Shadow Man (song)
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| "Shadow Man" | |
|---|---|
| Song by David Bowie | |
| Released | 14 June 2024 |
| Recorded | 15 November 1971 |
| Studio | Trident, London |
| Genre | Folk |
| Length | 4:02 |
| Label | Parlophone |
| Songwriter | David Bowie |
| Producers | David Bowie, Ken Scott |
"Shadow Man" is a song written by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was recorded on 15 November 1971 at Trident Studios in London during the sessions for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972) and left unreleased until 2024 on the Rock 'n' Roll Star! box set. A folk ballad, the lyrics discuss topics of self-identity and doubling, and the impact one's present self has on their future lives, themes some linked to the Shadow concepts of Carl Jung.
Almost thirty years later, Bowie rerecorded the song for the Toy project in 2000. After the project's shelving, the remake saw release as a B-side in 2002, while different mixes appeared in 2006 and 2011. Ten years later in 2021, Toy was officially released as part of the Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001) box set. The Toy version of "Shadow Man" was praised by critics for its music and Bowie's vocal performance.
David Bowie recorded an unfinished version of "Shadow Man" at Trident Studios in London during the sessions for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars on 15 November 1971, the same day as "It's Gonna Rain Again" and the final take of "Five Years". The recording was co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott and featured contributions from Bowie's backing band the Spiders from Mars—Mick Ronson (guitar), Trevor Bolder (bass) and Woody Woodmansey (drums).[1][2] It remained unreleased until 2024, when a composite of two different takes from the Ziggy sessions was included on the Rock 'n' Roll Star! box set, with new reverb from Scott.[3][4][5]
Lyrically, "Shadow Man" discusses themes of self-identity and doubling, as well as the impact one's present self has on their future lives; Bowie explained in 1989 that "it's a reference to one's own shadow self".[2][6] In 2015, artist Tanja Stark explicitly linked the song to Carl Jung's concept of the Shadow, a central theme in depth psychology that she argues reoccurs throughout Bowie's creative practice.[7][8] This component of the psyche has a dual capacity, from a Jungian perspective, to be "foe" or "friend". In this framework, the "girl up ahead who knows" in the lyric could represent the role of the anima.[7] In a later writeup, Helen Brown of The Independent noted that as its author was "on the verge of developing so many alter egos", one can suspect the "shadow man" to be the young "shy, suburban Davy Jones lurking behind his extreme, stagey persona".[8] Bowie's biographers have noted the track's similar introspective and melancholic themes to Space Oddity-era tracks like "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud" (1969) and "Conversation Piece" (1970), or the unreleased "Time of My Life".[2][6]
Musically, the song is a folk ballad that, like other Bowie compositions of the time, is influenced by songwriter Biff Rose's The Thorn in Mrs. Rose's Side (1968), particularly its closing track "The Man"; Bowie also covered the same album's "Fill Your Heart" on 1971's Hunky Dory.[2][6] The author Peter Doggett compares its sound to the Rolling Stones in 1971 – "elongated southern (US) vocals and swaggering power chords".[9] The biographer Chris O'Leary believes its style and lyrical content would have been unfit for the Ziggy Stardust album.[2]
