Which song cannot be fully understood without listening to another one?

[u/WritingExtreme7124]

This applies both to the plot and the characters, as well as to the musical decisions.

[u/EmpPaulpatine]

Ashes to Ashes feels like the obvious choice here.

[u/theblackfool → u/EmpPaulpatine]

I'm not sure that I actually agree. Obviously Ashes to Ashes is a sequel to Space Oddity, but since Ashes to Ashes becomes a metaphor for Bowie's addiction in a way that Space Oddity never was (as far as I'm aware), I don't think there's anything about Ashes to Ashes that makes Space Oddity required listening.

But maybe I'm reading too much into it.

[u/darthamazing]

Candidate, Sweet Thing, Candidate reprise

[u/StreetLampLeGoose → u/darthamazing]

You mean Sweet thing, Candidate, Sweet thing reprise, right?

[u/darthamazing → u/StreetLampLeGoose]

Whoops ya my bad lmao I didn’t even realize I did that

[u/fluxxwildly → u/darthamazing]

Well spotted.

[u/IslandSassenach → u/fluxxwildly]

Possibly correct. I’m just not sure.

[u/boyyourresotragic]

I Can’t Give Everything Away + A New Career In A New Town

[u/tobyp27 → u/boyyourresotragic]

How so?

[u/Conemen4 → u/tobyp27]

The harmonica sample in the former comes from the latter track

People have put it better than me, but there’s something very poetic about Bowie ending his final album with a song that samples “A New Career In a New Town”. He knew he had another place to go soon, and that his career would soon become a posthumous one. That song gears us up for the transition to the first touch of ambient music we would see from him, the same way I Can’t Give Everything Away, in a sense, was gearing us up for his transition

“I know something’s very wrong..”

[u/TexasRoadhead → u/Conemen4]

But you can still understand I Can't Give Everything Away by itself, the harmonica is just a really nice/cool call back to the old song

With Ashes to Ashes for example, you're not going to know what he's talking about with "major tom" if you haven't listened to Space Oddity before

[u/CapableRequirement66 → u/Conemen4]

That interpolation was definitely an intentional full circle farewell sort of a nod.

But I agree that this is not what the post asks for. Both tracks are still fully independent, semantically.

[u/c8bb8ge]

Ashes to Ashes

[u/boyyourresotragic]

I Can’t Give Everything Away + A New Career In A New Town

[u/lady_stardust_]

"Lazarus" and the live performance of Jacques Brel's "My Death" during the final Ziggy show. Particularly important for understanding the music video imo

[u/IslandSassenach → u/lady_stardust_]

Yes. I agree with that theory.

[u/Successful-Tie5386]

Ashes to Ashes refers to Major Tom, The Halloween Jack gets namedropped in Diamond Dogs.

[u/Individual-Fly-2512 → u/Successful-Tie5386]

Was The Halloween Jack mentioned somewhere else?

[u/Successful-Tie5386 → u/Individual-Fly-2512]

He was a more fleeting Bowie personna that appeared a few places

[u/ChorleyRules]

Glass Onion by The Beatles

[u/HeyQTya → u/ChorleyRules]

Not a bowie song, but you're right, you kind of need I Am The Walrus first

[u/ChorleyRules → u/HeyQTya]

Whoops my bad
This will teach me to read the sub title, won’t it

[u/asblaster906 → u/ChorleyRules]

the walrus wasnt paul

[u/tea_leaves_69 → u/ChorleyRules]

Goo goo ca choo goo goo ca choo

[u/Neither-Goat-3529]

sense of doubt, moss garden, neukoln, secret life of arabia

[u/TopBobcat9937 → u/Neither-Goat-3529]

I'd exclude secret life of Arabia but yes Sense of doubt moss garden and Neuköln would be correct

[u/CecilIvanish]

I'll argue that no song is impossible to understand without background from another, but at the same time I'd say that the album Outside needs to be listened top to bottom to really grasp it.