“Thank you for the good times. They will never rot”: David Bowie’s final message to Brian Eno – which he didn’t understand at first

On January 8, 2016, social media was buzzing with celebrations of David Bowie’s 69th birthday and his album Blackstar, released on the same day.

The number of posts rocketed with an entirely different tone two days later, following the news that he’d died of cancer. He’d kept his health issues secret from almost everyone, so the tragedy was a shock to fans, friends and colleagues alike.

One notable colleague who was shaken to his core was Brian Eno, who’d worked with Bowie on and off for more than four decades. Revealing his first feelings in his own post, Eno recalled that their friendship had always been tinged with an element of groundbreaking British comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

“David’s death came as a complete surprise, as did nearly everything else about him,” Eno said. “We knew each other for over 40 years.”

He continued: “Over the last few years, with him living in New York and me in London, our connection was by email. We signed off with invented names: some of his we’re Mr. Showbiz, Milton Keynes, Rhoda Borrocks and The Duke Of Ear.”

David Bowie - Lazarus (Official Video) [HD] - YouTube

Watch On

Eno reported that, about a year earlier, the pair had started discussing their 1995 album Outside – which was also to be their final collaboration. “We both liked that album a lot and felt it had fallen through the cracks,” the former Roxy Music member said. “We talked about revisiting it, taking it somewhere new. I was looking forward to that.”

A week before Bowie’s death, he emailed Eno again. “It was funny as always, and as surreal, looping through word games and allusions and all the usual stuff we did. It ended with this sentence: ‘Thank you for the good times, Brian; they will never rot.’ And it was signed ‘Dawn.’”

He concluded: “I realise now he was saying goodbye.”

Bowie frequently immersed himself in the prog world, collaborating with a wide range of artists including Robert Fripp and Rick Wakeman; and many of those who’d worked with him or simply admired him shared their own thoughts.

Wakeman – who’d been invited to join the Spiders From Mars at the same time he was invited to join Yes – said: “As I’m sure you can imagine I’m gutted hearing of David’s passing. He was the biggest influence and encouragement I could ever have wished for.”

David Bowie - "Heroes" (Official Video) [HD] - YouTube

Watch On

Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson reflected: “For David to die now is a huge sadness. Always the Mother Of Reinvention, there should have been more to come.” He gave credit to Bowie for the final theatrical flourish that saw Blackstar reach the top of the iTunes chart just as he was entering his final hours.

“Could only have had more impact, perhaps, if the events had been the other way round,” Anderson added, calling Bowie “the most inventive, original and very British of artists, perhaps, since the late 60s.”

Peter Gabriel expressed his own shock at the news, saying: “He was a one-off, a brilliant outlier, always exploring, challenging and inspiring anyone who wanted to push the boundaries of music, art, fashion and society. Heroes, for me, was always one of the great Bowie tracks. Heroism in the face of oppression and desperation. There are so few artists who can touch a generation as he did Long Live Lazarus.”