What sort of category does this song fall into? It’s like nothing you’ve ever heard before; I find it eccentric but strangely touching. I love the arrangement - the bass high in the mix, the backing singing complimenting the melody (‘dum do wah…’) and the way the saxophones underscore David Bowie’s fantastic voice on the rousing chorus ('His name was always Buddy').
With his found words technique (cutting up newspaper articles and juxtaposing random sentences) Bowie’s lyrics boldly carried the legacy of the Dadaists into the Seventies charts. The song makes no sense but the music is so strong and evocative that it doesn’t seem to need to.
I’m not sure if Bowie intended his lyrics to be funny but I often head e-mails to friends with obscure Bowie quotes to raise a chuckle and to test their memory of the great man’s lyrics. (‘Jung the foreman prayed at work’).
If you want to play this game with a fellow Bowie fan, I particularly recommend his song The Cygnet Committee - from the title on it’s a feast of hilarious surreal juxtapositions. Quotes like these evoke fond memories of that time in the Seventies when Bowie’s quirkiness represented a kind of crazy freedom to us.
Desert Island Discs
1 - Midnight At The Oasis
'Heaven’s Holding
a Half Moon’
2 - Drive-In Saturday
‘Jung the Foreman
Prayed at Work...’
3 - Virginia Plain
Make Me a Deal,
and Make it Straight!’
4 - Au Fond du Temple Saint
‘At the Back of
the Holy Temple’
5 - Kid
‘Angry Tears Are Too Dear,
You Won’t Let Them Go’
6 - Burning Down The House
‘Watch Out! You Might
Get What You’re After'
7 - Riders on the Storm
‘There’s a Killer on the Road’
8 - Across the Universe
'Words are Flowing Out
Like Endless Rain
into a Paper Cup'