David Bowie said John Lennon revealed his three rules for songwriting to him (Guitar Player magazine, (9/14/25)

[speak easy]

2. Interesting. Bowie seldom came straight to the point;

everything was filtered, mashed up, woven into a story, or expressed in a character.

A good example was Station to Station (the song). The underlying emotion was an Englishman's anxiety about mainland Europe, about English identity in a larger whole.


the song was largely interpreted as Bowie (the Thin White Duke) deciding to live in Europe, but wait, there's more,

The song was written after the 1975 UK referendum decision to stay in the EU (the European Economic Community at that time), hence -

It's too late to be grateful
It's too late to be late again
It's too late to be hateful
The European canon [law] is here.

The UK famously joined the EU Late.

But wait, there's more. The Thin White Duke was seen as a fascist figure. He was, but the character was historical - Edward, [family name David] The Duke of Windsor, the former Edward VIII, whom the Nazi's plotted to put back on the throne, and make Britain a vassal state. It might be drawing a long bow, but I see Mrs. Simpson in this verse.

I must be only one in a million
I won't let the day pass without her

And finally something Bowie said himself, that Station to Station referred as much to the Roman Catholic stations of the cross as train stations.

Again the fear of England being subsumed in the larger church. The Spanish Armada failed, Hitler failed, but now Europe won.

The music of the song is dread then release: Bowie own decision to leave the U.S. and to live in Europe - but the places he chose, Switzerland and West Berlin were outside the EU.