"What in the World" is a song by David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

 released on his 1977

1977 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1977.-January–February:*January 1 – The Clash headline the gala opening of the London music club, The Roxy....

 album Low, later making appearances as repertoire in the 1978 world tour as well as other major tours.

"What in the World" showcases some of Bowie's Berlin-era songwriting and production techniques. The song is, like other songs on the Low album, disjointed, with seemingly random sentences and free-associative phrases appearing throughout the lyrics.

The song makes heavy use of synthesizer

Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

 and recording studio

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

 techniques, heavily influenced by the work of Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

, who collaborated with the album. A "blip"-like sound comparable to the sounds later made by Pac-man

Pac-Man

is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...

 and the Nintendo Entertainment System

Nintendo Entertainment System

The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...

 pulses throughout the song, which, coupled with extremely rhythmic guitar solos, creates a frantic pace. The song also makes use of the Harmonizer which Tony Visconti

Tony Visconti

Anthony Edward Visconti is an American record producer and sometimes a musician or singer.Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers; his lengthiest involvement with any artist is with David Bowie: intermittently from Bowie's 1969 album Space Oddity to 2003's Reality, Visconti...

 brought to the studio through the sound of Dennis Davis

Dennis Davis

Dennis Davis is an American drummer and session musician best known for his work with David Bowie.He was born and raised in Manhattan, New York City and studied with the late drummers Max Roach and Elvin Jones. He met guitarist Carlos Alomar when they were both playing with Roy Ayers...

' drumming. The song also features Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...

 on backing vocals.

Live versions

• A live version recorded on the Heroes tour at the Philadelphia Spectrum, April 28-29th, 1978, was released on the live album Stage. To make the song more accessible, it had been lengthened from 2 minutes and 23 seconds to 4 minutes and 24 seconds. This was achieved by first playing the entirety of the first and second verses at a much slower tempo, practically at dance speed, and then repeating the song once again at album speed with the its ending reinstalled.
• Another live version can be viewed in the home-video of the "Serious Moonlight" Tour.

Other releases

• The live version from Stage, was released as the B-side of the single "Star
  Star (David Bowie song)
  "Star" is a song written by David Bowie in 1972 for the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.-Live versions:...
  
  " in 1978.
• The original album version was released as the B-side of the US release of the single "Boys Keep Swinging
  Boys Keep Swinging
  "Boys Keep Swinging" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released as a single from the album Lodger on 27 April 1979.-Recording and release:...
  
  " in April 1979.