Space Oddity

• 1. Origins And Inspiration

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  David Bowie released his self-titled debut album through Deram Records in 1967. The record failed to sell and did little to gain him notice. He left the label in May 1968 after a string of unsuccessful singles. His new manager Kenneth Pitt asked him to write something new for a promotional film called Love You till Tuesday. By the end of that year, Bowie felt alienated from his career. Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey premiered in May 1968 and deeply affected him. Bowie said he went stoned out of his mind seeing the movie and it really freaked him out. He also saw the Apollo 8 Earthrise photograph in January 1969. That image influenced his feelings about space travel. He broke up with dancer Hermione Farthingale the following month. She got him writing for and on a specific person. Biographer Marc Spitz stated these feelings of loneliness inspired the song.

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• 2. Musical Composition Analysis

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  The track is characterised as a psychedelic folk ballad. It represented Bowie's new interest in acoustic music since joining the experimental trio Feathers. Nicholas Pegg compared its style to the Bee Gees' 1967 single New York Mining Disaster 1941. The song includes minor chords and chorus structures similar to that earlier hit. Hutchinson later stated it was a Bee Gees type song. David knew it and said so at the time. The composition spans over five minutes with multiple distinct sections. It features a faded-in intro followed by a twelve-bar solo verse. A liftoff sequence leads into a duet verse before a bridge appears. An acoustic guitar break follows with a six-bar guitar solo. The third verse arrives then another bridge and outro fade. Although primarily in C major, the song uses various chord changes. The intro pairs F major seven slash E with E minor. The first verse alternates between C major and E minor. A D major chord plays on the line God's love be with you during the countdown. An E seven chord on the line really made the grade counteracts the overall key. The bridge contains a standard folk-style descending progression involving B major nine.

• 3. Recording Session History

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  Work began at Trident Studios in London on the 20th of June 1969. Mercury insisted the single be released the following month ahead of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Gus Dudgeon produced the session after Tony Visconti declined the role. Visconti saw it as a novelty record and a gimmick to cash in on the moonshot. Dudgeon hired bassist Herbie Flowers and drummer Terry Cox from the folk band Pentangle. Rick Wakeman recorded his part in two takes after hearing the demo once. He later said it was one of half a dozen occasions where it made the hair stand up on your neck. The session cost five hundred pounds. Dudgeon received one hundred pounds for his work on the two songs. Bowie played acoustic guitar and Stylophone while others handled strings and keyboards. Paul Buckmaster arranged an orchestra consisting of eight violins, two violas, two cellos, two arco basses, two flutes and an organ. Bowie fell ill with conjunctivitis and overdubs were completed a few days later. Dudgeon outlined a plan for the Stylophone parts by scribbling notes on paper. Wayne thought he had finished his guitar take early so he began retuning one of the strings. Dudgeon liked the warped effect and asked him to repeat it.

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• 4. Commercial Release And Reception

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  The song was released as a seven-inch single on the 11th of July 1969. Philips issued it in the UK while Mercury handled the US market. The label rush-released the single to capitalise on the Apollo 11 Moon mission which launched five days later. British television used it as background music for the landing itself. The BBC ceased playing it upon realising the dark lyrics until the crew safely returned home. In September 1969, it debuted at number forty-eight on the UK Singles Chart. Despite positive reviews from Disc and Music Echo and Melody Maker, the single initially failed to sell. Record World called it a blastoff set to music that is haunting and eerie. Ron Oberman wrote to American journalists describing it as one of the greatest recordings he had ever heard. Pitt attributed its poor performance to Oberman's use of the word controversial which caused radio bans. It peaked at number five in the UK by early November after TV appearances. RCA reissued it in North America on the 13th of December 1972 reaching number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100. This became Bowie's first hit single in the country. A UK reissue on the 26th of September 1975 became his first number-one single there.

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• 5. Major Tom Character Legacy

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  Bowie continued the story of Major Tom in the single Ashes to Ashes from Scary Monsters released in 1980. In this song, Major Tom is described as a junkie strung out in heaven's high hitting an all time low. The track has been interpreted as Bowie's confrontation of past drug addiction struggles. He used those struggles as a metaphor for Major Tom becoming a drug addict. The music video reused visual elements from the December 1979 television performance of Space Oddity. Major Tom was revisited again in the 1996 Pet Shop Boys remix of Hallo Spaceboy. Neil Tennant informed Bowie he would be adding Space Oddity-related lines to the remix. Although Bowie was hesitant at first, he accepted the lines reading Ground to Major bye-bye Tom. Major Tom may have influenced the music video for Blackstar released in 2016. Director Johan Renck later said it was one hundred percent Major Tom to him. The video depicts a woman discovering a dead astronaut and taking his jewel-encrusted skull to an ancient town. That cites an interview which was only available in the UK on the date of access.

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• 6. Cultural Impact And Covers

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  Chris Hadfield recorded a version while stationed on the International Space Station in May 2013. It became the first music video to be recorded in space. Hadfield sang and played guitar while floating around the station. Joe Corcoran produced and mixed the backing track with a piano arrangement by Emm Gryner. The lyrics were altered so Major Tom receives orders to land safely reflecting Hadfield's imminent return. The song mentions the Soyuz spacecraft that Hadfield travelled in. Bowie's social media team called the cover possibly the most poignant version ever created. The official video went offline when its one-year licence expired on the 13th of May 2014 despite Bowie's wishes. It was restored to YouTube on the 2nd of November 2014 with a two-year agreement. The Langley Schools Music Project recorded a sixty-voice choir version in the late 1970s. Bowie said the backing arrangement is astounding coupled with the earnest if lugubrious vocal performance. The song appeared in films like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty directed by Ben Stiller. Stiller said the way it fits into the story got to this point where fantasy and reality come together for Walter.

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