Artists

Musicians featured in this piece are:

David Bowie – vocals
Pat Metheny – guitar, synthesizer
Lyle Mays – piano, keyboards, synthesizer
Steve Rodby – bass guitar
Paul Wertico – drums, percussion

Written by David Bowie, Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays. Produced by David Bowie & Pat Metheny, mixed by Bob Clearmountain, recorded 1984.

The song originated when director John Schlesinger invited Pat Metheny to score The Falcon and the Snowman, a spy drama starring Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton. Metheny wrote the theme — originally an instrumental titled “Chris” — while in Mexico City watching early filming, and Schlesinger later suggested bringing in David Bowie for a vocal version to play over the closing credits. Bowie took Metheny’s demo, added a drum machine part, kept the melody’s basic structure, and wrote an additional vocal line and lyric that Metheny has since called some of the most meaningful words he ever heard set to his music. Metheny flew with the core of his band to Bowie’s Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, to record the single. Despite the jazz pedigree of the Pat Metheny Group, Bowie biographer Chris O’Leary has noted the track is “hardly a jazz piece,” with Metheny playing a simple rhythm guitar throughout rather than any solos.

David Bowie and Pat Metheny – This Is Not America Lyrics

This is not America, sha la la la la

A little piece of you
The little peace in me
Will die (This is not a miracle)
For this is not America

Blossom fails to bloom this season
Promise not to stare
Too long (This is not America)
For this is not the miracle

There was a time
A storm that blew so pure
For this could be the biggest sky
And I could have the faintest idea

For this is not America
Sha la la la la
This is not America, no
This is not, sha la la la la

Snowman melting from the inside
Falcon spirals to the ground
(This could be the biggest sky)
So bloody red, tomorrow’s clouds

A little piece of you
The little piece in me
Will die (This could be a miracle)
For this is not America

There was a time
A wind that blew so young
For this could be the biggest sky
And I could have the faintest idea

For this is not America
Sha la la la la
This is not America, no
This is not, sha la la la

This is not America, no
This is not
This is not America, no
This is not, sha la la la

To listen to other songs from the Teleskop 18 program and the full program, click here.