David Bowie left behind an eerie final “parting gift’’ for his fans — a music video for his swan song, “Lazarus,’’ which depicts him as the Biblical figure who rises from the dead.
“Look up here, I’m in heaven,’’ Bowie sings in the 4-minute production, which features the star writhing in pain in a hospital bed with his eyes bandaged.
“By the time I got to New York, I was living like a king,” he sings. “This way or no way, you know I’ll be free. Just like that bluebird, now ain’t that just like me.”
The singer’s longtime producer, Tony Visconti, said Bowie carefully timed the video’s release for his 69th birthday Friday, two days before he succumbed to an 18-month battle with cancer.
The move showed that “his death was not different from his life — a work of art,” Visconti said.
“He made ‘Blackstar’ for us, his parting gift,” Visconti said of Bowie’s 25th and final album.
“He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way, and he wanted to do it the best way.”
Visconti said Bowie knew for the past year that his cancer was incurable and “this was the way it would be.”
“I wasn’t, however, prepared for it,’’ the producer said.
“He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us.”
The video has already garnered more than 4 million views on YouTube.
“If the meaning of the song is not lost, he should hopefully resurrect three days from now,” one commenter wrote. “But either way, his music will live on forever. Hail Bowie.”
Another fan added, “Still can’t believe he uploaded this video just 3 days back and now he’s gone.
“He knew he was about to die. What a genius! What a loss to the world! Rest in peace, legend.”