‘Up the Hill Backwards’ is the second track, and fourth single, from David Bowie’s 1980 album Scary Monsters.
This was Bowie’s first album following his critically-praised but commercially-challenged Berlin trilogy, and it had a more mainstream sound than its predecessors. First single ‘Ashes to Ashes’ gave him his second #1 hit in the UK.
That said, the album still found Bowie doing a fair amount of experimenting. This song, for example, features multiple time signatures and directly quotes a 1964 book about the “collapse of Imperial Germany in 1919 and how it affected the Dadaist movement of the city of Berlin.”
The vacuum created by the arrival of freedom
And the possibilities it seems to offer
[Chorus]
It’s got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It’s got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
[Verse 2]
A series of shocks – sneakers fall apart
Earth keeps on rolling, witnesses falling
[Chorus 1]
It’s got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It’s got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
[Chorus 2]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, up the hill backwards
It’ll be alright, ooh-ooh
[Verse 3]
While we sleep, they go to work
We’re legally crippled, it’s the death of love
[Chorus]
It’s got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It’s got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
[Bridge]
More idols than realities, ooh-ooh
I’m OK, you’re so-so, ooh-ooh
[Chorus 2]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, up the hill backwards
It’ll be alright, ooh-ooh
Meet Me In Montauk 
Any song referencing a 1964 book about the “collapse of Imperial Germany in 1919 and how it affected the Dadaist movement of the city of Berlin” is a must listen to me.