David Bowie & Pat Metheny Group – “This Is Not America” (1985)
Photo: audeorama / Thierry van Dijk / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 (editorial use)
The collaboration between David Bowie and the Pat Metheny Group on “This Is Not America” represents one of the most introspective and politically restrained moments in Bowie’s 1980s output. Written for the 1985 film The Falcon and the Snowman, the song operates through atmosphere, ambiguity and emotional distance rather than overt statement.
Unlike Bowie’s large-scale public gestures of the same period, this work withdraws into quiet reflection — a space where uncertainty itself becomes the message.
- Year: 1985
- Song: “This Is Not America”
- Film: The Falcon and the Snowman
- Main artists: David Bowie & Pat Metheny Group
- Genre: Jazz fusion, cinematic pop
- Theme: Political ambiguity & moral disillusionment
The cinematic context
The Falcon and the Snowman explores betrayal, idealism and political disillusionment during the Cold War. Bowie’s contribution needed to reflect moral uncertainty rather than patriotic certainty.
The choice of the Pat Metheny Group — known for lyrical, open-ended jazz fusion — was crucial in shaping the song’s reflective tone.
Why the Pat Metheny Group
In the mid-1980s, the Pat Metheny Group occupied a unique musical position: technically sophisticated, emotionally expressive, and resistant to commercial simplification.
Bowie recognised that Metheny’s compositional language could provide an unresolved, emotionally complex environment rather than a conventional pop framework.
Musical architecture
The music of “This Is Not America” is built on slow harmonic movement, floating melodic lines and restrained dynamics. Rather than pushing forward, the arrangement suspends the listener in a state of quiet tension.
Bowie’s vocal approach
Bowie’s vocal performance is deliberately subdued. There is no theatrical projection, no grand gesture — only controlled distance. His phrasing suggests observation rather than declaration.
Political subtext
Despite its title, “This Is Not America” avoids slogans. The lyrics express disillusionment without prescribing ideology, allowing the song to function as a moral question rather than an answer.
Legacy
While never a chart-dominating hit, the song has endured as one of Bowie’s most mature political statements — quiet, unresolved and emotionally complex.
The collaboration with the Pat Metheny Group remains a model of how music, film and ideology can intersect without collapsing into simplification.