Space Oddity
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| "Space Oddity" | ||
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| Single by David Bowie | ||
| from the album Space Oddity | ||
| Released | 1969 (original) 1975 (reissue) |
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| Format | Vinyl record | |
| Recorded | Trident Studios, 20 June 1969 | |
| Genre | Folk/Rock | |
| Length | 09:25 (original) 11:15 (reissue) |
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| Label | Philips(UK) Mercury (US) |
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| Producer(s) | Gus Dudgeon | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| David Bowie singles chronology | ||
| "Love You Till Tuesday" (1967) |
"Space Oddity" (1969) |
"The Prettiest Star" (1970) |
"Space Oddity" is a song written and performed by David Bowie and released as a single in 1969 (See: 1969 in music). It is about the launch of Major Tom, a fictional astronaut who becomes lost in Outer Space. Supposedly released to coincide with the Apollo 11 moon landing, it appears on the album of the same title. The BBC featured the song in its television coverage of the lunar landing.
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[edit] Narrative and content
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Please see the discussion on the talk page. |
"Space Oddity" is a powerful narrative, echoing Arthur C. Clarke's book, and Stanley Kubrick's movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, both released in 1968. The similarity in titles suggests that this film was on Bowie's mind when he wrote it. The main character in that novel (and in the movie) is called "David Bowman".
The song is often interpreted to be about self-destruction and estrangement from humanity. Major Tom's cryptic last message, "Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles / I'm feeling very still / And I think my spaceship knows which way to go / Tell my wife I love her very much (She knows!)", suggests that he is still alive and well and chooses to kill his circuit to ground control.
Bowie seems to confirm this interpretation with his 1980 follow up to "Space Oddity", "Ashes to Ashes", where Ground control eventually receives a message from Major Tom: "I'm happy, hope you're happy too". Drug users, specifically those who experiment with hallucinogens, find the song took on new meaning following Bowie's battle with drugs in the 1970s. In "Ashes to Ashes", Major Tom's communication failure could be reinterpreted as losing human contact due to drugs. Space Oddity is often interpreted as "a bad trip". At the start of the song Major Tom takes pills ("take your protein pills and put your helmet on"), those pills have their effect ("and I'm floating in a most peculiar way / and the stars look very different today") but eventually Major Tom fails to come out of his trip.
In an interview on VH1 Legends in 1997, the narrator and Bowie himself stated that the inspiration was his relationship with Hermione Farthingale, a woman for whom Bowie had deep feelings.
This narrative continues in rock music throughout the late 20th century, both in Bowie's own work and that of others. As well as the aforementioned "Ashes to Ashes", Elton John's "Rocket Man" seems to allude to Major Tom, though not by name. It tells of an unnamed astronaut who is lonely in space, who is "not the man they think I am at home". Bowie alludes to this analogy in a live performance of "Space Oddity" released on the David Bowie BBC Sessions 1969-1972, in which he sings, "I'm just a rocketman!" In 1983, the German pop singer Peter Schilling released his own take on the story, entitled "Major Tom", although he denied for several years after the song's release that his Tom was the same as Bowie's, and even went so far as to claim he had never even heard Space Oddity.
Bowie himself returned to the subject on 1995's Outside album with the song "Hallo Spaceboy", and a hit single remixed by The Pet Shop Boys even included disjointed lyrics from the original "Space Oddity".
[edit] Recording and release
Following Bowie's split from record label Deram, his manager Kenneth Pitt managed to negotiate a one-album deal (with options for a further one or two albums) with Mercury Records, and their UK subsidiary Phillips in 1969. Next he tried to find a producer. George Martin turned the project down[citation needed], while Tony Visconti liked the album demo-tracks, but considered the planned lead-off single, "Space Oddity", a gimmick track[citation needed], and delegated its production to Gus Dudgeon. An early version of the song had appeared in Bowie's promotional film Love You Till Tuesday.
Following recording of a fresh version, the single was rush-released on July 11, 1969 to coincide with the Apollo 11 moon landings. In the UK, it was used in conjunction with the BBC's coverage of the landing, and also promoted via adverts for the Stylophone, which featured on the record. This exposure finally gave Bowie a hit, reaching #5 in the chart. It failed to chart in the U.S., however.
Mogol wrote Italian lyrics, and Bowie recorded a new vocal, releasing the single "Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola" ("Lonely Boy, Lonely Girl") in Italy, reportedly to take attention away from covers by the Italian bands Equipe 84 and The Computers.
The song was awarded the 1969 Ivor Novello Award, together with Peter Sarstedt's "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)".
The song became so well-known that Bowie's second album, originally released as David Bowie in the UK (like his first album), was renamed after the track for its 1972 reissue by RCA, and has since become known by this name.
In December 1972, Mick Rock shot a film clip of Bowie performing the song during the sessions for Aladdin Sane, which was used to promote the January 1973 US reissue on RCA, which reached #15 in the Billboard Chart. This was then used to support RCA's 1975 UK reissue, which gave Bowie his first #1 single in November.
A stripped down version, originally performed on Kenny Everett's New Year's Eve Show was issued in February 1980 as the B-side of "Alabama Song".
| Preceded by "I Only Have Eyes For You" by Art Garfunkel |
UK number one single November 2, 1975 |
Succeeded by "D.I.V.O.R.C.E." by Billy Connolly |
[edit] Track listing
- 1969 original
- "Space Oddity" (Bowie) – 4:33
- "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud" (Bowie) – 4:52
- 1975 reissue
- "Space Oddity" (Bowie) – 4:33
- "Changes" (Bowie) – 3:33
- "Velvet Goldmine" (Bowie) – 3:09
[edit] Personnel
Credits apply to 1969 original release:
- Musical
- David Bowie - vocals, guitar, stylophone
- Herbie Flowers - bass guitar
- Terry Cox - drums
- Rick Wakeman - Mellotron, piano
- uncredited string section
- Technical
- Gus Dudgeon - record producer
[edit] Other versions
- Live versions
- (1983) on Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture - recorded July 3, 1973 from Ziggy Stardust tour's farewell concert at the Hammersmith Odeon, London
- (1995) on Santa Monica '72 - recorded 20 October 1972 from Ziggy Stardust tour at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
- Cover versions
- (1993) Saigon Kick - Water (Saigon Kick album)
- (1993) The Flying Pickets - Best of CD
- (1998) Cold - Oddity EP
- (1999) Natalie Merchant - Live in Concert
- (1999) Helloween - Metal Jukebox
- (2002) Star One - Space Metal (Star One)
- (2005) Seu Jorge - The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions[iTunes exclusive bonus track]
- (2004) Steel Train - 1969 EP
- (2004) Ayreon - Day Eleven: Love (Single)
- (2006) Def Leppard - Yeah!
- (2006) Tripod- Pod August Nights
[edit] In pop culture
- In the 2005 video game Ultimate Spider-Man (video game), a drunkin man can be heard saying in a slurred voice: "this is ground control to Major Tom."
- In one episode of Pee-wee's Playhouse, Pee-wee plays connect-the-dots, the dots forming a rocketship, which he flies into outer space. Pee-wee makes a reference to "Space Oddity" during this scene by saying he's Major Tom.
- The song is widely referenced due to its classic nature. In the 2002 movie Mr. Deeds, there is a moment in which Adam Sandler and a group of men on a helicopter break out into singing "Space Oddity".
- After the success of Space Ship One in 2004, it was agreed that the song should be played onboard the ship when giving space tours to wealthy sightseers.
- In the British comic TV-Show The Young Ones, the song is mentioned in a tacky outer-space scene where a bunch of aliens are sitting on the moon where one of the aliens happens to say "This is just like that David Bowie song!", to which the other says "Hey, look! The planet Earth is blue and there's nothing we can do!", mimicking a particularly unusual line in the song.
- The 2004 video game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater references "Space Oddity" when a character named Major Zero changes his codename to Major Tom; he is even asked "Can you hear me, Major Tom?" (one of the song's lyrics). However, since Metal Gear Solid 3 is set in 1964, before the song existed, the reference couldn't be mentioned without being anachronistic. Instead, Zero explains that the codename is a reference to the "Tom" escape tunnel in the 1963 film The Great Escape. Also Hideo Kojima (the game director and producer) stated that initially he wanted to use Ashes to Ashes and Space Oddity as ending themes for the game, that idea was finally discarded.
- On Jackson Publick's Adult Swim program The Venture Bros. the song's story, along with that of 'Ashes to Ashes' was played out in the opening of 'Ghosts of the Sarragaso' using its lyrics as dialogue, and the character of Major Tom and Action Man were recreated as actual characters.
- In the U.S. sitcom Friends, there have been two references to this song. In season 5 episode 19, Chandler Bing and his friends accidentally see a tape of him singing the first few lyrics of the song. Chandler then scrambles to shut off the VCR. In season 6 episode 1, Joey Tribianni sings a few lyrics of the song as he tries to get his friend Phoebe Buffay to forgive him for ruining their road trip.
- Spanish Rock singer Enrique Bunbury makes multiple allusions to "Space Oddity" in his song "Lady Blue". Though the song is in Spanish it begins with the countdown "ten, nine, eight, seven..." which can also be heard in "Space Oddity". The song is about an astronaut who is lost in space but says that "everything is ok". The video for the song also uses an outer space theme.
- In the British comedy Red Dwarf, The Cat tries to convince a ground controller to grant him and the crew clearance to (illegally) leave Red Dwarf in a 'Blue Midget' ship. Unable to supply a name, Lister jumps in with "Major Tom!"
- In the Canadian movie C.R.A.Z.Y. there is a long scene where the main character Zac "performs" "Space Oddity" in his room, unaware that several people are watching him through the window.
- In the series "Without a Trace" - Season 3 / Episode 22, Title "John Michaels" - "Space Oddity" is used at the beginning and the end of the episode.
- In the 2006 film The Fountain, actor Hugh Jackman portrays a character who appears in three incarnations across a 1000-year span: as a 16th-century Spanish conquistador named Tomás, as a modern-day research oncologist named Tommy, and as the guru-like Tom who travels alone in a spacecraft to a distant nebula in the 26th century. In an April 2005 interview with the SuicideGirls website, Darren Aronofsky, the film's director, cited "Space Oddity" as an inspiration for this third storyline and as the probable source of the protagonist's name. [1] Both film and song draw influence from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- In 2004 Wes Anderson's film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou one of the characters is Pelé dos Santos (played by Seu Jorge), a Brazilian mariner who sits alone with his guitar and plays several Bowie Songs in Portuguese, one of these is Space Oddity, which he sings the first verse of as pirates are sneaking aboard the Belefonte behind him.
