The Hearts Filthy Lesson

"The Hearts Filthy Lesson"
Single by David Bowie
from the album Outside
B-side"I Am with Name"
Released11 September 1995 (1995-09-11)[1]
RecordedMarch 1994
StudioMountain (Montreux)
Genre
Length
  • 4:57 (album version)
  • 3:32 (radio edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • David Bowie
  • Brian Eno
David Bowie singles chronology
"The Buddha of Suburbia"
(1993) 		"The Hearts Filthy Lesson"
(1995) 		"Strangers When We Meet"
(1995)

"The Hearts Filthy Lesson" (no apostrophe in "Hearts" [sic]) is a song by English musician David Bowie from his 20th studio album, Outside (1995), and issued as a single ahead of the album. Released in September 1995 by Arista, BMG and RCA, it showcased Bowie's new, industrial-influenced sound. Lyrically, the single connects with the rest of the album, with Bowie offering a lament to "tyrannical futurist" Ramona A. Stone, a theme continued in subsequent songs. The song is also meant to confront Bowie's own perceptions about the ritual creation and degradation of art. Its music video was directed by Samuel Bayer and was so controversial that it required a re-edit for MTV. The song appears in the end credits of the 1995 film Seven.

  1. ^ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. 9 September 1995. p. 51.
  2. ^ Gallucci, Michael (16 January 2019). "The Best Song From Every David Bowie Album". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  3. ^ Zaleski, Annie (4 February 2017). "David Bowie's "Earthling" is 20 years old today". Salon. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  4. ^ "10 Essential Albums produced by Brian Eno". Treble. 31 March 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2019.