| "Can You Hear Me?" | |
|---|---|
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| Song by David Bowie | |
| from the album Young Americans | |
| A-side | "Golden Years" |
| Released | November 1975 |
| Recorded | January – August 1974 |
| Studio |
|
| Genre | Blue-eyed soul |
| Length | 5:04 |
| Label | RCA |
| Songwriter(s) | David Bowie |
| Producer(s) | Bowie, Tony Visconti, Harry Maslin |
"Can You Hear Me?" is a ballad by the English musician David Bowie from his 1975 album Young Americans.[1] Bowie called it a "real love song", written with someone in mind, but he did not identify them.[2] The song was released as a single in November 1975 on the B side of "Golden Years".
Chris O'Leary writes that "Can You Hear Me?", with its guilt and "studied unease", is "sumptuous, its intro alone masterful": "Once we were lovers / Can they understand? / Closer than others, I was your / I was your man." The alto sax, played by David Sanborn and introduced in the third verse, "becomes a competing vocal line". The arrangement and "small cathedral of voices" obscure the "pathetic man at the heart of the song".[3]
The song was written by Bowie, produced by Bowie, Tony Visconti, and Harry Maslin, and engineered by Carl Paruolo.[3] The backing vocalists included the 24-year-old Luther Vandross at the very beginning of his career.[4]
- ^ Easlea, Daryl (2007). "David Bowie Young Americans Review". BBC Music.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
O'Grady23Aug1975was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b O'Leary 2015, chap. 9.
- ^ Slate, Jeff (23 September 2016). "The Making of David Bowie's Lost Soul Album". Esquire.