Motörhead cover Bowie’s “Heroes”
In advance of the upcoming their covers album, Under Cöver, a video was just released of Motörhead covering David Bowie’s “Heroes”. It’s both glorious and poignant.
A couple weeks back, I posted a podcast running down 15 of my all-time favorite cover versions (you can check it out HERE). I really should have waited for this release.
This version was recorded in 2015 during the Bad Magic sessions and was among the final recordings of Lemmy’s life. The fact that we lost both Lemmy and Bowie within a 3-week period makes this version damn near prescient. Leave it to Lemmy to drop a love letter to Bowie shortly before they both went to the Great Gig in the Sky.
Motörhead’s version captures the essence of the original and manages to heavy it up without becoming stupid. Lemmy was an absolute master of this.
Of course, Lem had to put his own stamp on the lyrics:
“You – you are insane
And I – I am the same”
Laugh at me if you must, but I’ve watched this video no less than 10 times today and I ain’t ashamed to admit it chokes me up a good bit.
Lemmy and Bowie – we’ll never see their like again.
Enjoy: