The Passenger

Pop wrote the lyrics and the guitarist Ricky Gardiner composed the music. Gardiner thought of the riff in early 1977 while walking through the countryside. The song was recorded at Hansa Studio by the Wall between May and June 1977, with Pop, Gardiner, Bowie on piano, Carlos Alomar on guitar and Tony and Hunt Sales on bass and drums. The lyrics were mostly composed on the spot in the studio. Pop told the Guardian in 2016 that it was partly inspired by riding around North America and Europe in Bowie's car, since he had neither a driving licence nor a vehicle of his own.

It first appeared as the B-side of Success in 1977, and neither side charted. Virgin released it as an A-side in March 1998, with Lust for Life and Nightclubbing, after it was used in a car commercial, and it reached number 22 in Britain. Pitchfork's Sasha Geffen wrote that it makes a saga of passivity and called it an emblematic high point of Pop's career. It remains a mainstay of Pop's live shows.

Covers

Siouxsie and the Banshees recorded a version with brass in 1987 for their covers album Through the Looking Glass, and it reached number 41 in Britain. Pop praised it. In 2024 Pop and Siouxsie Sioux recorded a duet version that appeared in a Magnum ice cream advertisement in April 2024, which Rolling Stone described as a moody, downtempo ballad.