Wild Is The Wind

The story behind David Bowie's song 'Wild Is The Wind'
Wild Is The Wind by David Bowie, 1981 single front cover

DETAILS

Written by: Dimitri Tiomkin, Ned Washington

Albums: Station To Station, ChangesTwoBowie, Bowie at the Beeb

Recorded: September–November 1975 (Cherokee Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA)

Released: 23 January 1976 (album) / 13 November 1981 (single)

Length: 3:34 (Music video) / 5:58 (Full-length album version)

Catalogue: BOW 10 / PB 9815

Production: David Bowie, Harry Maslin

Musicians: David Bowie (vocals, guitar), Carlos Alomar (guitar), Earl Slick (guitar), Dennis Davis (drums), George Murray (bass), Warren Peace (backing vocals)

STORY

The story behind ‘Wild Is The Wind’

‘Wild Is The Wind’ was written by Tin Pan Alley lyricist Ned Washington and High Noon composer Dimitri Tiomkin. Originally recorded by Johnny Mathis as the Oscar-nominated theme for the 1956 Western of the same name, ‘Wild Is The Wind’ was later recorded by Nina Simone. Bowie and Simone met in Los Angeles in 1975, and the encounter inspired Bowie to record the song for his Station To Station album.

“Her performance of the song really affected me,” he recalled in a 1993 interview. “I thought it was just tremendous, so I recorded it as an homage to Nina.”

Bowie’s rendition, with its lovely acoustic guitars and melodramatic vocal performance, is arguably his best cover version.

The song was released as a single in 1981 to promote the compilation album ChangesTwoBowie, with ‘Golden Years’ on the B-side, reaching number 24 in the UK charts.

‘Wild Is The Wind’ was subsequently played on a few early dates of the Serious Moonlight tour, and revived as the opening number for the summer 2000 concerts. A performance was taped on 23 June 2000 for Channel 4’s TFI Friday, while it also opens the BBC Radio Theatre concert on 27 June opens the Bowie At The Beeb bonus disc. An unadorned version accompanied only by Mike Garson on piano was Bowie’s opening number at the Black Ball charity concert in New York City on 9 November 2006.

WATCH

The video for ‘Wild Is The Wind’

The 1981 single release of ‘Wild Is The Wind’ was accompanied by David Mallet’s handsomely shot monochrome video depicting Bowie and his musicians sitting in a circle against a black backdrop, faithful to the 1976 Isolar tour’s expressionist aesthetic.

“I think what we were trying to do when we were filming this was to keep in mind the style of the fifties jazz programmes that were on American television at that time,” Bowie explained.

Miming the roles of the musicians on the video are Tony Visconti on upright bass, Andy Hamilton on saxophone, Mel Gaynor (later of Simple Minds) on drums, and Bowie’s personal assistant Coco Schwab on guitar. This, and the almost identical promo for ‘The Drowned Girl’ filmed on the same day, are the only Bowie videos to feature either Schwab or Visconti.

While the single featured the full-length album version of the song, the video removed a verse, creating an otherwise unavailable 3’30” edit.

LISTEN

David Bowie version
Johnny Mathis version
Nina Simone version

LYRICS

‘Wild Is The Wind’ Lyrics

Love me, love me, love me, say you do
Let me fly away with you
For my love is like the wind, and wild is the wind
Wild is the wind
Give me more than one caress, satisfy this hungriness
Let the wind blow through your heart
For wild is the wind, wild is the wind

You touch me
I hear the sound of mandolins
You kiss me
With your kiss my life begins
You’re spring to me, all things to me
Don’t you know, you’re life itself!

Like the leaf clings to the tree
Oh, my darling, cling to me
For we’re like creatures of the wind, and wild is the wind
Wild is the wind

You touch me
I hear the sound of mandolins
You kiss me
With your kiss my life begins
You’re spring to me, all things to me
Don’t you know, you’re life itself!

Like the leaf clings to the tree
Oh, my darling, cling to me
For we’re like creatures of the wind, and wild is the wind
Wild is the wind

ARTWORK

‘Wild Is The Wind’ Artwork

Wild Is The Wind by David Bowie, 1981 single front cover Wild Is The Wind by David Bowie, 1981 single back cover Wild Is The Wind by David Bowie, 1981 single A side label Wild Is The Wind by David Bowie, 1981 single B side label

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