The David Bowie song that “floored” St. Vincent
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(Credits: Far Out / Alex Da Corte / Stanley-Wise Gallery)
St. Vincent, also known as Annie Clark, is one of the most idiosyncratic figures in contemporary guitar music. Beyond her mastery of the instrument, beyond the grand soundscapes she creates with it and the genres she traverses at will, her vision envelops every part of her artistry, extending beyond the auditory and into the visual. It makes sense, then, that one of her biggest inspirations is her art-rock predecessor, David Bowie.
Bowie’s influence seems to direct almost every element of her sound and style, from her glorious glam rock leanings to the visual worlds that she concocts to accompany each record. While Bowie created personas ranging from extraterrestrial rockstar Ziggy Stardust to astronaut Aladdin Sane, St. Vincent has embodied New York icons and robotic dominatrixes in her own world-building.
Between her otherworldly soundscapes and the facades and fairytales she creates to accompany them, Clark has managed to emulate the element of Bowie’s work that she most adored: his ability to transport you elsewhere while still maintaining relevance and poignance in the real world. Their stories and the sounds they accompany them with provide a window into the mind or world of another, without losing touch with their listeners.
When it comes to Bowie’s catalogue, there is one song in particular that Clark found to embody this transformative capability: ‘Always Crashing In The Same Car’. The song featured on Bowie’s 11th record in 1977, Low, which also spawned the iconic hit ‘Sound and Vision’. During a chat with Red Bull, Clark shared her love for the record and its transporting quality.
“I love music that takes me someplace else,” she divulged, “like the second half of Low; stuff that reminds me of things that matter, instead of pure escapism. It just floors me.” She noted that she was particularly floored by ‘Always Crashing In The Same Car’, a song in which Bowie’s protagonist seems doomed to keep making the same poor decisions over and over.
Even when he proclaims to have looked left and right, he can’t help but continually crash in the same car. According to Clark, the song is about him “[ramming his car into] the car of a drug dealer who had ripped him off,” but his words go beyond that. It’s not just about one impassioned car crash, it’s about the inability to quit a habit, the inescapability of certain toxic cycles.
‘Always Crashing In The Same Car’ certainly contains the ability to transport listeners to another world, into the mind of Bowie mid-addiction, but it’s not an entirely escapist track. In fact, it’s universally relatable – we all have mistakes we can’t stop ourselves from repeating, flaws we can’t seem to rid ourselves of, cars we can’t stop crashing.
Steeped in reality and in his own personal experience, but also relating to a much more universal theme, ‘Always Crashing In The Same Car’ is a stellar example of what made Bowie such a well-loved songwriter, by Clark and by millions of others. His work was both otherworldly and completely grounded in the human experience, much like Clark’s own output.
It’s easy to see how Clark’s love for ‘Always Crashing In The Same Car’, and her admiration for Bowie more generally, has found its way into her own songwriting. As she veers between the extraterrestrial and the earthly, the spirit of Bowie lives on.
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