‘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.”
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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.