"Heroes" (6:58)

“Heroes” is a song written by David Bowie and Brian Eno in 1977. Produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, it was released both as a single and as the title track of the album ”Heroes”. A product of Bowie’s fertile ‘Berlin’ period, life in the city was crystallized into a tale of two lovers who come together in the shadow of the ‘Wall of Shame’ (though here “the shame was on the other side”). David Bowie was inspired by seeing his producer Tony Visconti (who was married at the time) kissing his mistress across from the studio which happened to be next to the Berlin Wall - the lyrics were composed as an ironic commentary on the situation, with the quotes in the title meant to emphasise the irony. While not a huge hit at the time, the song has gone on to become one of Bowie’s signature tunes and is well known today for its appearance in numerous advertisements. It has been cited as Bowie’s second most covered song after Rebel Rebel. The single version of this song is far shorter than the album version.

According to the Heroes Songfacts, featured in this song are not only Brian Eno’s synthesizer and Robert Fripp’s guitar, but also producer Tony Visconti banging on a metal ashtray that was lying around the studio.