By VikingChild
“Look up here, I'm in heaven
I've got scars that can't be seen
I've got drama, can't be stolen
Everybody knows me now.”
When Bowie died, I got so many messages of condolence you’d have thought he was a relative. I wasn’t the right age to appreciate him from the get-go, but all my teen musical favourites were, so the influences trickled down.
This, therefore, has been both a tremendous gift of a topic and a tough one too, as I’ve got to separate out some of my personal feelings and prejudices from the topic in hand. Or not. You decide.
The Thin White A-List:
You don’t need to like Bowie for these lists, but what I found amazing was the range of genres that were suggested. I hope that this reflects that breadth.
She's so swishy in her satin and tat, In her frock coat and bipperty-bopperty hat:
Beau, Oui, Comme Bowie (lit. Beautiful, yes, like Bowie) by famed French actress Isabelle Adjani is a wonderful pun, but the lyrics (Serge Gainsbourg’s work) give a description of Bowie too. Testing my schoolchild French:
“Feminine man, slightly cracked
A little too feline, you know that you are …
A little Oscar Wilde, a little Dorian Gray,
A few cold shimmers and an icy air.”
I’ve got scars that can’t be seen, I’ve got drama can’t be stolen:
Distopian Dream Girl by Built to Spill is a love song full of pathos, basically of the “I’d die if it meant you lived” variety. So where is the Bowie reference? In this wonderful description:
“My stepfather looks just like David Bowie
But he hates David Bowie
I think Bowie's cool
I think Lodger rules
I think my stepdad’s a fool”
A prize for going for Lodger rather than an earlier album.
The return of the Thin White Duke, throwing darts in lovers’ eyes:
Lloyd Cole has a way with lyrics and in 2023’s The Idiot he writes as Iggy Pop describing Bowie fleeing LA and addictions to settle for a while in Berlin. The lyrics here describe Bowie’s ravaged appearance at the time – if you’ve ever seen the documentary Cracked Actor, you’ll know how bad it was.
“I know that I'm not doing great
But you're almost translucent
You've taken it all too far
And it was beautiful”
She asked for my love, and I gave her a dangerous mind:
David Bowie Needs Ideas by Bongwater is an inspired story about receiving a xylophone and a letter from David Bowie, looking for ideas. It turns out it was a form letter and not actually intended for her at all. She then runs into David Byrne and concludes by deciding never to speak to any Davids ever again.
Bonkers, but brilliant.
He’s chameleon, comedian, Corinthian and caricature:
Ian Hunter owed a small debt to Bowie, having been gifted All the Young Dudes, and here following Bowie’s death he remembered the technicolour joy that Bowie brought. Dandy is filled with references to Bowie’s songs and the Spiders from Mars.
“Dandy, you're the prettiest star
There ain't no life on Mars but we always thought there might be
Dandy, you opened up the door
You left us wanting more, and then we took the last bus home”
As they pulled you out of the oxygen tent, you asked for the latest party:
James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem worked with Bowie on Blackstar, and they became friends. Bowie convinced him to reform the band which he did, announcing it shortly before Bowie’s death. This tribute, Black Screen comes from the reformed album; the opening lines are heartbreaking:
“You couldn't make our wedding day
Too sick to travel
You fell between a friend
And a father”
Spaceboy, you're sleepy now, your silhouette is so stationary:
There are quite a few post-death tributes to Bowie in varying levels of saccharine sentiment. I enjoyed them all. But I will admit that I’d kinda accidentally given up on the Manic Street Preachers, so In Eternity, an elegy to Bowie after his death, touched me. It doesn’t mention Bowie by name, or even pseudonym, but the chorus makes it clear.
“Closed the curtains in L.A
Opened them up on a Berlin day
Self-made and self-realised
Always ready to disguise”
I’m an alligator, I’m a mama-papa comin’ for you!
Elton Motello, more famous for the Plastic Bertrand simul-release Jet Boy, Jet Girl, didn’t release much but Get the Guy! is a real reference romp through the early 70s Bowie catalogue and it’s a lot of early punk fun.
“Well, he's a superstar, he plays guitar
And he's a nod insane, a wild thing
God, he's a suffragette, a plastic pet”
The blackout hearts, the flowered news, with skull designs upon my shoes:
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils formed in the year of Ziggy Stardust and have endured to the present day, albeit with a shorter back-catalogue than Bowie. They’re miles apart literally and musically, but 1976’s Arroyo nods to Bowie as a definition of otherworldliness:
“Well, have you ever been zooey?
Feel like you're David Bowie, a truly unidentified person?
Well, I have.”
We can argue about the rhyme some other time.
He came on so loaded man, well hung and snow white tan:
Finally, I’ve hawked Momus quite a bit during my short time at the Song Bar, and I know his love for Bowie very well with his many covers and tributes. This one is a little bit different, and I had to include it as it’s written from the viewpoint of Bowie remembering his girlfriend, Hermione (she of “Letter to Hermione” and the “girl with the mousey hair” in Life on Mars). As Uncleben explained, she left him to star in The Song of Norway which was a complete critical flop. Years later he wore a “Song of Norway” T-shirt in the video for “Where Are We Now?”
The Thin White A-List Playlist:
Isabelle Adjani - Beau, Oui, comme Bowie (SweetHomeAlabama)
Built to Spill - Distopian Dream Girl (Shoegazer)
Lloyd Cole - The Idiot (Uncleben)
Bongwater - David Bowie Wants Ideas (Shoegazer)
Ian Hunter - Dandy (Bobby Legwarmer)
LCD Soundsystem - Black Screen (happyclapper)
Manic Street Preachers - In Eternity (happyclapper)
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Arroyo (Fred Erickson)
Elton Motello - Get the Guy! (uneasy listening)
Momus - Song of Norway (Uncleben)
The Major Tom B-List:
Of all the characters Bowie became or sang about, Major Tom still seems to inspire the most. It seemed rather appropriate, therefore, to make a B-list of Major Tom songs.
Peter Schilling - Völlig losgelöst
Somewhat iconic though we’re probably more used to hearing the English version. Another adventure for Major Tom as he contemplates life in space versus life at home
Lana Del Rey - Terence Loves You
(Probably) an ode to Bowie’s older half-brother, Terry Burns, who took his own life in 1985. The song weaves in different aspects of Space Oddity: “Trying to transmit can you hear me, ground control to Major Tom”. This song is so dreamy that I expected to wake up in the White Lodge.
Def Leppard – Rocket
Not the greatest song, but mentions several Bowie characters including MT and other bands, but with the countdown, the rocket, and a reference to Satellite of Love it deserves mention
Plastic Bertrand – Major Tom
By the folks who brought you Ca Plane Pour Moi, another adventure for MT.
William Shatner - Empty Glass
This is a cover version which I had to include for weaving so many Bowie references into the song including Major Tom.
Barclay James Harvest – The Great Mining Disaster of 1974
Stuffed full of 60s references, but the lyrics “Heard a song the other day, About a major out in space, And though the song was kind of grey It took me far away,” qualifies although I can’t imagine it being so grey.
Five Star – Rain or Shine
Quite the step-change here, the UK Jacksons (?) sneak in by claiming Major Tom as a superhero like Robin Hood. Strange, and a co-write for King Crimson’s Peter Sinfield.
A Perfect Circle – So Long and Thanks For All The Fish
Might have been A-listed just for the H2G2 reference, but Bowie appears amidst many celebrity deaths of the year. “Now Willy Wonka, Major Tom, Ali and Leia have moved on.”
Flight of the Conchords – Bowie
This is a little bit of a shoehorn as Major Tom isn’t explicitly mentioned, but it’s an affectionate comedic shout to space-Bowie ("Does the space cold make your nipples go pointy, Bowie?”) and they mention “Lieutenant Bowie”, so in it goes.
Chris Hadfield - Space Oddity Yes it’s a cover, but what could be more iconic than your song about a spaceman being sung by a spaceman in space. Nothing spacier.
Check out the small Easter egg here too…
The Major Tom B-List Playlist:
Peter Schilling - Völlig losgelöst (AltraEgo)
Lana Del Rey - Terence Loves You (Uncleben)
Def Leppard – Rocket (Maki)
Plastic Bertrand - Major Tom (severin)
William Shatner - Empty Glass (Uncleben)
Barclay James Harvest - The Great 1974 Mining Disaster (severin)
Five Star - Rain or Shine (pejepeine)
A Perfect Circle - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish (Loud Atlas)
Flight of the Conchords - Bowie's In Space (happyclapper)
Chris Hadfield - Space Oddity (Marconius7)
The “Debt to Bowie is so large that it needed a separate category” Entry
This didn’t fit with the other two lists, but deserves a special mention. Bowie was a musical magpie, which is a nice way of saying he ripped off loads of other artists and would happily admit that, but this is less magpie, more vulture. Marizane released this in 2003 and I was not surprised to discover that it was produced by Tony Visconti. Their bio on Bandcamp was worth this alone. Thanks, Loud Atlas, for this one – The Devil’s Address.
The Guru is Aladdin Sane
First, a Pet Shop Boys B-side that then got reworked into a number for their musical. They had been recording Hallo Spaceboy with Bowie (which might have got in for being a meta–Major Tom reworking) and wrote this song from the point of view of being David Bowie and looking back. It partly came from a dream which Neil Tennant, a massive Bowie-phile, had whilst in Jamaica. Friendly Fire.
“I who studied make-up, mime and Buddha
Who taught two generations to react
About me the critics lied
I ignored them and survived
In spite of coming under friendly fire
Shot in the fatal cause of rock 'n' roll”
The darker side complementing the glitter comes from Bauhaus’ David J, who delivered this song with a story about discussing a song called “Grooving with Mr Bloe” on the set of The Hunger in 1982. The song may, or may not, sound like one of Bowie’s, and Bowie may – or may not – have been fully aware of that. Anyway, this song was written shortly after Bowie’s death.
“The ghosts that haunted Hammersmith are banished,
Ziggy has retired now for good,
With incense prayers and glitter incantations,
The ending is told, in old drawn blood (??)
Where were you, the night that David Bowie died?”
The Nathan Adler Leftover G-List:
Bonus content! The Landlord gave me permission. As a random person on the internet might say, I'd done my own research, so here's a bonus list of songs mentioning or describing Bowie, mostly from well-known artists (YMMV).
And finally, some Bowie comedy, because we always need some smiles.
Headslap moments? Any you forgot to mention?
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations in response to last week's topic: We shall be heroes: songs that reference David Bowie. The next topic will launch on Thursday after 1pm UK time.
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