Described by biographer David Buckley as the album's "pivotal" song, it saw Bowie moving into more experimental musical styles following the success of his breakthrough glam rock release The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in 1972.
Bowie saw in Waugh's story of "frivolous, decadent and silly" behaviour on the eve of "imminent catastrophe" a reflection of contemporary society, particularly in America.
Bowie politely rejected Garson's initial solo attempts, one in a blues style, the other Latin, asking the pianist for something akin to "the avant-garde jazz scene in the 60s".
I always tell people that Bowie is the best producer I ever met, because he lets me do my thing.Rolling Stone's contemporary review described the music as "hothouse orientalism, jagged, dissonant and daring, yet also wistful and backward-looking".
[10] Writing in 1981, NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray considered the song "one of Bowie's early 'European' pieces", while comparing Garson's piano playing to Cecil Taylor.
[11] Reviewing the 30th Anniversary Edition of Aladdin Sane in 2003, Sydney Morning Herald music critic Bernard Zuel also related the track to the composer's later work, finding the "to-and-fro between art and dramatic pop in the song provides a bridge between Bowie's pre-fame leanings and his mid-'70s decamp to Berlin".
However a recent estimate places it alongside recordings for Pin Ups later that year, as a preview of Bowie's next original work, leading author Nicholas Pegg to suggest that it "perhaps ought to be regarded more as a Diamond Dogs demo than an Aladdin Sane out-take".
In November of that year, he recorded an acoustic version with vocals from bass player Gail Ann Dorsey for the BBC session ChangesNowBowie, which was broadcast on 8 January 1997.
[17] Performances on the Outside Summer Festivals Tour were duets with bassist Gail Ann Dorsey that included quotations of "On Broadway" and "All Day and All of the Night".