| "Strangers When We Meet" | ||||
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| Single byDavid Bowie | ||||
| from the albumOutside | ||||
| B-side | "The Man Who Sold the World" (live) | |||
| Released | 20 November 1995 (1995-11-20) | |||
| Recorded |
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| Studio |
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| Genre | Art rock | |||
| Length |
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| Label | RCA | |||
| Songwriter | David Bowie | |||
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| David Bowie singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Strangers When We Meet" onYouTube | ||||
"Strangers When We Meet" is a song by English musicianDavid Bowie, originally recorded for his 1993 albumThe Buddha of Suburbia. In 1995, Bowie re-recorded the song for his 20th studio album,Outside (1995), and this version was edited and released in November 1995 byRCA as the second single from the album, paired with a reworked version of Bowie's 1970 song "The Man Who Sold the World". The double A-side reached number 39 on theUK Singles Chart.[1][2] In Sweden, "Strangers When We Meet" peaked at number 56 in 1996.[3]
"Strangers When We Meet" is a song that Bowie recorded three times: once in 1993 with Reeves Gabrels and his band Modern Farmer (unreleased), once in 1993 with Bowie and Erdal Kızılçay for release on the albumThe Buddha of Suburbia, and then again in 1994–95 for inclusion onOutside.[1] Both biographersNicholas Pegg and Chris O'Leary agree that the song seemed out-of-place onOutside: Pegg says that song, "at the end of1. Outside's art-rock insanity, 'Strangers When We Meet' seems even more incongruous, resolving all the album's angst and black comedy in a soothing slice of conventional pop",[2] and O'Leary calls the song "transient" and not suited on either of the albums on which it appeared, with the song almost seeming like a bonus track appended at the end ofOutside.[1] TheBuddha version is called "tense, more compact, nervier"[1] compared to the "lush" version onOutside.[2]
Roger Morton fromNME named the song "the album's most conventional moment", describing it as a "romantic rock ballad".[4]
The single was released on 20 November 1995.[2][5] While most versions were of the newerOutside version of the song, an American promo CD included a rare single edit of theBuddha of Suburbia version, and a rare 1993 promo cassette contained a different version still of theBuddha recording, and featured different percussion and mixing.[2]
Samuel Bayer’s video for the song shared some visual similarities with that for "The Hearts Filthy Lesson", but was a more simple and placid affair set in a decaying artist's studio.[2]
In promotion of the album and single, Bowie performed "Strangers When We Meet" four times on various shows in the US and UK. First, on 27 October 1995, it was performed onThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno.[1] On 10 November 1995, Bowie performed an unfortunately "lacklustre" version of the song onTop of the Pops while in the middle of rehearsals for the Outside Tour, and then played it again on 2 December 1995 onLater... with Jools Holland.[2] It was performed one more time live on TV on 26 January 1996 on French TV'sTaratata.[2] Subsequently, the song was performed occasionally during Bowie's 1995–1996Outside Tour and 1997'sEarthling Tour.[2] One recording of the song, recorded during the Outside Tour, was released onNo Trendy Réchauffé (Live Birmingham 95) (2020), which takes its name from a lyric fragment from the song.
The 1995 rerecording of the song appeared on theBest of Bowie DVD (2002) and the 3-CD version ofNothing Has Changed (2014).
The version of "The Man Who Sold the World" was based on a live recording of the song from thetrip-hop reworking performed on theOutside World Tour, and then reshaped, overdubbed and mixed byBrian Eno at Westside Studios in London on 30th October, 1995. This version was remastered and re-released in 2020 on the EPIs It Any Wonder?[6]
"Get Real" was released as a bonus track to the Japanese release ofOutside in 1995, as a b-side to this single, and again on the 2004 re-release ofOutside and in the 2007David Bowie (box set). The song, a leftover from theOutside sessions,[1] was described as a "far more conventional pop-rock composition than anything on the album"[2] with a reference to some of Bowie's own "unlamented"[1] mid-Eighties work.[2] A sheet of paper dated 6 March 1994, on display at theDavid Bowie Is exhibit, showed that this song's lyrics were at least partly run through theVerbasizer program, which Bowie liked to use like scissors and paper to cut up and re-arrange his lyrics.[1] Pegg called the song "an appealing glimpse into the wealth of extra material recorded during the [Outside] sessions, and another example of Bowie's ongoing preoccupation with the nature of reality."[2]
According to Chris O'Leary:[1]
Buddha of Suburbia version
| Outside version
|
| Chart (1995–1996) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[7] | 9 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[8] | 56 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[9] | 39 |
