David Bowie’s “‘Heroes’” was recorded in 1977 for the album of the same name, the second in what is known as his Berlin Trilogy. While the song wasn’t a hit at the time, it’s since become remembered as one of Bowie’s best songs.
It was also recorded in the very town in which it’s set.
The Historical Event That Inspired “‘Heroes’”
On the surface, “‘Heroes’” is a love song about ill-fated lovers who can’t be together. But it’s also so much more. The two lovers described in the song are from East and West Berlin. They meet every day under a gun turret at the Berlin Wall. And they dream of their freedom and a life together.
Bowie was first inspired to write the song after seeing a couple kissing at the Berlin Wall. Specifically, producer Tony Visconti and his girlfriend, which Bowie didn’t reveal until decades later.
“I always said it was a couple of lovers by the Wall that prompted the idea for ‘Heroes’,” Bowie told Classic Rock in 2015. “Actually, it was Tony Visconti and his girlfriend. Tony was married at the time, so I couldn’t talk about it. But I can now say that the lovers were Tony and a German girl [Antonia Maass] that he’d met while we were in Berlin. I think possibly his marriage was in the last few months. And it was very touching because I could see that Tony was very much in love with this girl, and it was that relationship which sort of motivated the song.”
The song’s opening lines envision the couple as royalty who can rise above their circumstances, even if it’s just temporary.
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be heroes, just for one day.
The brief second verse addresses the couple’s longing for freedom, comparing them to dolphins in the vast ocean.
I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
References to the Berlin Wall are more direct towards the end of the song. Bowie sings about the couple behaving as though nothing could harm them. It’s them against the world. All the while, his vocal delivery becomes more intense and impassioned.
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).
The song’s title is in quotation marks as a way to address the irony of its romantic music and lyrics compared to its inspiration.
Despite that inspiration, “‘Heroes’” has been interpreted several ways over the years. Bowie himself once said, “I’m not quite sure what that song means anymore, which is kind of exciting.” The fact that it was inspired by such a specific place and yet can hold a number of meanings is perhaps why it was such an enduring song for Bowie.
Bowie famously played the song in front of the German Reichstag in West Berlin on June 6, 1987. He considered it to be one of his most important performances.
“It felt anthemic, almost like a prayer,” Bowie later said of the performance.