1139..... video David Bowie – Space Oddity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYYRH4apXDo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYMCLz5PQVw

David Bowie - Space Oddity

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D67kmFzSh_o 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_M3uw29U1U 

 

 

"Space Oddity" is a song written and performed by David Bowie and released as a 7-inch single on 11 July 1969. It was also the opening track of the album David Bowie.
The song is about the launch of Major Tom, a fictional astronaut, and was released during a period of great interest in space flight. The United States' Apollo 11 mission would launch five days later, and would become the first manned moon landing another five days later.^[1] The lyrics have also been seen to lampoon the British space programme,^[2] which had only launched rockets at that time and has never attempted a moon landing.
Besides its title, which alludes to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the introduction to the song is a barely audible instrumental build-up that is analogous to the deep bass tone in Also sprach Zarathustra that is prominently used in the film.
"Space Oddity" was David Bowie's first UK Top 5 hit, and was awarded the 1969 Ivor Novello Award, together with Peter Sarstedt's "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?". It became one of Bowie's signature songs, and his second album, originally released as David Bowie in the UK, was renamed after the track for its 1972 re-release by RCA Records, and became known by this name. In 1975, upon re-release as part of a maxi-single, the song was Bowie's first UK No. 1 single.^[3]
Bowie would later revisit his Major Tom character in the songs "Ashes to Ashes", "Hallo Spaceboy" and the music video for "Blackstar". German singer Peter Schilling's 1983 hit "Major Tom (Coming Home)" is written as a retelling of the song. In 2013, the song gained renewed popularity after it was covered by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who performed the song while aboard the International Space Station, and therefore became the first music video shot in space.
In January 2016, the song gained new popularity following the death of David Bowie, ranking as third on iTunes on January 12, 2016 and reaching the top of the French Singles Chart. ^[4] The song would also rechart for one week on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at #42 shortly after his death in January 2016.

Recording and release

In addition to demo recordings and an Italian version of the song, three primary studio versions of "Space Oddity" exist: an early version recorded in February 1969, the album version recorded that June (edited for release as a single), and a 1979 re-recording.
The early version of "Space Oddity" was recorded on 2 February 1969 for Bowie's promotional film Love You Till Tuesday.^[5] This recording became commercially available in 1984, on a belated VHS release of the film and accompanying soundtrack album. It also appeared on the compilation album The Deram Anthology 1966–1968.
In June 1969, after Bowie's split from record label Deram, his manager, Kenneth Pitt, negotiated a one-album deal (with options for a further one or two albums) with Mercury Records and its UK subsidiary, Philips.^[6] Mercury executives had heard an audition tape that included a demo of "Space Oddity," recorded by Bowie and his then musical partner John Hutchinson in spring 1969. Next Bowie tried to find a producer. George Martin turned the project down,^[6] while Tony Visconti liked the album demo-tracks, but considered the planned lead-off single, "Space Oddity", a 'cheap shot' at the impending Apollo 11 space mission. Visconti decided to delegate its production to Gus Dudgeon.^[7]
The album version of "Space Oddity" was recorded at Trident Studios on 20 June 1969 (with overdubs a few days later) and used the in-house session player Rick Wakeman (Mellotron), who was later to achieve fame with the progressive rock band Yes, as well as Mick Wayne (guitar), Herbie Flowers (bass), and Terry Cox (drums).^[8] Differing edits of the album version were released as singles in the UK and US.
The song was promoted in advertisements for the Stylophone, played by Bowie on the record and heard in the background during the opening verse. The single was not played by the BBC until after the Apollo 11 crew had safely returned;^[9] after this slow start, the song reached No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart. In the US, it stalled at 124.
Mogol wrote Italian lyrics, and Bowie recorded a new vocal in December 1969, 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.
Upon its re-release as a single in 1973, the song reached No. 15 on the Billboard Chart and became Bowie's first hit single in the United States; in Canada, it reached No. 16.^[10] This was then used to support RCA's 1975 UK reissue, which gave Bowie his first No. 1 single in the UK Singles Chart in November that year. It spent two weeks at the top of that chart.^[11]
Bowie recorded a stripped-down, acoustic version in late 1979, which was issued in February 1980 as the B-side of "Alabama Song". The promotional video of this version debuted in the UK on Kenny Everett's New Year's Eve Show. This video used many of the same sets of the music video for "Ashes to Ashes," solidifying the connection between the two songs. The 1979 recording was rereleased in 1992 on the Rykodisc reissue of Bowie's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) album.
The B-side of the original single, "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud", first appeared on CD on 1989's Sound + Vision. This compilation also included, as its opening track, the spring 1969 demo of "Space Oddity" featuring Bowie and Hutchinson. (An earlier Bowie/Hutchinson demo appears on the 2009 2-CD special edition of the album David Bowie.)
On 20 July 2009, the single was reissued on a digital EP that featured four previously released versions of the song and stems that allow listeners to remix the song. This release coincided with the 40th anniversary of the song and the Apollo 11 moon landing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Oddity

 "Space Oddity"

Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills
and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown,
engines on
Check ignition
and may God's love be with you

[spoken]
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff

This is Ground Control
to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule
if you dare

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating
in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

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

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead,
there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you....

Here am I floating
round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do. 

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/davidbowie/spaceoddity.html 

 

 

• Bowie wrote this after seeing the 1968 Stanley Kubrick movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. "Space Oddity" is a play on the phrase "Space Odyssey," and the title does not appear in the lyrics. The song tells the story of Major Tom, a fictional astronaut who cuts off communication with Earth and floats into space.
• In a 2003 interview with Performing Songwriter magazine, Bowie explained: "In England, it was always presumed that it was written about the space landing, because it kind of came to prominence around the same time. But it actually wasn't. It was written because of going to see the film 2001, which I found amazing. I was out of my gourd anyway, I was very stoned when I went to see it, several times, and it was really a revelation to me. It got the song flowing. It was picked up by the British television, and used as the background music for the landing itself. I'm sure they really weren't listening to the lyric at all (laughs). It wasn't a pleasant thing to juxtapose against a moon landing. Of course, I was overjoyed that they did. Obviously, some BBC official said, 'Oh, right then, that space song, Major Tom, blah blah blah, that'll be great.' 'Um, but he gets stranded in space, sir.' Nobody had the heart to tell the producer that."
• This was originally released in 1969 on Bowie's self-titled album and timed to coincide with the moon landing. Released as a single, the song made #5 in the UK, becoming his first chart hit in that territory. In America, the single found a very small audience and bubbled under at #124 in August 1969.
  
  In 1972, the album was re-titled Space Oddity and re-issued in the US after Bowie achieved modest success in America with the singles "Changes" (#66) and "The Jean Genie" (#71). The newly released "Space Oddity" single made #15, becoming Bowie's first US Top 40.
  
  In 1975, back in the UK, the song was once again released, this time on a single which also contained the songs "Changes" and "Velvet Goldmine." Promoted as "3 Tracks for the Price of 2," the single leapt to the top of the charts, earning Bowie his first #1 in the UK.
• In 1980, Bowie released a follow-up to this called "Ashes To Ashes," where Major Tom once again makes contact with Earth. He says he is happy in space, but Ground Control comes to the conclusion that he is a junkie.
• In 1983, Peter Schilling released a sequel to this called "Major Tom (I'm Coming Home)." Set to a techno beat, it tells the story of Major Tom in space. In 2003, K.I.A. released another sequel called "Mrs. Major Tom," which is told from the point of view of Major Tom's wife.
• When the BBC used this during coverage of the moon landing, there was a great fear that if the missions in space didn't go well, this song would suddenly become inappropriate. (thanks, Daniel - The North West, England)
• In the line, "And the papers want to know whose shirt you wear," 'whose shirt you wear' is English slang for 'what football team are you a fan of?'. The thinking here being that if you can make it into space then your opinions on football matter. (Note to Americans- in this case, by "football" we mean "soccer.")
• Bowie's birth name was David Jones. He changed his name before the movie came out, but the name he picked is similar to the main character in the film: Dave Bowman. There was speculation that he got the name from the book The Sentinel, which the movie is based on, but Bowie has claimed that his moniker came from the Bowie knife.
• This appears on the soundtrack of the Adam Sandler movie Mr. Deeds. (thanks, Hans - Oakdale, CA)
• Nita Benn's handclaps can be heard on this recording. She is the daughter-in-law of the British socialist politician Tony Benn and the mother of Emily Benn, who at the age of 17 became the youngest ever person chosen to fight an election when she was selected in 2007 as the Labour candidate for East Worthing and Shoreham.
• This was originally written by Bowie as a guitar song. It was the producer Gus Dudgeon who turned it into an epic.
• Session musician Herbie Flowers ("Walk On The Wild Side," "Diamond Dogs") played bass on this track. He recalled his experience working on this to Uncut magazine June 2008: "The first time I played with Bowie was on the session for 'Space Oddity.' Dear Gus (Dudgeon) was quaking in his boots. It might have been the first thing he ever produced. 'Space Oddity' was this strange hybrid song. (Keyboardist) Rick Wakeman went out to buy a little Stylophone for seven shillings from a small shop on the corner where Trident Studios was. With that and all the string arrangements, it's like a semi-orchestral piece."
• Jimmy Page told Uncut magazine June 2008: "I played on his records, did you know that? His very early records when he was Davy Jones & The Lower Third. The Shel Talmy records. I can think of two individual sessions that I did with him. He said in some interview that on one of those sessions I showed him these chords, which he used in 'Space Oddity'-but he said, 'Don't tell Jim, he might sue me.' Ha ha!"
• In 2009, a sound-a-like version was used in commercials for Lincoln automobiles. This version was by the American singer-songwriter Cat Power, the stage name of Charlyn "Chan" Marshall.
• The session players on the song were Rick Wakeman (mellotron), Mick Wayne (guitar), Herbie Flowers (bass) and Terry Cox (drums), plus string musicians. They were paid just over £9 each.
• An early version of this song is performed by David Bowie in Love You Till Tuesday, a promotional film made in 1969 which was designed to showcase the talents of Bowie. You can watch it here.
• In 1969, this song was awarded the coveted Ivor Novello Award alongside Peter Sarstedt's "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?"
• The Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded this song during his stay at the International Space Station in 2013-2014. After he returned safely to Earth, the female singer/songwriter Emm Gryner put the song together, adding additional tracks, and a video was compiled using footage of Hadfield performing the song in space, complete with shots of planet Earth, his floating acoustic guitar, and a weightless Hadfield. The sublime compilation quickly racked up millions of views on YouTube and got the attention of Bowie, who tweeted about it. Hadfield changed a few of the lyrics - he left out the part where Major Tom loses contact and drifts away.
   
  http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1201