Song by Song: "Heroes" Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Berlin Wall

Rolling Stone magazine quotes Bowie in its 2004 article "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time": "I thought, of all the places to meet in Berlin, why pick a bench underneath a guard turret on the Wall?" The song is an outgrowth of "imagining the story behind their affair," says Rolling Stone magazine, and is "his most compassionate song ever." It tells the stories of two divided lovers, one in East and one in West Berlin in the divided nation of Germany.

On January 11, 2016, after Bowie's death, the German Foreign Office tweeted, "Goodbye, David Bowie. You are now among #Heroes. Thank you for helping to bring down the #wall." The tweet went on to link to footage of Bowie's 1987 performance of "Heroes" in West Berlin.

Answer: Brian Eno

Eno used an EMS VCS 3 synthesizer to create what Rolling Stone magazine called a "throbbing groove consisting of Eno's humming synths." This portable synthesizer is known for its flexible semi-modular voice architecture. Eno, who is reputed for his work in the ambient music genre, also did guitar treatments for this song.

Answer: a metal ashtray

Visconti also used a tape reel as percussion. David Bowie and Tony Visconti produced the single, which was released on September 23, 1977 with "V-2 Schneider" on the B-side. A longer version of "Heroes" was included on the album of the same name, which was released in October of 1977 and peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart (OCC) and number 35 on the U.S. Billboard 200.

The album is considered to belong to the art rock, ambient, and experimental rock genres.

Answer: A king and queen

"I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away."

Rolling Stone magazine rated "Heroes" number 46 on its 2004 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time." It has also been included on TIME magazine's 2011 "All-Time 100 Songs" and Mojo magazine's 1997 list of the "100 Greatest Songs of All Time."

Answer: heroes

The "Heroes" single peaked at number 24 on the UK Singles (OCC) chart but performed better in Ireland and the Netherlands, where it peaked in the top ten. The record was certified Platinum by BPI in the UK, with over 600,000 sales.

Answer: drink

"And you, you can be mean
And I, I'll drink all the time
'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact
Yes we're lovers, and that is that
Though nothing will keep us together
We could steal time just for one day
We can be heroes for ever and ever
What d'you say?"

Robert Fripp played lead guitar on "heroes" while Carlos Alomar was on rhythm and George Murray on bass. Dennis Davis played drums. David Bowie supplied lead vocals and was one of the song's producers.

Answer: dolphins

"I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, for ever and ever
Oh we can be Heroes, just for one day."

The English rock band Oasis released a cover of "Heroes" on July 7, 1997. It was on the B-side of their single "D'You Know What I Mean," which also included the songs "Stay Young" and the demo for "Angel Child." Peter Gabriel also covered the song on his eighth studio album "Scratch My Back," which was released in 2010.

Answer: fall

"I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing, by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns, shot above our heads (over our heads)
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
And the shame, was on the other side
Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever
Then we could be Heroes, just for one day."

This line may have a double meaning. On the one hand, it feels like the physical wall between them, the Berlin Wall, might never fall, dividing them forever. On the other hand, their love is strong, and they kiss as though it will never fall or fail. Either way, the lovers ultimately feel hopeless because of their divided situation: "We're nothing, and nothing will help us," Bowie goes on to sing.

Answer: Velvet Underground

In his 1999 book "Strange Fascination - David Bowie: the Definitive Story," David Buckley quotes Bowie as calling this tempo and rhythm "plodding" and attributing its inspiration to the Velvet Underground song. Buckley also described the song as being like a "Wall of Sound" production (the sound created and popularized by producer Phil Spector) because of the many instruments: rhythm guitar, drums, piano, bass guitar, synthesizer, oscillators, etc.

Answer: The Wallflowers

Jakob Dylan, son of Bob Dylan, is the lead singer and songwriter for the Wallflowers. Their version of "Heroes" peaked at number 23 on Billboard's Top 40 Mainstream chart. In Australia, the Wallflowers released the single with "Invisible City" on the B-side.

"Heroes" has been covered by Depeche Mode, Coldplay, Hollywood Vampires, and Gang of Youths, among others.