During his Berlin Period, Bowie spied Tony Visconti kissing backing vocalist Antonia Maaß by the Berlin Wall. Their love was doomed, as Visconti was married.

I thought, of all the places to meet in Berlin, why pick a bench underneath a guard turret on the Wall?

Wanting to stop his friend’s affair from coming to his wife’s attention, Bowie anonymised the song, and filled in details from his imagination. As Rolling Stone put it, “Bowie wails with crazed soul about two doomed lovers finding a moment of redemption together — just for one day.”

The song was written with Brian Eno, who plays a droning EMS VCS3. Robert Fripp of King Crimson plays guitar with pitched feedback, whilst Tony Visconti produced Bowie’s finest vocal performance by moving the microphone away from him as the song progressed, forcing him to shout just to be heard.

The song was not initially popular, but is now widely considered one of Bowie’s best. It is frequently played at sporting events and awards ceremonies, and features in many soundtracks in film and television.

It’s believed the track was inspired by German band Neu! whom Bowie was a fan of at the time. Neu! guitarist Michael Rother had been in conversation with Bowie a few times during Bowie’s time in Berlin and they had discussed the possibility of Rother playing on the album, but it didn’t happen due to a miscommunication.