Afterlife Interview with David Bowie
Riffs and Beats finds David Bowie on a station platform that never announces arrivals, still treating personas like working clothes after Blackstar.
David Bowie – Be My Wife
On Low, released in January 1977, Be My Wife sits among the short, dry rock songs of side one, before the instrumental half begins. David Bowie writes a direct plea: share my life, be my wife.
David Bowie – Starman
Starman sits near the front of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, released in June 1972 on RCA. Ken Scott co-produces with Bowie. Mick Ronson sharpens the guitar figure and the vocal blend.
David Bowie – Five Years
Five Years opens The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in June 1972. Before the glam costumes fill the frame, Bowie stages a market-square panic: a news guy weeps, mothers sigh, and the clock is set at five years.
David Bowie – Hang on to Yourself
Hang on to Yourself reaches most listeners on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in June 1972, but the song already had a life. Bowie cut an earlier version with Arnold Corns, a short-lived project around Freddie Burretti.
David Bowie – Suffragette City
Mick Ronson's piano hits the downbeat, Trevor Bolder and Woody Woodmansey keep a dry straight beat, and David Bowie shouts as if the city will not wait. Suffragette City sits near the end of Ziggy Stardust, out 16 June 1972 on RCA.
David Bowie – Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide
A lone acoustic guitar and a tired vocal open the last track. Then Mick Ronson's string arrangement comes in, the band enters, and David Bowie turns the lyric toward the stalls: you're not alone. Rock 'n' Roll.