Before Reeves Gabrels joined The Cure as a guitarist in 2012, he spent 13 years working with David Bowie, from the late-’80s with Tin Machine through the remainder of the 1990s as a guitarist and co-writer on Bowie’s solo projects.
At the end of Bowie’s Glass Spider Tour in 1987, he was craving some creative renewal and began working with Gabrels. The two formed Tin Machine a year later along with bassist Tony Fox Sales and drummer Hunt Sales and released the band’s debut, Tin Machine, in 1989 and follow-up Tin Machine II in 1991.
On Tin Machine, Gabrels co-wrote the title track and several other songs, including “Prisoner of Love,” “I Can’t Read,” “Amazing,” and “Bus Stop.” Gabrels also contributed to II with the tracks “One Shot” and “You Can’t Talk.” Once Tin Machine dissolved in 1993, Gabrels and Bowie continued working together throughout the ’90s.
Here’s a look at just five songs Gabrels co-wrote with Bowie within their collaborative period.
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1. “Tin Machine,” Tin Machine (1989)
Written by David Bowie, Reeves Gabrels, Hunt Sales, Tony Fox Sales
“Tin Machine” is the song that gave the band their name. Recorded at Montreux Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, and The Bahamas, “Tin Machine” is a fast-tempo punked-up track that embodied the band’s harder sounds.
Take me anywhere
Somewhere without alcohol
Or goons with muddy hair
The zombies that I pass
The guy that beats his baby up
The preachers and their past
2. “One Shot,” Tin Machine (1991)
Written by David Bowie and Reeves Gabrels
Released on Tin Machine II, “One Shot” was one of Garbrels’ two written contributions to the album. He and Bowie originally recorded “One Shot” following the first Tin Machine tour and rerecorded the track for the band’s second album with co-producer Hugh Padgham, who also worked on Bowie’s 1984 album Tonight.
The last days were the meanest
Leanest days of our lives
You threw me the pieces
I started the fire
One thing led to a dead-end
One shot put her away, hey-hey
Look out on a green world
Windows and wives
No bedroom to run to
No miracle jive, no conversation
Then nothing meant nothing
Ten dollars tore us apart
One thing led to a dead-end
One shot put her away
3. “The Hearts Filthy Lesson,” David Bowie (1995)
Written by David Bowie, Reeves Gabrels, Brian Eno, Mike Garson, Erdal Kızılçay, Sterling Campbell
For Bowie’s 1995 release, Outside, Gabrels co-wrote several tracks with Bowie, including “Leon Takes Us Outside,” “A Small Plot of Land,” and “Thru These Architects Eyes.” Outside also marked Bowie’s reunion with Brian Eno, since they worked on the Berlin Trilogy together.
[RELATED: 3 Key Songs from David Bowie and Brian Eno’s ‘Berlin Trilogy’ Collaborations]
Released as the lead single, “The Hearts Filthy Lesson” was co-written with Gabrels and appeared at the end of the 1995 David Fincher thriller Se7en.
Paddy, will you carry me?
I think I’ve lost my way
Heart’s filthy lesson, heart’s filthy lesson
I’m already five years older, I’m already in my grave
I’m already
Will you carry me?
Oh, Paddy
I think I’ve lost my way
4. “Dead Man Walking,” David Bowie (1997)
Written by David Bowie and Reeves Gabrels
The guitar riff at the beginning of “Dead Man Walking,” from Bowie’s 1997 album Earthling was one Jimmy Page taught him decades earlier. “It does sound fairly Page-y, like a mutated Johnny Burnette Trio thing,” said Reeves of the riffin 2022. “On the Earthling tour, the band reinvented some of Bowie’s old hits. He hated playing things just like the record. He had the temperament and curiosity of a true musician. And he viewed music as art.”
In the lyrics, Bowies seems to be singing of the passing of time, and his former lives: And I’m gone like I’m dancing on angels / And I’m gone through the crack in the past.
He swivels his head
Tears his eyes from the screen
As his past puts him back in Atlantic City
There’s not even a demon in Heaven or Hell
Is it all just human disguise
As I walk down the aisle
And I’m gone, gone, gone
Now I’m older than movies
Let me dance away
Now I’m wiser than dreams
Let me fly, fly, fly
While I’m touching tomorrow
And I know who’s there
When silhouettes fall
5. “Seven,” David Bowie (1999)
Written by David Bowie and Reeves Gabrels
Bowie and Gabrels originally wrote the entirety of Bowie’s 1999 album Hours—except the track “What’s Really Happening?” penned by Alex Grant—as the soundtrack to the video game Omikron: The Nomad Soul.
[RELATED: 5 Songs You Didn’t Know David Bowie Wrote for Other Artists]
Also Bowie’s 22nd album, Hours featured the singles “Thursday’s Child,” “Survive,” and “The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell,” along with “Seven,” a song that goes through reminisces of father, mother, and brother, as time ticks away.
Hours was the final collaboration between Bowie and Gabrels.
I forgot what my father said
I forgot what he said
I forgot what my mother said
As we lay upon your bed
A city full of flowers
A city full of rain
I got seven days to live my life
Or seven ways to die
I forgot what my brother said
I forgot what he said
I don’t regret anything at all
I remember how we wept
Photo: Ian Gavan/Getty Images
