There’s no doubt that David Bowie is one of the geniuses of modern music. Ever evolving, his music set standards and styles throughout the years. He is among the few greats like Paul McCartney, John Lennon or Freddie Mercury (with all of which he was a good friend, by the way) that could write such complex songs in terms of harmony and arrangement, songs that could still sound easy-flowing and to which anyone can sing along. But that’s not the case with “Sue (Or in a Season Of Crime)”, a composition that opens another chapter of his musical and aesthetic interests.
Bowie’s love of jazz is not a secret. He has collaborated with some great jazz musicians throughout his career (with the trumpet legend Lester Bowie of The Art Ensemble of Chicago on the album "Black Tie/White Noise" and with Pat Metheny when they recorded together “This Is Not America” in 1984). But this collaboration with the Maria Schneider Orchestra resulted, for the first time in his life, with a true avant-garde jazz song. They wrote the music together with Schneider and Bowie wrote the lyrics. It debuted on BBC Radio 6 on October 12, 2014 and it is featured as the lead single on his compilation "Nothing Has Changed: The Very Best of Bowie”.
The song opens with a drum and bass groove over which the hounds of the brass and woodwind sections paint epic scenes, creating a feeling of a cosmic wind that lifts up the listener and takes him on a dreamy voyage. Then Bowie comes in with an almost operatic vocal expression, making the atmosphere even more dramatic. The whole song sounds like a metaphysical rush hour, a chase of mortal importance, but Bowie’s voice guides the dreamer through this emotional whirling with its comforting coldness, however strange that may sound. The lyrics are ambiguous as well - starting with optimistic verses such as “Sue, I got the job” and “The x-ray’s fine”, it is slowly shifting towards images of graves and farewells. The song is a real masterpiece and another milestone of contemporary music signed by David Bowie.
It has two versions. Here is a link to the longer version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaygoLgAe4Y
...and to the shorter one, accompanied by a fantastic video directed by Tom Hingston and Jimmy King:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFX1y62l9C4
