Pallas Athena (song)

Pallas Athena (song)

"Pallas Athena" is a song written by David Bowie in 1993 for the album Black Tie White Noise.

The name is taken from the Greek goddess, Athena, who famously depicted in Athenian statues under the form of Pallas Athena. Hence, the name of the song is a suggestion of religion and icons and sets the mood for a dark piece concerning the power that religion has over man.

The lyrics are rather sparse, but the phrase beginning the piece, "God is on top of it all, that's all," delivered as though from an African-American preacher, is ominous and intimidating, accompanied with the sound of strings delivering a sorrowful melody. The piece develops into a techno dance piece, using string sounds to hold the ominous mood while overlaid atop bass and drums. David Bowie's saxophone playing is amplified into a scream-like sound, which solos, along with Lester Bowie on trumpet. A lyric, "We are, we are, we are, we are praying," is repeated through the close of the song in a somber, monk-like fashion. Ultimately, the song restates Bowie's interest in how man relates with God.

Bowie used to play a drum'n'bass version of the song during his 1997 Earthling tour, and a live version recorded at Paradiso, Holland June 10, 1997 was released as a single under the name Tao Jones Index, a very limited edition only available on 12" vinyl. Bowie played as Tao Jones Index during his performance in a dance tent at Phoenix Festival in 1997. It is a pun based on his birth name, David Jones, and his then recent bond offering to the Dow Jones Index. Tao, a Chinese character pronounced "dao," not only stands for the Chinese equivalent to Bowie's first initial, "D", but also has heavy religious implications through its correlation to Taoism, therefore contributing to the religious overtones of "Pallas Athena." The Chinese character 道 means "the way" (the path, the route).

It was announced in March 2010 that a digital download EP would be made available in June 2010.