Lazarus

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Lore & Background

According to Bowie's producer Tony Visconti, the lyrics and video of "Lazarus" and other songs on the album were intended to be a self-epitaph, a commentary on Bowie's own impending death. The song's reference to Lazarus has been interpreted as referring to Bowie's prediction of increased fame following his death. Bowie never performed the song live, but on 17 December 2015, Michael C. Hall appeared on *The Late Show with Stephen Colbert*, singing "Lazarus" to promote both the single's release and the musical running at New York Theatre Workshop starring Hall. The official music video, directed by Johan Renck, was uploaded on 7 January 2016 to Bowie's Vevo channel on YouTube. During the week of shooting in November 2015, doctors reportedly informed Bowie the cancer was terminal and that they were ending treatment. The filming location was a studio in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The video is shown in a 1:1 aspect ratio and prominently features Bowie, appearing with a bandage and buttons sewn over his eyes, lying on a deathbed. A director's cut exists restoring the original widescreen aspect. The video finishes with Bowie retreating into a dark wardrobe. According to Renck, Bowie claimed that it was a comedic riff on his mercurial history with his sexuality, quoting the artist as quipping "Yeah, look, David Bowie has come back into the closet! Fuck yeah, we've got to do that. Let's do that right away." In the scenes featuring the wardrobe, Bowie is wearing a diagonally striped suit as seen on the back cover of the 1991 CD reissue of the *Station to Station* album, where he is pictured sitting on the floor drawing the kabbalistic Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is also referenced in the *Station to Station* lyrics, a "magical movement from Kether to Malkuth".

In Their Own Story

The official music video for "Lazarus", featuring a shorter edit of the song lasting just over four minutes, was uploaded on 7 January 2016 to Bowie's Vevo channel on YouTube. The video was directed by Johan Renck (who also directed the music video for Bowie's previous single, "Blackstar") in November 2015; during the week of shooting, doctors reportedly informed Bowie the cancer was terminal and that they were ending treatment. The filming location was a studio in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The video is shown in a 1:1 aspect ratio and prominently features Bowie, appearing with a bandage and buttons sewn over his eyes, lying on a deathbed. A director's cut exists restoring the original widescreen aspect. The video finishes with Bowie retreating into a dark wardrobe. According to Renck, Bowie claimed that it was a comedic riff on his mercurial history with his sexuality, quoting the artist as quipping "Yeah, look, David Bowie has come back into the closet! Fuck yeah, we've got to do that. Let's do that right away." In the scenes featuring the wardrobe, Bowie is wearing a diagonally striped suit as seen on the back cover of the 1991 CD reissue of the *Station to Station* album, where he is pictured sitting on the floor drawing the kabbalistic Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is also referenced in the *Station to Station* lyrics, a "magical movement from Kether to Malkuth".

Reader's Guide

"Lazarus" was Bowie's first top 40 hit single on the Billboard Hot 100 in more than 28 years, landing at number 40 in the week after his death. Billboard ranked "Lazarus" at number 40 on their "100 Best Pop Songs of 2016" list. Pitchfork listed "Lazarus" on their ranking of the 100 best songs of 2016 at number 5. In the annual *The Village Voice*'s Pazz & Jop mass critics poll of the year's best in music in 2016, "Lazarus" was ranked at number 8. The video was nominated for three awards: Best Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Editing, at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. In 2020, American rapper G-Eazy covered the song for his compilation album *Everything's Strange Here*.

Did You Know?

• "Lazarus" was Bowie's first top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in more than 28 years, landing at number 40 in the week after his death.
• The music video was shot in November 2015, during the week doctors reportedly informed Bowie his cancer was terminal and treatment was ending.
• Bowie never performed "Lazarus" live; Michael C. Hall sang it on *The Late Show with Stephen Colbert* on 17 December 2015 to promote the single and musical.
• The video ends with Bowie retreating into a dark wardrobe, which he described as a comedic riff on his sexuality: "David Bowie has come back into the closet!"
• The video was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards in 2016: Best Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.