Boys Keep Swinging - 1999 Remaster

Adraian Belew, David Bowie's guitarist on the Lodger album, told Uncut magazine that Bowie wrote this with him in mind. He recalled: "In New York, David was doing vocals for 'Boys Keep Swinging.' He played me it and said: 'This is written after you, in the spirit of you.' I think he saw me as a naïve person who just enjoyed life. I was thrilled with that."

In July 1979, more than two years before the debut of MTV, Rolling Stone magazine mentioned that "promotional videotapes" were becoming "the newest selling tool in rock," noting Bowie's video for "Boys Keep Swinging" as an example. In said video, Bowie sings the backing vocals in drag. Bowie put a lot of effort into creating intriguing videos for his songs, some of which the BBC refused to play because of suggestive content ("Heroes" shows a light coming from Bowie's crotch; "DJ" shows men grabbing and kissing Bowie). The clip for "Boys Keep Swinging," however, got by the BBC censors, who apparently watched only the first minute of the clip before approving it. This first minute shows Bowie performing the song in a sharp suit, but it gets progressively nuttier, with Bowie walking a runway in drag, even smearing his lipstick across his mouth. When the BBC aired the clip, they got lots of complaints from horrified viewers.

This has the same chord sequence as "Fantastic Voyage" from the same album.