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About

Genius Annotation

“Quicksand” is about David Bowie’s philosophical struggle with the unknown. He is stuck in deep thought about unanswerable questions. What does it mean to exist? What is after death? He eventually comes to the conclusion that answers to these perplexing questions only come “with death’s release.”

This depressing song is masterfully followed by “Fill Your Heart” which proposes a solution to Bowie’s paralyzing introspection: filling his heart with love.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did David Bowie say about "Quicksand"?
Genius Answer

From David’s original notes, distributed as a press release:

The chain reaction of moving around through out the bliss and then the calamity of America produced this epic of confusion – Anyway, with my esoteric problems I could have written it in Plainview – or Dulwich.

There is a time and space level just before you go to sleep when all about you are losing theirs and whoosh void gets you with its cacophony of thought – that’s when I like to write my songs.

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