Music Monday: Starman
The entertainment world is still reeling from the death of David Bowie on Sunday, January 10th at age 69. He had been battling cancer for 18 months. I can’t say I was ever (or am) a big Bowie fan, but he was one of those towering cultural figures who was always there. His songs were part of the backdrop to my 1970s and 1980s (Life on Mars, Changes, Ashes to Ashes, Fashion, Let’s Dance), and there were a couple of his songs that I would list as favorites. Indeed, in my teenage years, when my friend Nick and I played guitars and dreamed of pop stardom, the set list for our dream concert included a couple of David Bowie songs: Five Years, which was one of Nick’s favorites, and Starman, one of mine. So this song has special memories for me.
Starman was a late addition to Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust album in 1972, and was released as a single in April of that year reaching number 10 in the UK charts. The song is sung from the point of view of a kid who hears Ziggy’s message on the radio about an extraterrestrial “starman” who will come to bring salvation.
The song isn’t very complex, though there are a couple of quirky things to be aware of. First, the introduction chords sound a little odd, especially the first chord. It’s a Bb but with an E added (a Bb+4–Bb augmented 4th–perhaps?), which creates a strange dissonance. You can play this on the guitar using a normal Bb chord on the first fret but leaving the top E string open. On the recording this is followed by an Fmaj7 (keeping that E-note sounding) resolving to an F, then repeated. Second, the two chords just before the chorus are an A and a G, but over the G the piano plays A notes an octave apart in a morse code style. I’m tempted to add this A note on the guitar, making that G chord a Gadd2, but the guitar on the recording is playing a straight G.
Here’s the lyric and chord sheet for the song (click to enlarge):
Click here for a pdf of the lyric/chord sheet.
And here’s David and band playing the song live (or at least singing live) on television:
Nice idea suggesting we comment on others’ blogs while Her Sharkness is off sick.
Bowie was one of those included in my list of You Must Listen to At Least One Song. I liked his stuff, but wasn’t a rabid fan. I admired his film work more.
My daughters knew him as Jareth the Goblin King. We showed them a few more films a few years ago (Tesla, anyone?) and played some of his songs. They love anything with Major Tom.
That’s interesting–I’m probably least familiar with his film work. I know of films he was in, but I don’t know that I’ve seen many (if any) of them.
Thanks for stopping by, Heidi! 🙂
Colin, this is brilliant. I wanted to write something about Bowie, but could not manage it. He, Alan Rickman, and now Glenn Frey… This is priceless and thank you for sharing it. I am beyond impressed with your knowledge.
Also, thanks for publishing list of blogs on Janet’s blog. It is so much fun looking at these blogs. And my, you do write well. Get that WIP done, son. You’ll publish in a red-hot second (well, as seconds are measured in Carkoon anyhow.)