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| Recorded = July – August 1977 at Hansa Studio by the Wall, West Berlin | Genre = Art rock | Length = | Label = RCA | Writer = | Producer = | Last single = "Be My Wife" (1977) | This single = "Heroes" (1977) | Next single = "Beauty and the Beast" (1978) | Misc = }} "Heroes"〔The scare quotes are part of the title.〕 is a song written by David Bowie and Brian Eno in 1977. Produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, it was released both as a single and as the title track of the album ''"Heroes"''. A product of Bowie's "Berlin" period, and not a huge hit in the UK or US at the time, the song has gone on to become one of Bowie's signature songs and is well known today for its appearance in numerous advertisements. It has been cited as Bowie's second most covered song after "Rebel Rebel".〔Nicholas Pegg (2000). ''The Complete David Bowie'': pp.90-92〕 It was the lead track on Peter Gabriel's 2010 covers album, ''Scratch My Back''. Among other notable covers, the Wallflowers recorded a version of the song for the soundtrack to the 1998 film ''Godzilla''. This version peaked at number 10 on the ''Billboard'' Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1998, as well as number 27 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Airplay chart, and number 23 on the ''Billboard'' Top 40 Mainstream charts.〔(Alternative Songs|Billboard.com ). Retrieved 11 August 2012.〕 In the UK, the final sixteen acts from the seventh series of ''The X Factor'' released a cover version of the song on 21 November 2010 which topped the UK singles chart. ==Inspiration and recording== The title of the song is a reference to the 1975 track "Hero" by the German band Neu!,〔Mat Snow (2007). "Making Heroes", ''MOJO 60 Years of Bowie'': p.69〕 whom Bowie and Eno admired. It was one of the early tracks recorded during the album sessions, but remained an instrumental until towards the end of production.〔 The quotation marks in the title of the song, a deliberate affectation, were designed to impart an ironic quality on the otherwise highly romantic, even triumphant, words and music.〔Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). ''Bowie: An Illustrated Record'': pp.90-92〕〔Robert Matthew-Walker ''David Bowie, theatre of music'' 1985 p46 "The use of quotation marks possibly implies that the 'Heroes' are not to be taken too seriously."〕〔Chris Welch ''David Bowie: changes, 1970-1980'' 1999 p116 "The use of quotation marks around the title meant that Bowie felt there was something ironic about being a rock 'n' roll hero to his fans, while he kept his own emotional life as far distant and remote and private as possible."〕〔(''NME'' interview in 1977 with Charles Shaar Murray ). Retrieved from ''Bowie: Golden Years'' 20 February 2007.〕 Producer Tony Visconti took credit for inspiring the image of the lovers kissing "by the wall", when he and backing vocalist Antonia Maaß embraced in front of Bowie as he looked out of the Hansa Studio window.〔David Buckley (1999). ''Strange Fascination – David Bowie: The Definitive Story'': pp.323-326〕 Bowie's habit in the period following the song's release was to say that the protagonists were based on an anonymous young couple but Visconti, who was married to Mary Hopkin at the time, contends that Bowie was protecting him and his affair with Maaß. Bowie confirmed this in 2003.〔 The music, co-written by Bowie and Eno, has been likened to a Wall of Sound production, an undulating juggernaut of guitars, percussion and synthesizers.〔 Eno has said that musically the piece always "sounded grand and heroic" and that he had "that very word – heroes – in my mind" even before Bowie wrote the lyrics.〔 The basic backing track on the recording consists of a conventional arrangement of piano, bass guitar, rhythm guitar and drums. However the remaining instrumental additions are highly distinctive. These largely consist of synthesizer parts by Eno using an EMS VCS3 to produce detuned low-frequency drones, with the beat frequencies from the three oscillators producing a juddering effect. In addition, King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp generated an unusual sustained sound by allowing his guitar to feed back and sitting at different positions in the room to alter the pitch of the feedback (pitched feedback). Tony Visconti rigged up a system, a creative misuse of gating that may be termed "multi-latch gating",〔Hodgson, Jay (2010). ''Understanding'', p.88. ISBN 978-1-4411-5607-5.〕 of three microphones to capture the vocal, with one microphone nine inches from Bowie, one 20 feet away and one 50 feet away. Only the first was opened for the quieter vocals at the start of the song, with the first and second opening on the louder passages, and all three on the loudest parts, creating progressively more reverb and ambience the louder the vocals became.〔Richard Buskin (October 2004). ("Classic Tracks: Heroes", ''Sound on Sound'' ). Retrieved 20 February 2007.〕 Each microphone is muted as the next one is triggered. "Bowie's performance thus grows in intensity precisely as ever more ambience infuses his delivery until, by the final verse, he has to shout just to be heard....The more Bowie shouts just to be heard, in fact, the further back in the mix Visconti's multi-latch system pushes his vocal tracks, creating a stark metaphor for the situation of Bowie's doomed lovers".〔Hodgson (2010), p.89.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「"Heroes" (David Bowie song)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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