So perfect in his minimalist interpretation

That lovely man was gloriously unafraid of art.

@slyasleep

3 ай бұрын

That‘s beautifully put.

@Ryan-on5on

Ай бұрын

Well stated. Bowie belongs to that rarefied class of popular talent unafraid of trying new paths and courses they feel might lead to aesthetic sublimity. Sure, not all these journeys turned up gold or even silver, but they made one appreciate their boldness and lack of fear of failing all the same. Us aesthetes gained so much from David's myriad explorations to the limits of artistic expression!

@evelynevantol4814

Ай бұрын

Zo mooi hoe je dat zegt ❤❤❤

@evelynevantol4814

Ай бұрын

Hij was niet bang voor usa om het zo maar te zeggen

@Nicksonian

3 күн бұрын

Indeed. Paul Simon and David Bowie were two of the greatest songwriters of their generation. So inspiring to watch this lovely, talented man honor his fellow musician.

A great tribute to NYC's people and America at its worst of moments. Rest in Peace to the lost on 9/11 and you David Bowie.

@Nicksonian

3 күн бұрын

I still can’t believe that David is no longer with us.

Raw…as only David Bowie could do. Gut wrenchingly beautiful😢😢😢

the man was a genius.. a beautiful rendition and what balls to play this song as the opener to a televised charity concert.. he has so many hidden treasures in both live performances and rare album tracks... bless him

Ret .NYPD, David Opened The Concert for New York with this magical ,chilling song. God Bless David Bowie.

god i miss this man.

@1060michaelg

3 жыл бұрын

allan king My EXACT thought. The humanity in his voice...the expressions on his face, all show you the depth of what he's feeling.

@WolfKing-dv6xd

2 жыл бұрын

We all do.

@fishwhisperer3495

2 жыл бұрын

agreed

@muller_to_x5283

2 жыл бұрын

All of you are right greets from Bavaria

@WolfKing-dv6xd

2 жыл бұрын

@@muller_to_x5283 hello!

This just sent me spiraling into tears. I miss normal. I miss Bowie. I miss what America used to be. The way he does this pulled every heartstring this morning… My transcendent, lovely Prince Bowie… how the world misses your genius…😪🙏🏽🎶

@macanbhaird1966

7 ай бұрын

"the moon rose over an empty field" gets me every time. Pure genius...I think I am always expecting the "look for America" line and the detail is so beautiful. Testament to Simon & Garfunkel writing/music and Bowie's interpretation.

@goofe.washington953

7 ай бұрын

“counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, they’ve all come to look for America”. What a profound line. At 71, I too miss what America used to be. Maybe I should get in my car and look for it, but I’m scared it’s not there anymore - and even more scared it’s not coming back.

@jayatfreelance

7 ай бұрын

AMEN.

@31Alden

7 ай бұрын

Amen … I share every one of your sentiments.

@lanabanana68

6 ай бұрын

I think I love you; what a perfect comment

In tears there is such beauty in the understated. Only David would flip the expected. And what does he do. This. An absolute gem. And I miss him my heart still aches

@chriscorman734

3 жыл бұрын

We sure miss his insight

@kellycampbell5618

2 жыл бұрын

Same

@halflanding1900

2 жыл бұрын

agree 100% Scott. couldn’t stop my tears. he wasn’t just a pop star / fashion icon otherwise he wouldn’t move us so deep

@lonewolf5238

2 жыл бұрын

Absolutely. Didn't think it could hurt so much losing someone I never met and never knew.

@upthehill1

2 жыл бұрын

Beautiful version

"I'm empty and aching and I don't know why" His phrasing and the simple keyboard made this version so emotionally charged.

@lanabanana68

6 ай бұрын

indeed.

@globule2

2 ай бұрын

That’s the key phrase right there

@lavachevolante

2 ай бұрын

And the way he says it… 😮❤

@Nicksonian

3 күн бұрын

I so much agree. And David knew. He knew what it all meant.

Absolutely perfect. The tone , the phrasing , the physical and facial expression, the calliope like music.😢😮. I have never witnessed such a moving reincarnation of a song. That man was a genius.

The world a true gem…I don’t say “true gem” lightly! Many years of musical brilliance…what a nice turn for this tune!

Happy birthday David...the whole world misses you💔.

One of the last of the great artists...rip.

Not only was he a most talented human being,up there with the best,he had so much style.

As a lifelong Bowie fan, I am disappointed that I have heard this for the first time in 2023. I recall a review of "Cat People" where the critic said David could sing a shopping list and make it a hit. This is simply sublime and made all the better for him singing in the London accent of his younger days. Beautiful.

You can see the emotions of the next lyrics on his face well before he says them. A brilliant artist and communicator.

I never knew Bowie covered this song. He brings something very different to it.

A truly haunting cover made all the more poignant by the backdrop of scenes/vistas from a city that only weeks before had witnessed a rain of death and destruction from the sky as well as by Bowie's exquisite, emotion-laden phrasing. We lost a tremendous giant with his death!

i keep coming back to this. Outstanding

"Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together I've got some real estate here in my bag" So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies And walked off to look for America "Kathy", I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh "Michigan seems like a dream to me now" It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw I've gone to look for America Laughing on the bus Playing games with the faces She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy I said "Be careful, his bowtie is really a camera" "Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat" "We smoked the last one an hour ago" So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine And the moon rose over an open field "Kathy, I'm lost", I said, though I knew she was sleeping I'm empty and aching and I don't know why Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike They've all come to look for America All come to look for America All come to look for America Source: Musixmatch Songwriters: Paul Simon America lyrics © Paul Simon Music, Edition Falco Privatstiftung

My dad died on November 4, 2022 unexpectedly. This song has been in my head since and I am now finally listening to it once again. I miss you dad where ever you are. I love you. And I like this version of the song by Bowie alot!

Such a powerful, meaningful choice of song. Just when you have felt the evil of the world, breaking in, trying to weaken you, here comes Bowie, like the prophet, to remind how better souls from all over the world have long come to you in hope, in admiration, of your very strength

David Bowie was a genius and proved it by opening The Concert for NY with this after 9/11.

His voice makes me cry. We all come to look for America. Priceless.

@ledeyabaklykova

5 ай бұрын

Now pls all of you return to where you all came from. Except me. Of course.

I've been telling my kids about this for years. This is how the concert opened...how utterly profound. Bless you David!

@scm0717

9 ай бұрын

THEN he sang "Heroes". Beautifully understated "America" in Bowie style.

@Jeanetteinnes

8 ай бұрын

Beautiful 😢

@Dandyd47

7 ай бұрын

Where and when was this particular concert?

@MrSteverossiter

7 ай бұрын

​@Dandyd47 this was the concert for new york right after 9/11

@d4ves363

6 ай бұрын

This was one of Bowies finest moments (there's been a few!) But I didn't know he actually opened the concert with this x

He tried so valiantly when like us realized everything matters . Miss David Bowie

No one else but David could have done this. I miss this guy every day.

The way that he flirts around the beat at the beginning, just beyond amazing, miss him every day

Where is this genius we have need of his wisdom. Our Country was so united after the 9/11 terrorist attack now some 19 years later I listen to this and cry. We can all do better some way some how

The world misses you David bowie, you were one of a kind .God speed.

Well there you have it. A genius sings a geniuses song and hey presto - brilliance. Nothing more nothing less. Just pure brilliance.

I will never forget that day - seeing the tower fall from a train - and i will never forget this opening song at the 911 concert at MSG. I was never a big Bowie fan, and he came out playing this crazy little contraption whatever it was - doing this Simon & Garfunkel song - and just set the whole tone that this was going to be a serious and very heavy night of music, pain and hope.

@morganfisherart

2 жыл бұрын

Well said. He's playing a Suzuki Omnichord, made in the 80s. They're lovely - I have three.

@Charleybones

2 жыл бұрын

@@morganfisherart One isn't enough?

@morganfisherart

2 жыл бұрын

@@Charleybones I own three different models - OM27, OM84, OM200M - each with different sounds and functions. Pro musicians (and nutty obsessives) do this sort of thing! :-)

@jonathanhadden7157

Жыл бұрын

I was there also! When *THIS* was the opening song, performed this way, we *KNEW* that we were in for an amazingly special, emotional, and unique show. We were both lucky to be there!

@onemanmatt

Жыл бұрын

JUST INCREDIBLE !!!!!!

The world misses David Bowie Beautiful

They cheer mindlessly every time lovely David sings America, but they, and we, missed the warning and the comfort. I look back and see this moment as prophetic. Tears. Many tears.

He was such a beautiful man. Rest In Peace Bowie, and Rest In Peace to all the victims of 9/11.

He sang that very sincerely ... He Defiantly was "there" in that vision

there are only a hand full of artist who passed that generations will remember in the future bowie will be one of them

... and the moon rose over an open field. This line is so beautiful in context.

I love Bowie's rendition of this song. It's profoundly sad and describes that horrible feeling we all have had when you are trying to act like nothing is wrong but you are completely shattered inside.

@barbaralynch3015

2 жыл бұрын

Oh yes totally!

@jamessollazzo4860

2 жыл бұрын

sounds like a circus tune!

@Tom-xx1om

2 жыл бұрын

@@jamessollazzo4860 you don't get it, do you?

@sexypoetry

2 жыл бұрын

...yap...one can hear overtones of "this is not america"....

@TinyDancer250

2 жыл бұрын

@@Tom-xx1om What did he mean by it? Serious question please. I understand the choice of song, but why that music accompaniment?

I’ve loved this man’s music since I was a small child. I miss him and his sensitive creativity, as do so many millions. R.I.P. David ❤

I don't think most people see how beautiful this version is. The circus background music is very meaningful. The dream we are all looking for is a farce, just like a circus.

@neilgordon8145

6 сағат бұрын

I don’t think that a lot of people really listen properly and understand the lyrics. What an interpretation by Mr Jones.

Its so strange that i miss David Bowie. I never met him, I never even saw him live. Lets dance was the first Bowie album i bought and from there i searched out each of the older one's. Its so strange to feel a loss for someone i didnt know. As far as i can remember i havent heard this before. Its an absolute gem. Thanks for unloading

Can you imagine Paul McCartney being able to do this? Or Roger Waters? Or Mick Jagger? Bruce Springsteen? Bowie brings something else to his arrangements. There's an otherworldly quality, a beauty. Possibly the greatest pop musician of the twentieth century and beyond.

@juancarlosavila1853

7 ай бұрын

He was the Da Vinci of our era.

@Bo-tz4nw

7 ай бұрын

Yes, I can.

@joeysn7hvn

7 ай бұрын

A bj is in order

For some reason I have seen this for the first time only now. It really gave me goosebumps. So sorely missed.

@daveburns3886

8 ай бұрын

His unique creativity was a gift to us all.. his voice was always so emotive

@helenepineau4636

7 ай бұрын

I usually do not remake, but this is so very special. Oh, I miss him 😔

@amberackerson5916

7 ай бұрын

Me too 💔

@BlueBeeMCMLXI

7 ай бұрын

You probably had not seen it until now, then.

@janepinard9835

6 ай бұрын

@@helenepineau4636 He is sorely missed. He was a gift to us all!

Breathtakingly, heartbreakingly beautiful. Only David could have made a legendary song his own. ❤️

4am, I'm seeing this for the first time.... absolutely blown away

Could there have been a better way to adress the audience than with this song in just the way Bowie did it? I cant't think of any.

@matthewtaylor6533

2 жыл бұрын

Address

Perfection….still hard to believe he’s gone…

Every word with the right nuance. This one is the definitive performance.

A song, written by an American, about America, sung by an Englishman, with a South London accent. I Love it! (I like his chord choices, too.)

@toddtrulock6809

11 ай бұрын

he's playing an omnichord, one of the coolest instruments that I want, if you look into them.

@RobinHartJones

9 ай бұрын

To be fair, it is not a total contrast. It was written by an American who was living in England and took his English girlfriend, Kathy, for a low budget tour of America and realised it was not the America he remembered.

@richardjames1946

8 ай бұрын

Bunch of hitchhiking hippies discovering themselves while lost in the wilderness (and at heart)

@niccymak8243

8 ай бұрын

Anthony Newley would be proud.

@SmaHuff-ms7mu

7 ай бұрын

American means A miracle... everybodys looking for that.

His voice makes my goosebumps have goosebumps. I miss him...

Incredible. The emotion in that song alone - PLUS the emotion surrounding the context of the performance - is almost too much to bear. That man was a gift to the planet.

Bowie always gives you his soul.

@davidmack4495

14 күн бұрын

well put...yes, he does...I'm still sad I never saw him live...

What a genius he was

I’ve HEARD this song a hundred times before but hearing Bowies version just now is the first time I’ve FELT this song. Wow!

@ryanaball

7 ай бұрын

When it gets you, better than anything.

The marriage of two musical genius', Paul Simon and David Bowie. As close to perfection as you'll ever get.

WOW !! THis gave me shivers ! ~

An outstanding version of what was already a great song

Beautiful interpretation..brings a whole new depth and meaning to the tune, it's got that tinge of sadness to it , along with love. ..thank you David ❤️

In 1973, I was a sophomore in high school. I’d joined the yearbook staff. Senior Tom Kordich brought into the yearbook office his LP of Hunky Dory. It was the the first time I heard David Bowie. I was crazy about Tom’s sister, Laura. She didn’t care for me. Now Bowie is gone. IDK about Tom or Laura. And here I am…old. How did this happen? Where did you go David? Am I soon to follow?

The chords he's using create a creepy carnival sound. And then he puts this song of hope on top of it. He really was great.

My favorite Simon and Garfunkel song, covered by my favorite artist, what more can I hope for. I’m so glad to have been alive for all of Bowie’s amazing career. His many different styles, his paintings, his acting & his music, David Bowie, Forever our Black ⭐️

Such intelligence. Such a unique voice, such a unique glance at the world. Love u David

In all of his genres, and I'm old enough to have lived through them all, he is just mesmerizing and it's always, just him, indescribable. Talent, intelligence and those eyes. Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together. I love the romance between he and his Cathy. Picture a very young couple so in love, wanting to go on a lark to get away from it all to be alone with each other. Destination doesn't matter, the experience of it does.

@dkjazzz

5 ай бұрын

Ya, from Ziggy to this ! Incredible! What a long strange trip it’s was ❤️

@queenslanddiva

5 ай бұрын

yep, there from the beginning. Wonderful iconic man

@suecorrado9865

4 ай бұрын

perfectly stated

@moc7302

3 ай бұрын

​@@dkjazzz Suffragatte City! Wish I had a Time Machine and we could all go back. Also his accent is so charming. I love how he says And the moon rose over an open field. I never appreciated this song so much until his rendition. Can't you just visualize better his way? I boarded a couple of Greyhounds back in the 70's and can relate to that whole experience. Darn, those were great times. Young and head full of dreams.

Only Bowie could pull this off and at such an emotional event! Only Bowie!!

I miss this beautiful man being on the earth. 💔

I was 47 when I heard this, first. 33 years after my first Bowie /ever concert.

That's our David.....an artist to the end.

I miss him so much …

I'd never seen this until now, all these years later. I still mourn the towers, I still mourn Bowie. Both their demises marked a huge sea change in the world - and not for the better. This performance is overwhelming

For me, the best Paul Simon song. The next best version after S&G's. Perfect.

this is the best version I ve ever heard

Bowie was truly a spokesman for Humanity from the Worlds greatest Venue....That performance that night from MSG in NYC doing that song is forever frozen in space and time of all our lives.....amazing.....

The most beautiful ballad ever by S and G.. Peace ✌️ 2023

There really are no words that can do justice to this performance. Pure beauty.

Love how David’s London accent gives this song a different feel. Sure Paul Simon didn’t mind .

I wept the night of the concert when he did this. So personal and simple, so beautiful!

@31Alden

7 ай бұрын

Proving less is more as only David could with his inimitable style and grace.

Such a beautiful rendition of the song. Rest in Peace, David.

@kevindavitt659

5 ай бұрын

amen...

One of his best and unique performances of all time.

A nice edit, thank you for this video. Bowie's voice was carrying this beautiful song beyond any limits.

For me part of David's appeal is the unabashed use of his accent. Whereas so many Brits accents go by the wayside when they sing, Bowie embraces it. Thanks be that I was born at the time needed to be able to appreciate this icon. ✌

One of the greatest ever. Can’t believe he’s gone.

Tears streaming. Oh my heart, what a deeply moving, beautifully aching and haunting rendition of America in 2001 post 9/11. As only David Bowie could do.

Pure genius.

Was at this show, and of all the incredible, and heartfelt performances, this towered above all the others…

One of my all time favs! David Bowie’s incredibly understated artistic live performance of Simon & Garfunkel’s “America” This to me is classic Bowie performance art stripping away all musical props and zoning in stripping the veil of musical form and familiar expectations revealing through his unique intimate delivery the complex layered mixed emotions of worn hope and buried despair while trying to maintain visibly undefeated unaffected. We miss you David!

@martinpercival63

Жыл бұрын

We really really do - he's still out there somewhere though. "There's a Starman......"

@peterchristopher2285

Жыл бұрын

America was gone by the time I got there from the UK .Now I’m lost ,like Cathy , I guess it’s part of the ageing process . Life is memories , the only reality is the present and that flies past so fast , you’ve not time to take it all in

This was an unforgettable moment for me right after 9/11. It felt like Bowie really felt the alienating zeitgeist of those times and the pain.

The Church of Man is such a holy place to be. Such magic and such heartbreak in this moment, using music to express what we still struggle to comprehend.

@johngore7744

8 ай бұрын

Make me know you really care. Make me jump into the air.

I would have sworn it's impossible to improve on the perfection of the original but wow, there it is...

We miss you David.

Just no words.

Incredibly moving, especially given the events of this week. Bowie forever.

@TheKonga88

9 ай бұрын

Ha ha ha hee hee hee I'm the laughing knome and you can't catch me 🥳🥳🥳🥳💃🏼🎄🧎🏻☃️🚌🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏼‍♂️

Bowie could read a shopping list and it would sound great ❤

A song about the sadness of chasing the American dream till it burns you out. Then looking on to see a never ending line of expectant dreamers while the onlooker knows exactly what lays ahead for them. The American dream is only that, a dream

Sembra un Angelo Con due occhi che brillano Contemporaneamente uno di più e uno di meno Bowie the Best ! 👍❤

John Lennon once said: "I'm an artist, and if you give me a tuba, I'll bring you something out of it." Could have just as well have been talking about Bowie.

He is still here with us, around us, behind us, before us…an ascended master. I miss him so much on our earthly plain, but he is here amongst us just in different form of pure energy

Watching this live, I remember, was a united emotion I haven’t felt since…

Bowie putting his own spin on this Simon and Garfunkel classic. Amazing