Songfacts®:

• This one of several songs on The Next Day inspired by Bowie's fascination with medieval history. The album's producer Tony Visconti told Billboard magazine: "He's been reading history books, and we were having great conversations in the studio about, well, British monarchy for a start and stories related to them. A couple of songs on this album are about historical subjects. Some of the lyrics are blood-curdling, they really are - very, very strong lyrics about old wars, things like that."
• According to Visconti, Bowie wrote many of the songs for The Next Day on keyboards, resulting in him tapping into his jazz roots. This track in particular with its experimental sounds and polyrhythms is particularly jazzy. Visconti told The Ottowa Citizen: "The song called If You Can See Me has very wide, beautiful, crunchy jazz chords, with time signatures that Dave Brubeck would be proud of."