"hollowness of fame and adulation". Bowie himself described the song as a "Watch out mate, Hitler's on your back" warning. Buckley finds the lyrics inauthentic as a soul song, comparing them to his 1969 track "Cygnet Committee". Bowie's rendition of "Across the Universe" is a blue-eyed soul reworking that features Lennon on guitar and backing vocals. Bowie had previously called the Beatles' original version "very watery" and wanted to "hammer the hell out of it". His cover has been maligned by critics and biographers, and is often considered as one of Bowie's low points in what Pegg calls his "golden years". Nevertheless, Perone finds that as a "groove piece", the cover succeeds. After Lulu's version of "Take It in Right" failed to come to fruition, Bowie rerecorded it under the title "Can You Hear Me?". O'Leary describes it as contemporary R&B, while Doggett believes its style is more reminiscent of southern music rather than Philly soul. Pegg praises Visconti's string arrangement as one of the album's highlights, further noting that it foreshadows the "majestic ballad style" of Station to Station. Perone likens Bowie's vocal performance to singer Al Green. In 1975, Bowie stated that the song was "written for somebody" but declined to disclose who; his biographers agree that it was most likely for Cherry. "Fame" was co-written by Bowie, Alomar and Lennon. The lyrics represent Bowie and Lennon's dissatisfaction with the troubles of fame and stardom. Alomar originally developed the guitar riff for Bowie's cover of "Footstompin'" by the Flairs, which Bowie then used to create "Fame". Lennon's voice is heard interjecting the falsetto "Fame" throughout the song. Sources differ as to the extent of Lennon's contributions. Although Doggett argues that Lennon only made the "briefest lyrical contributions", Bowie would later say that Lennon was the "energy" and the "inspiration" for "Fame", and that's why he received a co-writing credit. Lennon would later contradict this story in a 1980 interview where he said: "We took some Stevie Wonder middle eight and did it backwards, you know, and we made a record out of it!" Outtakes "Who Can I Be Now?" reflects the theme of self-identity. Over its runtime, it builds to a what Pegg calls a "gospel-choir climax". O'Leary writes that Bowie would revisit a similar theme of Gnostic teachings on "Station to Station". Doggett writes that its title summarises Bowie's career up to this point, sharing a similar