David Bowie and America Five

January 20, 2026

  1. David Bowie, "America" (2001): Bowie opened The Concert for New York City with this cover of the well-known Simon & Garfunkel song.
  2. Pat Metheny Group and David Bowie, "This Is Not America" (1985): This is from the soundtrack for the film The Falcon and the Snowman. I have never seen the movie but I was absolutely fascinated with the title and the advertisements for it when I was in high school and it was released in theaters. I was also fascinated with this tune after hearing it on MTV. At the time, Bowie had recent hits like "Blue Jean" and "Let's Dance", and I owned Metheny's Bright Size Life album. So I was aware of what a surprising collaboration it was.
  3. Kristeen Young feat. David Bowie, "American Landfill" (2020): I did not know about this song until I realized that I knew four David Bowie recordings of songs with "America" in the title and then searched his discography page on Wikipedia to see if I could find a 5th song to fill out this Five. Bowie had been dead for a few years when this was released. It's Young's creation using much of "Saviour", a track she recorded with Bowie for her 2003 album titled (and I swear I'm not making this up) Breasticles. It's very good and very unusual. I need to spend more time listening to Young.
  4. David Bowie, "I'm Afraid Of Americans" (1997): When this song came out, I didn't know what to make of it.
  5. David Bowie, "Young Americans" (1975): Of course.
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