| David Bowie - Starman Copyright - RCA Victor "Starman" is a single by David Bowie, released in April 1972. The song was a late addition to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, included at the insistence of RCA's Dennis Katz, who heard a demo and loved the track, believing it would make a great single.[1] It replaced the Chuck Berry cover "Round and Round" on the album.[ The lyrics describe Ziggy Stardust bringing a message of hope to Earth's youth through the radio, salvation by an alien 'Starman'. The story is told from the point of view of one of the youths who hears Ziggy. According to Bowie himself, speaking to William S. Burroughs for Rolling Stone magazine in 1973, Ziggy Stardust is not the Starman but merely his earthly messenger -- contrary to received opinion which often paints Ziggy as an extraterrestrial.[2] The song has inspired interpretations ranging from an allusion to the Second Coming of Christ,[3] to an accurate prediction of the plot for the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).[4] The music is in a gentle pop rock vein, featuring prominent acoustic guitar and a string arrangement by Mick Ronson, not dissimilar to the style of Bowie's previous album Hunky Dory (1971). The chorus is loosely based on Judy Garland's song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from the film The Wizard of Oz. Other influences cited for the track are the T. Rex songs "Telegram Sam" and "Hot Love" (the "boogie" references and "la la la" chorus) and ... |
