reclusive last years that Whately uncovered in the film. “Apparently, she’s a yoga teacher in Bristol now.” “After all those years, who would have thought he was still thinking about her?” said Whately.

While working on the 1970 film Song Of Norway, Farthingale left Bowie for another actor on set. ‘Lazarus’, the song title, is a biblical figure that rose from the death, like Bowie in this song speaking to us from the death.“She was his first big love,” documentary director Francis Whately told The Post. With this album and this song, he turned his death into art, to match his life as David Bowie.īowie’s death is the key to understanding this song. Bowie knew he was dying when he wrote this song. Until everything became clear when Bowie died and everybody found out that he was diagnosed with cancer 18 months before. On the album release, this song seemed just to be another enigmatic artwork of Bowie, maybe a new faze that he was going through. His passing came as a big shock for almost everyone, because Bowie did only tell a select group of people about his condition and kept it out of publicity. Only two days later, 10 January 2016, Bowie died from cancer. On 8 January 2016, Bowie’s 69th birthday, the album 'Blackstar' was released. To understand these lyrics you will have to see them in context of his death. This song is, along with the rest of the album 'Blackstar', the final piece of art of David Bowie. Do you think Bowie knew that Elvis recorded a song in 1960 titled "Black Star"? The first verse: It is the first one that doesn't feature Bowie's image on the cover art. It's over.īlackstar is Bowie's 27th studio album. Once finished with his final composition, he stands and slowly but knowingly, retreats backwards and steps into the closet from which death entered. We see the little reaper girl occasionally, apparently allowing him some time to wrap things up. He sits and begins writing a note or letter. He's reviewing memories and important moments from his life.

#Meaing behind david bowies lazarus song free
We next seen him free of bandages, up and on his feet, looking a little better and bright eyed. The levitation might also symbolize entering a state in between life to beyond. As she reaches for him, Bowie levitates in the bed. A Daily Telegraph article referencing sources close to Bowie claimed: The title of Lazarus refers to the biblical character who was raised from the dead four days after he died by Jesus. The ghostly girl who comes out of the closet and crawls under the bed is something of a grim reaper. It's symbolic of a weakened, end of life condition. He appears in a hospital bed, blindfolded with button eyes. Tony Visconti, producer for Bowie's final album Blackstarīowie is saying goodbye to us in the video for "Lazarus". "His death was no different from his life - a work of Art."
