Sense of Doubt

"Sense of Doubt"
Instrumental by David Bowie
from the album "Heroes"
Released	14 October 1977
Recorded	July–August 1977
Studio	Hansa Studio by the Wall, West Berlin
Genre	Ambient
Length	3:57
Label	RCA
Songwriter(s)	David Bowie
Producer(s)	David Bowie, Tony Visconti

"Sense of Doubt" is an instrumental piece written by David Bowie in 1977 for the album "Heroes". It was the first of three instrumentals on Side Two of the original vinyl album that segued into one another, preceding "Moss Garden" and "Neuköln".

Cited as "portentous" and "thoroughly foreboding",^[1]^[2] "Sense of Doubt" is one of the darker tracks of the album, with a descending four-note piano motif juxtaposed with "an eerie synth line like a scrap of sound from a silent expressionist-era soundtrack".^[1] Brian Eno suggested that the contrasting themes were the result of him and Bowie each following an Oblique Strategies card to guide them in the track's overdubbing, Eno's directing him to "make everything as similar as possible" and Bowie's to "emphasize differences".^[3]

"Sense of Doubt" was performed on the Italian TV programme L’altra domenica in 1977 and throughout the "Heroes" tour in 1978.^[4]

Live versions[]

Performances from the 1978 "Heroes" tour have been released on Stage (1978) and Welcome to the Blackout (2018).

Other releases[]

It was released as the B-side of the single "Beauty and the Beast" in January 1978, a pairing that NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray considered "must be good fun on pub juke-boxes".^[2]
A picture disc release appeared in the RCA Life Time picture disc set.
The film Christiane F. and its soundtrack featured the song.

Cover versions[]

Philip Glass – "Heroes" Symphony (1996)
Musician Steve Adey covered the track on his 2017 LP "Do Me a Kindness".

Notes[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b David Buckley (1999). Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story: p.324
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: pp.92-94
^ NME interview (1977) cited at Bowie: Golden Years. Retrieved 20 May 2007. Archived May 1, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
^ Nicholas Pegg (2000). The Complete David Bowie: p.183

show v t David Bowie singles
Discography Songs
1960s	"Liza Jane" "I Pity the Fool" "You've Got a Habit of Leaving" "Can't Help Thinking About Me" "Do Anything You Say" "I Dig Everything" "Rubber Band" "The Laughing Gnome" "Love You till Tuesday" "Space Oddity" "Ragazzo solo, ragazza sola"
1970s	"The Prettiest Star" "Memory of a Free Festival" "Holy Holy" "Moonage Daydream" "Hang On to Yourself" "Changes" "Starman" "John, I'm Only Dancing" "The Jean Genie" "Drive-In Saturday" "Time" "Life on Mars" "Let's Spend the Night Together" "Sorrow" "Rebel Rebel" "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" "Diamond Dogs" "1984" "Knock on Wood" "Rock 'n' Roll with Me" "Young Americans" "Fame" "Golden Years" "Station to Station" (French promo) "TVC 15" "Suffragette City" "Stay" "Sound and Vision" "Be My Wife" "'Heroes'" "Beauty and the Beast" "Breaking Glass" "Boys Keep Swinging" "DJ" "Yassassin" "Look Back in Anger" "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)"
1980s	"Alabama Song" "Crystal Japan" "Ashes to Ashes" "Fashion" "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" "Up the Hill Backwards" "Under Pressure" "Wild Is the Wind" "The Drowned Girl" "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" "Let's Dance" "China Girl" "Modern Love" "Without You" "White Light/White Heat" "Blue Jean" "Tonight" "This Is Not America" "Loving the Alien" "Dancing in the Street" "Absolute Beginners" "Underground" "When the Wind Blows" "Magic Dance" "Day-In Day-Out" "Time Will Crawl" "Never Let Me Down" "Under the God" "Heaven's in Here" "Tin Machine" / "Maggie's Farm (live)" "Prisoner of Love"
1990s	"Fame '90" "You Belong in Rock n' Roll" "Baby Universal" "One Shot" "Real Cool World" "Jump They Say" "Black Tie White Noise" "Miracle Goodnight" "The Buddha of Suburbia" "Ziggy Stardust" "The Hearts Filthy Lesson" "Strangers When We Meet" / "The Man Who Sold the World (live)" "Hallo Spaceboy" "Telling Lies" "Little Wonder" "Dead Man Walking" "Seven Years in Tibet" "Pallas Athena" "I'm Afraid of Americans" "I Can't Read" "Without You I'm Nothing" "Thursday's Child" "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell"
2000s	"Survive" "Seven" "Slow Burn" "Everyone Says 'Hi'" "I've Been Waiting for You" "Shadow Man" "New Killer Star" "Just for One Day (Heroes)" "Rebel Never Gets Old"
2010s	"Where Are We Now?" "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" "The Next Day" "Valentine's Day" "Love Is Lost" "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)" "Blackstar" "Lazarus" "I Can't Give Everything Away"
Other songs	"Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed" "Cygnet Committee" "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud" "The Width of a Circle" "All the Madmen" "Black Country Rock" "After All" "She Shook Me Cold" "The Man Who Sold the World" "The Supermen" "Oh! You Pretty Things" "Kooks" "Quicksand" "Andy Warhol" "Song for Bob Dylan" "Queen Bitch" "The Bewlay Brothers" "Bombers" "Five Years" "Soul Love" "Lady Stardust" "Velvet Goldmine" "Sweet Head" "Amsterdam" "Round and Round" "Watch That Man" "Aladdin Sane" "Panic in Detroit" "Cracked Actor" "Lady Grinning Soul" "All the Young Dudes" "Future Legend" "Sweet Thing" "Big Brother" "Can You Hear Me?" "Right" "Fascination" "Word on a Wing" "Speed of Life" "What in the World" "Always Crashing in the Same Car" "Warszawa" "Art Decade" "Weeping Wall" "Subterraneans" "Joe the Lion" "Sons of the Silent Age" "Blackout" "V-2 Schneider" "Sense of Doubt" "Neuköln" "Fantastic Voyage" "It's No Game" "Teenage Wildlife" "Scream Like a Baby" "Criminal World" "As The World Falls Down" "Girls" "Nite Flights" "I'm Deranged" "Nature Boy" "Cactus" "The Loneliest Guy" "Fall Dog Bombs the Moon" "Bring Me the Disco King" "Girl Loves Me" "Dollar Days"