The opening music, a disjointed combination of piano, guitar, electronics and voice rising steadily to a crescendo, has been described as sounding like "Bowie is about to turn into The Incredible Hulk before your very ears".

[2] The lyrics have been interpreted as a look back at Bowie's severe mood swings during his cocaine addiction while living in Los Angeles from 1975 to 1976, with the line "Thank God Heaven left us standing on our feet" suggesting the singer's gratitude for making it through that period.

[3] In another interpretation, James E. Perone wrote: "Beauty and the Beast" is one of those David Bowie songs with lyrics that can leave the listener scratching his or her head and wondering just what they mean.

The listener must keep in mind that Bowie has created images based on the good-evil dialectic throughout his career: it is not unique to "Beauty and the Beast".

[4]The follow-up single to "Heroes", "Beauty and the Beast" was considered an unconventional choice for release,[3] and it just scraped into the UK Top 40.