V-2 Schneider
This rarely-performed, mainly instrumental piece was recorded in the summer of 1977 at Hansa Studio by the Wall in West Berlin for David Bowie's album "Heroes" and was the B-side for the "Heroes" single. The only lyrics are those of the title, distorted by an electronic filtering process called phasing.
For a long time it was erroneously assumed that the title was a reference to the German V-2 rocket, but in fact it was a nickname for Florian Schneider, one of the founders of the German electronic music band Kraftwerk that was a heavy inspiration for Bowie at the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC20rI6mOiE
What makes the piece more interesting is the fact that Bowie takes his saxophone entry off-beat and continues from there. Rather than redoing the track, Bowie left it as it was because he recalled one of guitarist Brian Eno's mantras about honoring one's mistakes. It still works for the piece as a whole, given that many of the studio sessions for the "Heroes" album were improvised.
I love the bit about honoring mistakes! It's good to show you're human.
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