Expert: Laura Brierley - 6/23/2005

Question
I had heard a rumor that the song Always Crashing In The Same Car is a true story, that Bowie attempted to run over a cocaine dealer in an underground parking lot whom he thought had ripped him off. I was wondering if you had more information on that.
I was also wondering, just how bad Bowie's cocaine addiction in the '70's was. I've heard rumors of him being up 4 days in a row, weighing under 90 pounds and having to be hand fed by his assistant. I was wondering if those are true, and if there was anything else that showed in what shape he was in those days, any other wierd behaviour he displayed.

Thank you for your time,
Laura


Answer
Sorry if this was late, not been able to access my email account.  The song "Always Crashing In The Same Car" is a true story - apparently Bowie wrote off a Mercedes whilst drunk - as for the drug dealer part, I'm not sure that's true.  He crashed the car in a car-park in Berlin, at the height of his addictions.  These, as you ask, were extreme - it is true that Coco (his manager at the time) had to feed him ice cream to keep him alive, as he would live off cocaine, milk and green peppers for days on end, sleeping little and working for long hours.  This co-incided with some of his greatest work - "Station to Station" and like albums, before he went clean after gettng custody of his son and working on "Low" in Berlin in the process of recovering.