7 January 2022

Tony Visconti thought David Bowie had “special mental powers” after an amazing experiment for ‘Weeping Wall’.

Tony Visconti has reflected on working with David Bowie

The late musician’s long-time collaborator opened up on their experiences working on his 1977 instrumental track, which was featured on his album ‘Low’ and inspired by his experiences seeing the impact of the Berlin Wall.

Appearing on Mary Anne Hobbs’ special show ‘Bowie at 75’ on BBC Radio 6 Music, Tony recalled Bowie – who died aged 69 in 2016 – asking everyone to draw a picture to represent the track as they listened to it, which they did without looking at each other’s sketches.

He said: “When it was over he said ‘OK, turn the papers over’ and we did and we all had almost identical drawings – this was really weird.

“All of us had a jagged edged wall like the edges of a woodcutting saw. It wasn’t a wall with flat tops it was a wall with jagged tops – this is very important. Some of us put a moon over the jagged teeth and some of us put a sun over it like a circle – but almost unanimously we drew the same picture.

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“And David turned his over and it was a picture of a lizard, like an alligator, with his mouth open, eating the sun – an orb – and it was all goosebumps from that moment on.

“I think even David was surprised but he was hoping that would happen – and I think in that smile I think he found that he might have some special mental powers that instigated it – this so called coincidence.”

Tony, 77, revealed how living in a “war-torn city” inspired Bowie to write the song.

He added: “Berlin was divided in four parts and the saddest part was the eastern part. Occasionally we would venture across Checkpoint Charlie and go into East Berlin in the daytime and have a dinner and just walk around.

“We were allowed to do that. We were watched very carefully. It was a little harrowing going from the west to the east and vice versa.

“And the most despairing thing was, when we went back into the west, lined along the roadway were East Berliners who were pleading with us, in broad daylight if we could put them in boot of the car, or if they could cling to the bottom of the car.”