The Saxophone Song Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Rickvee 

Cover art for The Saxophone Song lyrics by Kate Bush

This song is the young Kate Bush's homage to one of her idols - David Bowie. The song opens with "You'll find me in a Berlin bar......when I'm listening to you". This of course is a nod to Bowie who, at the time this song was written, was living in Berlin composing what would eventually be considered some of his finest work. "Tuning in on your saxophone" also alludes to Bowie in that he (Bowie) played the saxophone on all of his own songs. And in the final verse Kate expresses how much Bowie's music has meant to her and how it inspires her: "You'll never know that you had all of me/You'll never know the poetry you stirred in me/Of all the stars I've seen that shine so brightly/I've never known or felt in myself do rightly". Wonderfully subtle homage by Kate - she never states Bowie's name or makes it beyond obvious so it's like a coded message to the man recognized only by other Bowie-philes.

Song Meaning

@Rickvee exactly what I thought having just heard this song for the first time and my partner telling me that the previous song on the album was written for Lindsay Kemp. That's how I came to be here reading your post in order to try and find out. David Bowie had the greatest influence on my life, a wonderful artist and human.

@Rickvee For Pete's sake! Why just don't find in an Internet what Kate ever said about this song! This is NOT about Bowie! Here's what she once said:

"The song isn’t about David Bowie. I wrote it about the instrument, not the player, at a time when I really loved the sound of the saxophone – I still do. No, I don’t know him personally, though I went to his “Farewell to Ziggy Stardust” concert and cried, and so did he." ................................................................................................................. "I wrote ‘The Saxophone Song’ because, for me, the saxophone is a truly amazing instrument. Its sound is very exciting...