when I first heard this song in 1977 it was a musical awakening, not just with Bowies use of synths but Fripps guitar was mind bending..
bowie
synths
brixton
schneider
Story behind the song
a brilliant artist releases one masterwork in a 12 month period, a genius releases two...
'heroes' and 'low' are ground-breaking albums, which influenced a whole generation of new wave music (New Romantics as they were referred to in London), giving us Duran, Spandau, Human League, Eurythmics to name a few...
all of this because Bowie immersed himself into electronic music (Kraftwerk) and new surroundings (Germany) of which he drew so much inspiration from...
the so called 'Berlin period' is probably overhyped but it certainly did enable him to clean up after the coke blizzard of LA and flee the craziness of the west coast lifestyle...
the ominous presence of the eastern bloc authoritarian shadow, a hideous wall approximately 150m from his recording studio, isn't lost on either LP and in reality how could it as it would have been a constant reminder of dictatorial rule and a loss of freedom...
chameleon like qualities this guy possessed in spades...
Lyrics
I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, for ever and ever
Oh we can be Heroes, just for one day
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can be Heroes, just for one day
We can be us, just for one day
I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing, by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns, shot above our heads (over our heads)
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
And the shame, was on the other side
Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever
Then we could be Heroes, just for one day
We can be Heroes
We can be us
We can be Heroes
Just for one day