David Bowie: Queen Bitch (Mini-Review)

Bowie during his "Hunky Dory" era in the early 1970s

Oh, the cot is so cold it don't feel like no bed at all,
Yeah I lay down a while and, I look at my hotel wall,
And he's down on the street, so I throw both his bags down the hall,
And I'm phoning a cab 'cause my stomach feels small,
There's a taste in my mouth, and it's no taste at all,
It could have been me, oh yeah it could have been me
Why didn't I say,
Why didn't I say, no, no, no

Today I decided to listen to one of my all time favourite angsty-fun Bowie songs, "Queen Bitch", in an effort to continue on the "feeling feelings while feeling" movement I started yesterday.

I love the youthful angst Bowie puts into this homage to Lou Reed/The Velvet Underground. The (loosely called) love song offers the traditional Bowie twist: despite the fact the eponymous character is the object of his affections (and the main subject of the song), the lyrics are actually dominated by the singer - it is his perspective, feelings, and thoughts we are forced to see the narrative from. As such, he therefore becomes the object of the "relationship" (as it were) rather than the woman. Additionally, because of this, the song also loosely has a "She Loves You" framework - there are three people in the narrative, and the speaker is not apart of the main love story line (and I adore both songs for this reason).

The quoted lyrics are my favourite of the entire song - Bowie completely encapsulates the sensation of betrayal and regret over lost love without becoming a crooning cliche. Instead, the energy of the song and the delivery of the lyrics (more angst-ridden and upbeat rather than forlorn and brooding) lends the singer an element of youthful passion. It's not his one time Great True Love, but a fling he wishes he could've had. As such, the song has a curious duality to it - the singer laments what could've been, but he also recognizes that he is in the prime of youth. He knows that this won't be the last opportunity, as he sings "I could do better than that" repeatedly throughout the song. Thus, he lends the song a more playful tone rather than melancholy.

This lovely contradiction of youth filled with excitement and passion while also bitterly regretful, of lamenting a betrayal while moving on to the next relationship, and the curiously voyeuristic tale while also being extremely intimate is why I always recommend "Queen Bitch" for a broken heart.

All versions of the song are excellent, but I particularly love hearing it resurrected by an older Bowie without the youthful ambition and passion he had at the cusp of breakthrough success underlying the performance. As such later renditions of "Queen Bitch" are always a curious favourite of mine while the original is a classic that can't be ignored.