Some of them were really good music. Under My Thumb-60’s. Degrading but you couldn’t put down the music.
Bowie’s China Doll-80’s. sucked too. He went commercial. They all do.
I love the Stones' misogyny rock.
"China Girl", the song David Bowie had a hit with in 1983, was off his album "Let's Dance". It was indeed 80's Bowie music, which some people dislike or think sucked.
But the song itself was originally released as an Iggy Pop song on his album "The Idiot", which were part of the famous Iggy Pop/David Bowie collaboration in Berlin in 1977. Like all of the songs on "The Idiot" Bowie and Pop are credited as co-authors. In practice Bowie wrote the music, and Iggy composed the words.
It's really interesting to listen to the Iggy Pop version, and realize that the Bowie version wasn't a major reworking, it was really a pretty faithful cover.
Of course the penultimate line of the song says "Oh, Jimmy just you shut your mouth." (Iggy's given name is James Ostenberg) - so Bowie changed that to "baby".
China Girl - by Iggy Pop and David BowieIggy has said the song is about a Vietnamese girl he had a brief affair with. But there is another meaning I've always read into it. Bowie and Iggy went to Berlin to get away from their respective scenes and get clean, both were heavily strung out when they went there. They hoped the strange foreign city would help them get straight and get a new perspective on things. (Which seemed to work).I couldn't escape this feeling
With my China girl
I'm just a wreck without
My little China girlI'd hear her heart beating
Loud as thunder
Saw the stars crashingI'm a mess without
My China girl
Wake up mornings
There's no China girlI'd hear hearts beating
Loud as thunder
And I'd see stars crashing downI'd feel tragic
Like I was Marlon Brando
When I'd look at my China girl
I could pretend that nothing
Really meant too much
When I'd look at my China girl
I'd stumble into town
Just like a sacred cow
Visions of swastikas in my head
And plans for everyoneIt's in the white of my eyes
My little China girl
You shouldn't mess with me
I'll ruin everything you are
I'll give you television
I'll give you eyes of blue
I'll give you men Who want to rule the world
And when I get excited
My little China girl says
"Oh, Jimmy, just you shut your mouth"
She says, "Shh"
At the time the most popular heroin in New York was known as "China Rock". The Dee Dee Ramone wrote the song "Chinese Rock" about it ("I'm livin' on Chinese rock, all my best things are in hock").
And so when read with this perspective, it also makes a lot of sense.