I Can't Give Everything Away
{{short description|Song by David Bowie}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox song
| name = I Can't Give Everything Away
| cover = David Bowie - I Can't Give Everything Away cover art.jpg
| type = single
| artist = David Bowie
| album = Blackstar
| released = 6 April 2016
| recorded = 2015
| studio = *Magic Shop, New York City
- Human Worldwide, New York City
| genre = * Art pop
| length = * 5:47 (album version)
- 4:26 (video edit)
| label = * ISO
| writer = David Bowie
| producer = * David Bowie
| prev_title = Lazarus
| prev_year = 2015
| next_title = Life on Mars? (2016 Mix)
| next_year = 2016
| tracks = {{Hidden
| title = 7 tracks
| text =
- "Blackstar"
- "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore"
- "Lazarus"
- "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)"
- "Girl Loves Me"
- "Dollar Days"
- "I Can't Give Everything Away"
}}
}}
"I Can't Give Everything Away" is a song by English musician David Bowie. It is the seventh and final track on his twenty-sixth and final studio album, Blackstar (2016), and was released posthumously as the album's third and final single on 6 April 2016.{{cite web | url=http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/04/new-video-for-david-bowies-i-cant-give-everything-away-watch/ | title=David Bowie's longtime artist releases beautiful posthumous video for "I Can't Give Everything Away" | website=Consequence of Sound | date=6 April 2016 | access-date=6 April 2016 | author=Young, Alex | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406214938/http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/04/new-video-for-david-bowies-i-cant-give-everything-away-watch/ | archive-date=6 April 2016 | url-status=live }} The track was written by David Bowie and was produced by both him and Tony Visconti.
Prior to issue as a posthumous single, "I Can't Give Everything Away" peaked at number 45 on the Swiss Hitparade chart; number 141 on the UK Singles Chart; and number 142 on the French Singles Chart.
The song contains a similar harmonica part to that of "A New Career in a New Town", an instrumental from Bowie's 1977 album Low.
Critical reception
"I Can't Give Everything Away" received positive reviews from critics. Sam Richards of NME called the song "a serene, lilting number",{{cite web|url=http://www.nme.com/reviews/david-bowie/16363|title=David Bowie – 'Blackstar' Review: The NME Verdict|work=NME|date=8 January 2016|access-date=11 February 2016|last=Richards|first=Sam|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304235955/http://www.nme.com/reviews/david-bowie/16363|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=live}} while Ben Skipper of the IB Times labelled it as a "beautiful and moving farewell".{{cite web | url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/david-bowie-dies-final-song-i-cant-give-everything-away-poignant-beautiful-farewell-1537208 | title=David Bowie's final song I Can't Give Everything Away is a poignant and beautiful farewell | work=International Business Times | date=11 January 2016 | access-date=17 February 2016 | author=Skipper, Ben | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307120754/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/david-bowie-dies-final-song-i-cant-give-everything-away-poignant-beautiful-farewell-1537208 | archive-date=7 March 2016 | url-status=live }} Neil McCormick of The Telegraph called the song an "epic closing track", commenting that "Bowie sounds like he is grappling with his own mystery: 'Seeing more and feeling less / Saying no but meaning yes / This is all I ever meant / That's the message that I sent.{{' "}}{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/david-bowie-blackstar-first-listen-extraordinary/ | title=David Bowie, Blackstar, review: 'extraordinary' | work=The Daily Telegraph | date=8 January 2016 | access-date=17 February 2016 | author=McCormick, Neil | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424081503/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/david-bowie-blackstar-first-listen-extraordinary/ | archive-date=24 April 2018 | url-status=live }}
The American online magazine Pitchfork listed "I Can't Give Everything Away" at number 23 on their ranking of the 100 best songs to be released in 2016.{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/9981-the-100-best-songs-of-2016/?page=10|title=The 100 Best Songs of 2016|date=12 December 2016|work=Pitchfork|access-date=12 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161213224620/http://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/9981-the-100-best-songs-of-2016/?page=10|archive-date=13 December 2016|url-status=live}}
Music video
On 6 April 2016 an animated lyric video was released, created by Jonathan Barnbrook, who also designed the album's artwork. He explained his motives behind the video as follows:
“This is really a very simple little video that I wanted to be ultimately positive,” Barnbrook says. “We start off in the black and white world of Blackstar, but in the final chorus we move to brilliant colour, I saw it as a celebration of David, to say that despite the adversity we face, the difficult things that happen such as David’s passing, that human beings are naturally positive, they look forward and can take the good from the past and use it as something to help with the present. We are a naturally optimistic species and we celebrate the good that we are given.”{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}
"I Can't Give Everything Away" impacted radio worldwide and was playlisted at BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music, Absolute and Radio X in the UK.
Farewell Mix
A reworked version of the song, known as "I Can't Give Everything Away (Farewell Mix)", was performed by industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, with whom Bowie had collaborated and toured on occasions, during their I Can't Seem To Wake Up tour.{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/news/watch-nine-inch-nails-cover-david-bowies-i-cant-give-everything-away/|title=Watch Nine Inch Nails Cover David Bowie's "I Can't Give Everything Awa - Pitchfork|author=Jazz Monroe|date=July 20, 2017|website=pitchfork.com|access-date=24 August 2017}} Singer Trent Reznor stated he made the remix as a healing factor to cope with Bowie's death. Reznor had anonymously uploaded a studio version of the remix to SoundCloud several months before performing it live.{{cite web|url=https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/07/studio-version-of-nine-inch-nails-cover-of-david-bowies-i-cant-give-everything-away-surfaces-online-stream/|title=Studio version of Nine Inch Nails' cover of David Bowie's "I Can't Give Everything Away" surfaces online: Stream|author=Alex Young|date=20 July 2017|access-date=24 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824174357/https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/07/studio-version-of-nine-inch-nails-cover-of-david-bowies-i-cant-give-everything-away-surfaces-online-stream/|archive-date=24 August 2017|url-status=live}} The studio version features only Bowie's vocals, while performing the song live Reznor sings along with Bowie's vocals.{{cite web|url=http://www.metalinjection.net/av/nine-inch-nails-secretly-released-a-cover-of-david-bowies-i-cant-give-everything-away|title=NINE INCH NAILS Secretly Released A Cover Of DAVID BOWIE's "I Can't Give Everything Away" - Metal Injection|author=Greg Kennelty|date=20 July 2017|publisher=Metal Injection LLC.|access-date=24 August 2017}}
Covers
American indie rock band Spoon released{{Cite web |title=Hear Spoon's Poignant David Bowie Cover 'I Can't Give Everything Away' |url=https://www.jambase.com/article/spoon-david-bowie-cover-i-cant-give-everything-away |access-date=2023-01-20 |website=JamBase |language=en-US}} a cover of the song on Jan 8, 2023, on what would have been Bowie's 76th birthday.
Charts
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- David Bowie [http://www.davidbowie.com/ official website]
{{David Bowie singles}}
{{authority control}}