China Girl

Pop and Bowie wrote China Girl in 1976 at the Château d'Hérouville, where it began as a piece called Borderline. As with the rest of The Idiot, Bowie wrote the music and Pop improvised the lyrics at the microphone. The words tell of unrequited love. The song was recorded at the château in June and July, with overdubs in Munich in August and a mix at Hansa Studio 1 in Berlin. Bowie played treated piano, synthesizers, alto saxophone, toy piano and rhythm guitar, Phil Palmer played lead guitar, Laurent Thibault played bass and Michel Santangeli played drums. It is the most upbeat track on the album.

It was issued as a single on May 13, 1977, with Baby on the B-side, and did not chart. Pop played it throughout the 1977 tour, and live versions have appeared on 1977, released in 2007, and on The Bowie Years in 2020, which also has an alternate mix.

Bowie recorded his own version at the Power Station in New York in December 1982, working with the producer Nile Rodgers and with Stevie Ray Vaughan on lead guitar. It appeared on Let's Dance in April 1983 and, as a single on May 31, 1983, reached number two in Britain and number ten in the United States. Siouxsie Sioux has said she prefers Pop's version.