Ongoing History Daily: The inspiration for David Bowie’s Heroes…

One of the most powerful songs in David Bowie’s catalogue is Heroes, the title track of his 1977 album, one of the records he recorded at Hansa Studios, which overlooked the Berlin Wall.

For years, Bowie insisted that the song was inspired by seeing producer Tony Visconti in an embrace with German singer Antonia Maass next to the Wall. I mean, it’s right there in the lyrics.

However, a recent documentary has a different story. Bowie spent a day with his then-girlfriend, model, and artist Clare Shenstone. The night before a day out with Clare, Bowie had a dream of swimming with dolphins. The next day, they went into East Berlin and watched soldiers goose-stepping. Based on her account, the lyrics make even more sense with the reference to dolphins, standing by the wall, and guns shooting above their head.

Is that the definitive answer? We’ll probably never know.