Peter tried to climb aboard…
In the first instalment he talks about the first four tracks on the album followed by a couple of minutes of the actual track in each case. “Heroes” is the first track on the album.
The podcast is available on
I’ve heard the full 4.10 version and it’s certainly one of the more thoughtful covers of the song. That’s not to damn it with faint praise though, as I actually think it’s a very moving version.
It initially puts me more in mind of the Philip Glass version than the Bowie original, but that’s probably more to do with the fact that it’s orchestrated and contains no traditional rock instruments, such as guitar and drums.
Peter’s voice is beautifully fragile and melancholic for the first two and a half minutes or so, then the energy levels rise for the remainder of the song. Both the vocal melody and the backing wander some distance from the original, in a good way that is.
It’s clear that Peter has grasped the original message and has approached it in a more sympathetic way than the likes of Oasis and Kasabian ever did.
Here’s a brief summation from
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“Heroes”
The best-known song on Scratch My Back and therefore quite probably the bravest choice as the record’s opener, this Bowie anthem is slowed right down, in the process shorn of its confidence and swagger. But the melancholy begins to evaporate as the song progresses, the scurrying orchestrations raining down columns of sunlight by the close.
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I’ll leave you with the tracklisting for Scratch My Back, with the original artists in brackets…
Peter Gabriel – Scratch My Back
01 – “Heroes” (David Bowie)
02 – The Boy In The Bubble (Paul Simon)
03 – Mirrorball (Elbow)
04 – Flume (Bon Iver)
05 – Listening Wind (Talking Heads)
06 – The Power Of The Heart (Lou Reed)
07 – My Body Is A Cage (Arcade Fire)
08 – The Book Of Love (The Magnetic Fields)
09 – I Think It?s Going To Rain Today (Randy Newman)
10 – Apres Moi (Regina Spektor)
11 – Philadelphia (Neil Young)
12 – Street Spirit (Radiohead)