This Is Not America Lyrics

Lyric discussion by rivelle 

Cover art for This Is Not America lyrics by David Bowie

Timothy Hutton's character, Christopher Boyce, goes rogue as a result of profound disillusionment with the CIA when the squalid reality of their dirty tricks overthrows his idealistic illusions. This causes him to plummet into a maelstrom of espionage wherein he is unable to orient himself in a solid sense of reality.

"This is not America" refers to the "America" of his naïve, childlike dreams. "America" is an ideological illusion and fetishtic fiction.