corpse-strewn streets they live above". Although Jack is commonly identified as one of Bowie's "identities" like Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, Doggett notes that Jack occupies "little more than a cameo role". The riff and saxophone are inspired by the Rolling Stones. Bowie's voice is also noticeably lower-pitched than his earlier records, which Ned Raggett of AllMusic believes fits the song perfectly. Biographer Marc Spitz notes that it is the same "jaded commentator's voice" Bowie had used on Aladdin Sane. Multiple biographers cite the suite of "Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise)" as the album's highlight. Pegg describes Bowie's vocal performance, which he believes to be one of his finest, as a croon. "Sweet Thing" paints pictures of decay, with sex being a "drug-like commodity" while "Candidate" contains references to Charles Manson and Muhammad Ali, with Bowie being "consumed by the fakery of his own stage creations". Cited by Pegg as Bowie's most covered track, "Rebel Rebel" is based around a distinctive guitar riff reminiscent of the Rolling Stones and was his farewell to the glam rock era. The song features guest guitar by Alan Parker who, according to Pegg, "added the three descending notes at the end of each loop of the riff". It features a character who predates 1970s punk rock and gender-bending lyrics ("You got your mother in a whirl / She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl"). Some commentators praised the song itself but felt it did not contribute to the overall theme of the album. Doggett, however, writes that the song acts as the "musical continuation" of the "Sweet Thing" suite. Side two Bowie and MacCormack co-wrote "Rock 'n' Roll with Me". It was Bowie's first co-writing credit on one of his own albums. MacCormack said his contribution was minimal—he played the chord sequence on piano. A power ballad, the song explores the relationship between the audience and an actor. When asked whether fans considered him a leader, Bowie described "Rock 'n' Roll with Me" as his response, saying: "You're doing it to me, stop it!" Buckley writes the song foreshadowed the soul direction that Bowie would take on Young Americans. The lyrics of "We Are the Dead" reflect the characters of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Winston and Julia's, love for each other. They establish a world fraught with danger that mirrors the rest of the album. Buckley describes the lyrics as "gothic" and the music