First Time Analyzing David Bowie - It Ain't Labyrinth!!! Vocal ANALYSIS of "Space Oddity"
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ต.ค. 2023
- Outside of Labyrinth, I know nothing about David Bowie, nor how absolutely iconic he was in the music scene. When I heard that "Space Oddity" coincided with the Apollo 11 moon landing, that just made me super giddy! Time to shatter my childhood illusions!
Join professional opera singer Elizabeth Zharoff, as she listens to David Bowie for the first time, performing "Space Oddity”.
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Written and Performed by David Bowie
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I definitely recommend watching the original video without interruptions. Here's the link: • David Bowie - Space Od...
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Elizabeth Zharoff is an international opera singer and voice coach, with 3 degrees in voice, opera, and music production. She's performed in 18 languages throughout major venues in Europe, America, and Asia. Currently based somewhere between Los Angeles and Tucson, Arizona, Elizabeth spends her days researching voice, singing, teaching, writing music, and recording TONS. She also plays Diablo and Dungeons & Dragons.
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Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
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My favorite thing about this song is that when astronaut Chris Hadfield sang it, in space, David Bowie responded by calling it the most poignant version of the song ever done.
Oof. That memory hits me in the feels. How I miss David Bowie.
Also loved all the Portuguese (I believe it was) covers in Life Aquatic
There’s also a nice version in ‘Secret Life of Walter Mitty’, where it is sung to him and symbolizes his call to adventure.
@@ScottSpenceNoneTheRicher it is Portuguese! By a Brazilian singer called Seu Jorge
Nice 😊
The major thing to keep in mind about David Bowie is that there is not one Bowie, there are at least half a dozen incarnations of him between, Space Oddity and Blackstar. The man is a piece of art.
That said, more Bowie please, a lot more :)
"Yeah, I like Bowie"
"Which Bowie?"
"Umm.... 70's Bowie?"
"Okay, but which 70's Bowie?"
😁
"Teenage Wildlife" (1980) would've been the perfect song for a reaction from a vocal coach. He used every vocal technique I can think of.
I always had Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) as one of my favourites.
He was a Renaissance Human, one of the few true examples.
Sort of like saying, "I like Picasso." Great artists know how to stretch their boundaries!
I think everyone understands that Bowie was a genius, but even at that I still feel that he is underrated. he was truly out of this world over his entire career.
The fact this song was recorded in 1969 is freaking mind-blowing
He was the man who fell to Earth...
I'm not a big fan of using the term genius with Bowie. He was very intelligent and well read no doubt, a great musician sure, but he was an artist in the purest sense of the word. He was never afraid to explore ideas and reinvent the ordinary into the extraordinary, and was so incredibly self aware and genuine in his work and life.
The world needs a Bowie now more than ever. Miss you star man x
He was the only person I idolised as a teenager in the 80’s
I think him and Prince were the most musically gifted artists ever.
Bowie's "Life on Mars" is probably one of the greatest songs every written. It's definitely up there in the top 10.
And the best video, if you get an opportunity to see a good reproduction of it (as I did as part of the touring exhibition about 10 years ago)!
I'm sure you've gotten many comments telling you that this or that artist requires a deep dive. I think that's almost an understatement for David Bowie. He combines a very long career with constant, sometimes radical changes. No matter what musical taste a person may have, he or she can find something somewhere in his catalog that they love.
He may not have been the most talented singer, instrumentalist or song writer, but when your very good at all of those things and have possibly the best taste in music that has ever existed (except maybe the Tin Machine era) you have one of the greatest and most eclectic discographies in music history.
Well said! I don't think anyone in pop music history successfully reinvented themselves as many times as Bowie.
Agree 100%!
I agree wholeheartedly... Except, of course, for the seemingly dismissive line about Tin Machine ; )
Love Tin Machine.
Deisel-punk noise guitar
for the win!
Bowie was one of the most talented people to ever walk the earth, and that isn't an exaggeration. He could sing, write, act, and perform at the highest levels. His Life on Mars may be my favorite song of all time, which is saying something because you literally could do an entire YEAR of reactions with just his music catalog. Let's also not forget the hit songs he wrote for other artists, his influence on the fashion industry, and his acting career.
I know everybody loves Bowie, but even at that I still don't think he gets the recognition and respect he deserves. A consummate artist.
LOM is one of my favs as well, so many great songs.
This song is a masterpiece, one of my top 5 all time favorite songs. Just a thought: could you listen to the whole song first, then go back and break it down and analyze it. Your audience will listen to your response. ❤
The only person that comes close, currently, is REN! Not in style, obviously, there’s only EVER going to be one David Bowie, but in breadth of talent, lyrical and musical skill, acting producing and charismatic impact, and how unique he is. They are both unique artists and I’m not comparing them, that’d be pointless, but their individual abilities are immense.
@@hazmania Don't offend other talented artists by saying that Ren is the only one, I think that everyone can name at least one other equally talented ツ
Keyboards on this track were played by Rick Wakeman, most known for his playing in "Yes". The amazing textures that Wakeman adds are really astounding for 1969.
My car in high school in the early 80’s had a speaker out. I used to listen to this repeatedly on a cassette tape. Because of the hard panning of his vocal parts I only would hear Bowie singing the harmony part so I would sing the lead part as I drove. It was great.
That's so fun!😂
That’s amazing.. it probably sounds weird to hear it the usual way.. neat story!❤
The same thing happened to me. Sometimes my 8-track tapes wouldn't be positioned in the player just right and I'd get the effect you describe. And when that happened on this song, I harmonized with him, too.
Exactly!! Same situation. ❤
I had the same situation with my parents old basement stereo where I firsr listened to Dark Side of the Moon. So much hard panning
That sudden shift where “hear” becomes recontextualised as “here” is one of the most spine tingling moments in pop, and a brilliant bit of lyric writing.
Yep, we get the visual imagery of the worried technicians sitting in front of monitors, smoking too many cigarettes, hoping beyond hope that Major Tom replies to their insistent calls and then Major Tom comes into view on hear/here. He is spinning out of control and the capsule is now beyond the Moon, but he doesn't seem frigthened knowing that he is facing certain death. Major Tom seems to be taking it all in stride and accepting the consequences of his misadventure. God speed Major Tom.
Agreed.
@@thomast8539Yeah, I really love the storytelling of this song. The first time we hear, "I'm floating in my tin can; far above the world. Planet earth is blue, and there's nothing I can do." The tone sounds like Major Tom is saying this in a way that elicits wonder. The second time we hear this it's after the circuit being dead, and the tone shifts from one that elicits hopelessness.
That shift is amazing! That one word becomes a bridge between-literally-two worlds.
Elizabeth, if you really didn't know Bowie could do things like this then you really need to dive deeper into Bowie's catalogue, there are sooooo many facets to his music. glam, soul, hard rock. pop and experimental, he did it ALL"
Don't forget all his collaborations with other artists... one of my favorites is with Queen in Under Pressure
@@nickdanger4568 Absolutely! Two of the greatest voices in rock playing off each other brilliantly, with Queen supplying the instumentals, particularly John Deacon's immortal bass riff supporting it all. Does music get any better than that?
Bing Crosby collaboration was a surprise. @@nickdanger4568
@@nickdanger4568 His collaboration with Mick Jagger, however, most of us wish we could forget.
@@turdferguson2526The dance is iconic in the videoclip 😅
David's "Ziggy Stardust" album has always been on my top 10 albums of all time. From the first time I heard the album in the early 70's to today I still love every single song on the album. Mick Ronson's guitar work is Top Shelf !
David Bowie is the singer.
This song, just as it is and not overthinking , is simply about an astronaut who dies in space. He only uses the words he needs to, to tell the story. His voice and the music creates an ambiance of sadness somehow even when you have no idea where it's going. I tear up every time I hear it. David took his own path in his music. He was spectacular.❤
Ziggy Stardust is my absolute favorite piece of art that I’ve ever encountered. It’s magnificent.
Ronson's guitar on that album was transcendent.
@@TheGameKat Yes, perhaps. I'd say that idea is imaginable and feasibly viable yet potentially probable and conceivable.
The emotional element i have always felt while listening to this song, even as a child, is loneliness. My mother said that as a toddler, i would cry when this was played by my older sister.
Love David. Thankz Elizabeth!
Yes my son would cry at age 2 long before he probably understood all the lyrics. The tone and emotion hit him hard. I had to stop playing music for a while it just tore his little heart up.
Maybe, just maybe there are fnords in the lyrics, as mightbe some expierences with drug consumitation?
(At least, you can interprete the text like tihs.)
David Bowie has some of the most beautiful songs I ever heard. I would literally close my eyes and would envision a whole movie playing in my head. “Memories of a free festival” is my personal favorite from him. “Ziggy stardust”, “life on mars”, “star man”, “the man who sold the world”. the list goes on 🔥🔥🔥
I agree! David Bowie is such an icon in his unique and incredible artistic talent. And I watched this with my youngest daughter, who will be 3 in December and she kept dancing around and when Elizabeth would pause, my kiddo would shout "More song!" Haha. So I love that my mini me is also a Bowie fan already! Much like when I was a kid, we ALWAYS have music playing. Her dad is a bassist and my dream is vocals (though I'm not very good after I got butchered during a tonsillectomy (I'm dying to take a course with Elizabeth to strengthen my vocals!) but she surrounded by the passion and love so it's not new for her to get into music but the last few months she's really shown a love for certain songs and artists more than others. It makes me excited as a mom and a music lover!
This was literally before music videos. They'd make a video of someone singing, or a band, but MTV didn't even go online until 1980. The video of Oddity was done 2 years after the song. There were those writers who's music just seemed like a movie.. you immediately "saw things". David was like that. You could see all of the characters in his music
Ziggy Stardust, starman and suffragette city.
@@epistte exactly.
Yeah his early stuff was very very highly influenced by the storytelling of Jacques Brel. If you're familiar with him, then so much of Bowie's early work comes into focus in a whole new way
You can hear David Bowie and Freddie Mercury together in Under Pressure, a real treat to say the least. You are going to enjoy listening to more of Bowie's work, he was an astonishing artist.
No please not.
@@rocketrabble6737 *hint: You don't have to click. Problem solved. 👍
I rather like station to station.
They never sang together .. editing
I never thought about how the end of that song really feels like it works with the narrative. He’s basically lost in space and everything is become dissonant. She’s so good with her analysis. I don’t know why I’m so hooked on these types of videos, but it just makes me appreciate the smaller details of these master works more than I already did. Great video.
i’ve honestly been hooked ever since her analysis of freak on a leash. it made sense of things i’d never been able to put into words before because i don’t have that level of knowledge toward music. i don’t normally watch reaction videos but hers and her genuine surprise and love of artists i’ve always loved really gets me in the feels.
I watched this performance on live television back in the early 1970's. It was and still is considered a rare and a groundbreaking performance. This was a dozen years before MTV.
David Bowie wasn't just a musician, he was a performance artist. He was simply unique, incredibly talented and so different than anyone else.
Also, a Canadian astronaut named Chris Hadfield sang this song with his acoustic guitar from the international space station and did a very good job of it. David Bowie even liked it.
David gave Chris a time limit for the song to be on TH-cam, and then just before he dies he granted ?Chris unlimited time for his cover. Chris filmed the video on the International Space Station.
Bowie was a cool dude, he liked Nirvana's cover of man who sold the world as well/
I actually like Colonel Chris Hatfield’s version the best, not necessarily because it was the best sung, it was really good in that regard though. But come on! The dude was singing it in space, in zero gravity, in a glorified tin can! I think it’s going to be a damn long time before (no pun intended) we will see staging that great again!
Yeah, that is the science nerd in me trumping the music lover!
He also changed one line, "Planet Earth is blue, and there's nothing left to do", because he was leaving ISS shortly and returning to Earth.
@@MrGonq He liked the cover but he HATED young fans coming up to him after a concert and telling him how cool he was for covering Nirvana.
I've known this song my entire life and every single time I hear it I get goosebumps. It is so emotional.
Same
It is!
I’d literally just paused the video to comment “goosebumps”. Few songs do that so reliably to me.
When you consider that Bowie had a 3 1/2 octave range he is holding his voice in close here for effect. He is trying to capture the feeling of someone in a spacesuit coming in over a radio.
Bowie didnt die, he just got back home.
One in billion.
In a way, he became part of all of us.
This has a sister song written many years later (from the album, Scary Monsters & Super Creeps, 1980) called, Ashes to Ashes, which gives a lot of fresh context to the metaphorical meaning of this song. For me this song (and Ashes) is about Bowie losing control and autonomy to addiction. Major Tom reappears in Ashes to Ashes and the video that accompanies it was an artistic undertaking that heralded in the 1980s and all that that decade would come to represent.
And the Blackstar video features a dead astronaut with a skull encrusted with jewels, the end of Major Tom and an announcement of Bowie's own death.
Both songs are just heartbreaking.
There is something that i can explain that just kills me everytime.
Don’t forget “Hallo Spaceboy” from the album Reality.
…. and don’t forget Loving The Alien, too!
This song and Ashes to Ashes were Bowie's first and second UK no 1 singles.
Come Christmastime, you should do an analysis of David Bowie with Bing Crosby doing "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth". One of the greatest duets ever.
Best Christmas song .
YESSSSSSS
Bowie shocked the older generation when singing with Bing as he not only held his own he actually surpassed the great Bing on this duet.
from Japan. Space Oddity is one of my favorite songs that I first heard about 50 years ago and still listen to it to this day.
I'm very grateful that people still give this a positive review. Good things last forever!
David Bowie loves Japan and has lived there for a long time. He also likes his shy and serious personality. thank you.
I saw David Bowie live in Detroit in 1972. He was in his Ziggy Stardust persona. When he did this song 2001 Space Oditty, he came out on a cherry picker riding in its platform and the arm extended out and above the audience, who went wild trying to jump up and touch him. What a theatrical performance and performer he is. It was extraordinary. It’s been over five decades and I’ll never forget it.
One of Bowie’s great (and unexpected) performances was on a Christmas TV special when he sung "The Little Drummer Boy" as a duet with Bing Crosby. Unique.
My all time favorite Christmas song ❤
Still makes me cry every time I see it. I wish there were a better quality print available. The film capture is dismal.
I came here to say this too ❤️
Until that recording, Bing Crosby had no idea who David Bowie was.
Anyway, their voices went together so well in that song.
What I particularly love about 'The Charismatic Voice' is how after you analyze a song that I have been enjoying for decades I can listen to it anew. Appreciate it in ways I have not before. That is a kind of magic. Thank you!
Yes, there is indeed some of that. And yet, I got the strong sense she didn't understand what became of Major Tom. Even people who do 7 minute reactions to the song tend to get at the end that he's a goner. I wish she would spend more time trying to breakdown the lyrics.
I wish she didnt pause so many times...@@Cosmo-Kramer
@@pulpman1970 Agreed. She should play it all the way through first, or with just one or two very brief pauses, so she can properly experience the song. Then when it's over, go back and do her thorough breakdown.
@@Cosmo-KramerExcept then she would get slammed with a copyright violation. The reactors don't pause songs just because they want to talk - they have to.
@@shartheheretic Many reactors do just fine without ever pausing. But I understand the risk, dummy, so that's why I recommended doing 1 or 2 brief pauses, and then when the song's over, go back and do her thorough breakdown.
My dad once said “He can tell a story with his voice” and that always stuck with me. Bowie was a beautiful storyteller with timbre.
My uncle who just passed away use to play this on his acoustic guitar when I was I a young lad (late 70’s) it will always be my fav Bowie song
Bowie is an artist that spent 60 years reinventing himself all the time. He's done everything from folk to disco space rock to soul to industrial metal to avant garde. He can't be nailed down.
You should take a listen to Astronaut Chris Hadfield's version of this song, which he sung in orbit, on the international space station, and Bowie himself called the best version of this song. It's not got most of the fun production choices, partially because it was sung between designated work hours on the station, and was sung with just acoustic guitar. But its a fascinating and very good version.
Best cover ever of this song!
David Bowie is an artistic genius on multiple levels - from LADY GRINNING SOUL, to WIN, SWEET THING to BREAKING GLASS, endlessly incredible variation in every way imaginable- don’t just do the hits. There is so much more!
At the Smithsonian in D.C./air and space you can actually get up close and look inside the early space capsules. As a lover of all things space I was excited to look inside. I was shocked to see how tiny, how close everything was. I had sort of a physical reaction to it all I could not imagine how a person could squeeze in there without absolutely panicking when they closed the “door”. When I listen to this song I somehow feel that panic. And I don’t think you could feel more alone and vulnerable than in a space walk. This is a fascinating piece of music when you really think about the subject.
This is just one of David's songs, that can make me cry now that he is gone. His entire catalog is just like this: vast, sensitive and truly unique. My heart broke when he passed a way, he is very missed. I play him nearly everyday. You can do that, because no matter what mood your in, you will find music in his catalog that fits. Such a blessing to us and I hope you continue to pour through his work. Enjoy! 💜
He deserves to be played and listened to, he would have wanted you to feel thought.
I cannot even imagine being able to discover Bowie for the first time again. There is so much to explore. I've listened to some of his songs literally hundreds of times and I just never get tired of them. Moonage Daydream, Five Years, Panic in Detroit, Ashes to Ashes, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Changes, Oh You Pretty Things...and so many more. Musician, poet, artist, one of a kind genius.
Please listen to it all. You are so lucky.
I pretend I'm introducing songs to some non present person. Could be an ancestor,or someone I'd like to share the experience with. I imagine hearing it from their perspective, for the first time.
Nice pull on “Five Years”. Great song.
Great take and I agree completely. Few artists or bands have such a long catalog of fantastic songs in different genres and styles. As mentioned, the list can be extended almost to infinity; Ziggy stardust, Heroes, Life on Mars, Aladdin Sane, Fashion, Queen bitch, Wild is the wind, Scary monsters, Rock ‘n roll suicide, Starman, Time, and so many more…
I don't see many requests for it but I would love to see you analyze Portishead's Beth Gibbons voice. Roads and Glory Box are two in particular. Beth's voice is haunting, delicate, and unique.
Oh, yes. Good call.
Yes!!!! I love her
I think she has done an analysis of Portishead .
@@MrStacy1974 Ive searched high and low and cant find anything. Hopefully she tackles it in the future! I would love to see what her reaction is!
Essential. Required.
This is why everyone had big stereo systems back in the 60's and 70's! The songs were so amazing!
Thoughtful ... emotional ... human ... humane ... David Bowie was one of the most incredible people to ever live. His songs are wonderful ❤
I've never listened to another artist who's made me double-take so often: "Wait, this is the same person? WHAT?!" Thank you for finally getting to Bowie, it's an experience for sure.
"Ethereal" is always the word I use when describing this song. Bowie was unique, in songwriting, voacals and performance delivery. Legend.
Oh great. A Bowie reaction.
Every time I hear Bowie, I am forced to spend at least a week nonstop listening to his entire catalog. It really takes a bunch of my time, but I am powerless to resist.
The production is so inventive and artistic, it’s not even that he was that great a singer, but he was constantly experimenting with how music is made, and he was totally unique and irreplaceable.
The things Bowie could do with his voice are mind-blowing. He could modulate his voice to achieve the right effect for the lyric, and possessed an incredible vibrato. He was, as Lou Reed pointed out, the greatest of all the "Rock" singers.
If you really want your mind blown check our his vocals on 'Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing' reprise, or 'Lady Grinning Soul', or, arguably his finest vocal ever, 'Wild is the Wind'. His producers have remarked how he completed them in one take, too. which is unheard of. His five-part harmony at the end of Lou Reed's 'Satellite of Love' is breathtaking.
Sadly, you will not get the chance to see him live. I was lucky, and I had goosebumps for most of the show and left speechless. He could just stand there and sing, and you couldn't look away. Pure genius and artistry all in one.
I adore the "hear / here" transition.
"Can you hear me, Major Tom? Can you hear me, Major Tom? Can you hear... / ...here am I floating in my tin can, far above the world"
The juxtaposition of Ground Control panicking, against Major Tom just floating serenely in silent space. Pivoting the transition on the homophone of "hear / here", so both characters utter the same word for a seamless transition.
Of course, it'd be remiss not to mention the subtext (which Bowie himself references in the later classic "Ashes to Ashes" that "we know Major Tom's a junkie"). There is the superficial space story, but there's also the underlying metaphor of drug abuse. Major Tom's in his own world, floating away from reality. High as a kite. "Ground Control" - reality and other people - trying to get through to him, but he's floating off into his own drug-addled world, divorced and separated from it. Major Tom is very much a "space cadet", you see.
When stereo sound was first introduced, often producers really had no idea how to best utilize the technology. The first mixes of The Beatles albums for example would have different instruments in each channel with little or no crossover. This was a fantastic use of stereo separation. You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned events happening simultaneously yet separately. Bowie is the absolute best of all time.
One could argue that the panning was used to create the illusion of the radio transmission distance between Major Tom and Ground Control with Major Tom being isolated in the space ship and ground control existing as a radio signal on earth. And I agree that stereo separation was a bit of a novelty but stereo was fairly well established in 1969 so I believe this use was very intentional.
There are a bunch of recordings from that era where I wish they'd just stuck with mono recordings. I can't listen to them with headphones when the majority of the instruments are hard panned.
David Bowie's Heroes is one of my favourite songs of all-time. The production techniques used in that recording in Berlin were ground-breaking, in particular how the microphone spacing in the room led to its iconic vocal sound.
Heroes is one of my all time favourites too, possibly my favourite Bowie song (as if I could pick just one!), and the only song I can tolerate using as an alarm to wake up to!
Love Heroes!!!
All the Berlin stuff was ground breaking different ways.
We can thank Brian Eno for that record 😊
I had just watched that video before coming here to her analysis of Space Oddity. That version of Heros always lifts my spirits!
I adore your reactions and explanations. I've listened to and loved many of these songs for decades and you bring me a whole new level of delight!
Thank you for helping me better appreciate songs I've always liked but didn't necessarily love or put into my personal music rotation. I love hearing all this great music for the first time again, vicariously through the Charismatic Voice!
My personal music rotation has tripled in size the last 3-4 yrs because of this channel.
Thanks again Elizabeth!!
More David Bowie please! The music he left us with is a treasure.
Bowie wrote this after seeing the 1968 Stanley Kubrick movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. "Space Oddity" is a play on the phrase "Space Odyssey," although 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. Source: Songfacts
Its also a metaphor
And from wiki: "Bowie said, "I went stoned out of my mind to see the movie and it really freaked me out, especially the trip passage"."
I also first saw 2001 high on LSD at age 14, but did not turn the experience into a great pop hit...
I'm also a fan of Chris Hadfield's version of this song from the ISS.
@@fredkrissman6527 Yeah, I read that also.
I always thought that part of the storyline was based on the Apollo 13 mission, and what would happen if there was an incident where the astronaut wasn't able to get back to Earth.
Planet Earth is bluer than ever David.... Thanks for leaving behind your art for us to escape to! RIP🤘
It's actually part of a trilogy of songs - Space Oddity / Ashes to Ashes / Blackstar... Covering almost half a century of utter, utter genius. I can't listen to this song without weeping.
Yup. Bowie does that to us. Time & time again.
Rick Wakeman on Mellotron. Bowie had acquired one but nobody could get to grips with it. Then someone said they knew of someone who could play anything with keys. If I remember right Wakeman’s session fee for the album was £8. He’s put up videos of himself playing Bowie’s music on grand piano and describing him as a genius.
Rick Wakeman talks about his friendship with Bowie throughout the years. Another song RW worked on as a session player was Kung Fu Fighting
Rick put a lot of work into "Morning Has Broken" for Cat Stevens. He got £10 and no credit on the album. It's a legendary arrangement though.
@@SuperNevile That backfired when Stevens wanted to perform it live and Wakeman wouldn’t say what he’d played. I enjoyed his story about that almost as much as him telling about buying a horse from the Queen Mother.
i had the great honour of working with rick wakeman on his Piano portraits tour and few small projects afterwards. as well as being a truly lovely dude i remember him telling me about working with bowie on this track and he nothing but the most awesome things to say about him. one of the most striking things was that bowie (despite some producers) didn't care about how 'possible' it was to perform live, he just wanted to do everything he could to make the listener feel like they where living the story, like they where actually in space. to add to the awesomeness (of being two degrees separated from bowie) i also got to work with some old rollingstone journalists and photographers who also spoke about Bowie and show me some of the archive picture they had of him and all had nothing but nice things to say and that he always refused to compromise on who he was. for example one told me a story of one day when they where doing a project and he had just come up with the Ziggy stardust persona they went to a downtown london pub around lunchtime and it was full of Up tight suit wearing bankers etc. bowie in full ziggy makeup and outfit cause a huge stir (such open 'oddness' and as they described it 'gayness') and was not appreciated by some. so in response he just acted camper and told them all to 'fuck off'. a real icon
Rick Wakeman seems to LOVE to talk about Bowie and especially Life on Mars. It's always so much fun to watch.
David Bowie is going to blow your mind. I am so looking forward to watching it happen.
I’m new to your channel, and you are causing me to listen to music I’ve known since childhood in whole new ways. Thank you for reawakening my love for this music.
This was SO LOVELY, thank you ever so much for doing this. I will recommend this to all my music students, and to anyone else I think of as special in my life.
One of my absolute favorite Christmas songs is the duet David and Bing Crosby did - Peace On Earth and Little Drummer Boy. Done just before Bing passed, he never got to see it televised. Bing was having some serious Alzheimers/Dementia issues at that time, and yet pulled it off with absolute clarity. I hope you consider it for your list of Christmas songs this year.
It's a beautiful duet. Right at the very top of my Christmas favorites. It's also the only rendition of Little Drummer Boy I tolerate because every other recording of it I hear just makes the inane repetition of the snare drum intolerable. The addition of the counter-melody, the pleasant mix of their otherwise very different vocal styles, range and sound... it's just wonderful.
I agree. It almost didn't happen at all, because Bing and David both thought it was a bad idea. I'm so glad they went through with it!
It was a cultural landmark.
A Christmas favorite in my house!
Agreed. One of my favourites.
Astronaut Chris Hadfield brought a guitar to the international space station and recorded a great version of this in space. Apparently David Bowie liked it too. It's on TH-cam and definitely worth a watch!
For me personally, this song is like THE anthem for humanitys strive into space. Bowie just perfectly encapsulates all the longing and wonder that we feel
One of the most talented artist of all time & will be missed,there will never be another person like him
Bing Crosby and David Bowie doing "Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy" has been something I listen to every christmas and would love to see you react to this coming season.
Good call! I love that piece!
That was my exact thought, too. Brilliantly sung by both of them!
They both hated it.
Bing expected Bowie to be a secondary on his song, and Bowie was expecting to be a full partner.
My all time favorite Xmas song... really the only one I can stand listening to. It's beautiful.
Bowie!! Finally! Your exploration of this legendary Rock God has been highly anticipated by me! Bowie's musical genius is truly unparalleled, and delving into his artistry is like embarking on a magical journey through time and sound. Bowie remains an irreplaceable icon. Get ready to be captivated by the enigmatic charm and unparalleled musical brilliance of David Bowie. Please don't stop with Space Oddity!
He released the individual tracks for this song about a decade ago, so fans could actually remix the entire song. Bass and Drums were together, but for its 40th anniversary or something...he gave it to fans to have the opportunity to create their own mixes and masters, that, to me shows just what an absolute legend he was...
I love him so much ❤
I cried and cried when he passed, I miss him!
They were the original 8-track studio master. You can hear how the producer had bounced tracks to make room on others.
I love this song. I have listened to this so many times over the years, it was so cool to watch your reaction to this beautiful, haunting melody for the first time.
David Bowie is one of the most interesting musicians of all time. His constant reinventions of persona led to some very different and distinct musical eras, and they’re all pretty amazing. He was one of the few major rock stars who kept things interesting for his entire career. And from a vocal perspective, those different eras reveal so many interesting changes over the years. He was a true gift to music.
Mick Ronson did a lot of the orchestration and arranging on the early Bowie songs. He also provided the harmonies in the songs as well as playing guitar. He never got credit for his contributions, which were key to Bowie's early success.
Mick Ronson doesn't play in this song
Great listen thru / analysis. I must’ve heard this song 1000 times, but this was definitely the first time for a really deep listen. I really appreciated the things you picked out about his voice, the humanity of his storytelling, the instrumentation and arrangement, and even the details of the mix. Bravo.
one of your best analysis, I think. this song is amazing and can really turn on emotions, thoughts and sensations through sound.
You really need to hear Ashes To Ashes after this. I think of it much like a sequel and it explains some of the meaning behind this song. Then I think there is a third part in his last album, but can't remember the title.
I came here to say this it should be the next on the reviews of Bowie. Ashes to Ashes changed my view on music and this new medium called "Videos". Pure performance art. Seeing the costumes in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame blew me away. It is this song that I think of when I think of him. What a talent he was.
Ditto, Ashes to Ashes is a must follow up.
You’re thinking of Blackstar (especially with the video).
Absolutely. It's a very personal reflection on his life, and incredibly haunting to hear the three together. I swear, the man knew the hour of his death, as Blackstar almost seems to announce it. Only one other artist has done this, that can recall, Johnny Cash with his remake of 'Hurt'.
@@DavidMiller-dt8mx Bowie did know he was dying; he was suffering from cancer when he made Blackstar. The single for Blackstar was released a couple of months before he died. The album was released on his birthday. He died two days after his birthday.
OMG, it's so hard to think you hadn't heard the magnificent Bowie before - how does that even happen? One of the most significant figures ever in rock music? So much to discover.
Thank you Elizabeth for explaining what I'm hearing , I've never thought about it before and having your experience and ear made this absolutely wonderful.thank you keep up the great work.
To appreciate David Bowie, one must really explore a large portion of his discography. The Ziggy Stardust era is very different than Labyrinth (as you note), but the collaborations with Queen and Mick Jagger are also very different and then again the 80s versus the 90s versus the 2000. Bowie made music right up to his death. Please consider analyze more of his music. It is so worth. Heck even his duet with Bing Crosby on Little Drummer Boy is fun.
Adding a significant amount of color, depth and texture to this song is the presence of the Mellotron: In essence, a keyboard-triggered tape player. The Mellotron had an individual tape that was triggered by each individual key (the M400 model had 35 keys, so 35 tapes), and on the tapes were recordings of various sounds: Strings, choir, brass, sound effects, etc. These tapes fit in a frame inside the shell of the instrument and could be swapped out for different sounds in just a few minutes. The Mellotron on the recording was played by none other than a young Rick Wakeman, prior to his joining Yes. Rick arranged the beautiful string section that evokes such tension and release ("This is Major Tom to Ground Control, I'm stepping through the door...."). Mike Pinder of The Moody Blues used the Mellotron constantly ("Question" from 'A Question of Balance" is a great example); Genesis ("Watcher of the Skies"), King Crimson ("In the Court of the Crimson King", "Starless"), Yes (of course), the Beatles ("Strawberry Fields"), etc. A very unique instrument as the tapes would wow and flutter a bit with each playing---which could only sustain for 8 seconds---and, by doing so, gave the Mellotron a very distinctive sound.
The grandfather of sampling keyboards.
what about the stylophone?!
How is it used in Question? I always associate that instrument with Nights in White Satin.
@@TallyDrake Mellotron is featured prominently throughout "Question". It plays the melody of the song behind the Moody's vocals right from the start. To me, the best---and most dramatic---use of the Mellotron is during the center section of the piece: "I'm looking for someone to change my life........I'm looking for a miracle in my life..............and if you could see...etc.". The Mellotron provides the backing strings: Those beautiful, haunting, soul-crushing chords that evoke such emotion. IMHO, one of the finest examples of the instrument.
@@marcanglin7127 Cool. I always thought that was an orchestra playing.
As in the chat, let me put in a recommendation for Lazarus by David Bowie. It's the very last song he made, while terminally ill, knowing he had mere days left to live. I wonder how much of that E can hear back in his voice...
That last album is amazing
Never fails to make me cry
@@danielmartins8929 Good god the video for that....
I ain't too smart, but I remember when that single dropped it was pretty obvious. And then a week or two later he was gone. An amazing final statement.
Reaaallly really glad you did this!! David Bowie is basically the most fascinating artist of the 20th century, and I feel like that even sells him short of what an amazing mystic prolific multi-faceted artist he was. Would love to see more of him here!! Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, The Blind Prophet, the Thin White Duke, the Blackstar, that Americana era dunno if there's a "persona", but .... damn.
your knowledge & analysis of songs is amazing!
Life on Mars, Moonage Daydream, Lady Grinning Soul, Young Americans, Wild is the Wind and Heroes would all be great choices to showcase his wide range of styles from his early (pre-80's) career. You should follow up with Ashes to Ashes and then ⭐️(Blackstar) to complete the Major Tom triology. The videos are quite iconic as well
cat people, look back in anger... I was just thinking yesterday what a shame it is that there seems to be so few quality reactions to Bowie's songs.
Sweet thing , Aladin Sane..
@timonousiainen354 right? Bowie is a legend, his music and fashion styles are so diverse, there is an endless amount of great tracks to react to.
“Golden Years” might be the most interesting Bowie song to analyse from the point of view of vocal technique. It has everything in it from falsetto to a very deep vocal-fry-inflected growl.
It was Bowie's first big hit. It totally captured the mood in the 1960's. The countdown was becoming part of culture, but it was still new and fascinating, hence the 10-9-8-etc in the background. I remember everyone was playing it over and over.
Your watching sheer genius and talent never to be replicated. Decades later it is still lovely and mesmerizing.
Simply said, David (Bowie) Jones was a musical genius! Labyrinth is a great soundtrack, along with being a very entertaining movie! He would change music styles & band members about every 5 years. Saw him twice, 1975 & 1990! He is missed RIP!
I’ve been waiting for Bowie to appear on here for a long time! You’re in for a real treat exploring his catalogue. A true innovative genius. I think you would love many of his songs but one I think you’d especially enjoy is ‘Golden Years’.
I second the comment that there isn't just one David Bowie, he morphed into personalities, influenced by books, politics, life, etc. His voice only matured and got stronger as he aged. His legend will never be topped. I feel you are going to need to do a whole Bowie decade/genre/style playlist. David Bowie is a man that we shall never see again. Please, please review the rest of his catalogue. Blackstar is so much more heartbreaking when we found out he was dying of cancer when recording. RIP Dear David. We love you.
I adore your very sensitivy analysis of voices and music in general. Thank you.
I just love, love, LOVE this reaction. I've loved this song since it came out. Amazing song, and execution.
I think the reason songs from this time period so often used panning in a dramatic way is because at the time, STEREO was still a fairly new thing, and they were experimenting with it. Most of the music recorded in the 50's and before was Monoaural: one channel, all the music. Now with modern techniques you can basically have infinite channels to play with. In 1969 an 8 track recorder was the top of the heap as far as music tech went and Stereo was still a bit of a novelty.
True, even for the Beatles. Abbey Road was the only Beatles album to be recorded on an 8-track desk, and the only one where no mono mix was created. The fact that they recorded Sgt. Pepper on a 4-track is still mind-blowing.
Also I think they were typically targeting a mix for stereo speakers and not the much more isolated stereo headphones - two very different listening experiences.
And don't forget the next step after this in the 1970s was "surround sound" 4 channel playback with quadrophonic LP albums.
Quadrephenia by The Who
Listen to Simon and Garfunkle's Scarborough Fair on headphones - Paul in one ear, Art in the other
Space Oddity is one of those songs that has dozens of great covers, but none so far tops the one done by outstanding person Chris Hadfield on board of the ISS.
Even I did a piano cover of it for youtube. It is the best out of all the covers I did so far, I think. but of course no match for the original.
@@RodneyABrubaker If you had fun and you're happy with the result, then it is a GREAT cover.
Yeah, that's the first version of the song I'd ever heard when it was played in school and until this year I'd just assumed it to be the original.
Perfect analysis! I've never heard this song in that way! Fantastic!
As always, LOVED the review of this and I'm so glad that you covered some of Bowie. He was truely ahead of his time and a true artist and musical genious.
P.S. I love the headphone hair at the end!! haha
It never ceases to amaze me how insanely attuned Elizabeths ears are at picking up all of the minute nuances in a songs mix and the slight turns of a phrase mixed with an eye for how some videos will "mirror" the verbal sentiment. ❤
Yes, she really is amazing.
Impressive feat to only know the great David Bowie from Labyrinth. That sure is going to be a wild ride discovering more about the legend.
David Bowie not only ranged all the way from glam rock to hard rock and being at the foundations of grunge. He continuously reinvented his whole style and alter ego to fit his new music. He not only combined music with acting, he also designed his own outfits and choreographed his stages and music videos. He didn't just influence a small niche of artists and styles, he collaborated and sang duets with such varying greats as John Lennon, Cher, Bing Crosby, Queen, Iggy Pop, Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, The Pet Shop Boys, David Gilmour, Arcade Fire and Nine Inch Nails. To name but a few.
I also remember hearing Nirvana play "The man who sold the world" and being quite impressed by it and only some time later noticing Kurt Cobain say "That was a Bowie song". And many years later, having gotten to appreciate Bowie more and more, I hear the man sing his final songs with the breathlessness of an artist so committed to his work that he pants his final lyrics from his very death bed. Truly one of the very greatest.
Have fun discovering the ultimate chameleon of the arts.
On the topic of 'Space Oddity', I think the panning is also meant to get a feel of call and answer, as noticed with the panning from "Can you hear me, major Tom? Can you hear..." to "Here I am floating in my tin can...". In other words a general feeling of being lost and having the fabric of reality dissolving around you, as you are floating away in the endless expanses of space.
Haha I can understand it. I was brought up in a weird generation where just about every summer camp had us watch Labyrinth at some point. Maybe it's just the strange city I grew up in!
T'anks for this, I've been waiting for someone like you to get into this, I always had an idea there's more going on in this song than we heard on the surface, and "good headphones so much make a difference.
so Thanks again.
Your observation of the dynamic created by hard-panning the lead and harmonies and alternating with moving the lead into the center was really astute; there is the sense of the lead rushing in to fill a vacuum in the center of the soundstage - apropos for the lyrical content. Then flipping back to the wide-panned harmonies makes them exciting again. Likewise, the rising transition from the earnest folk-influenced delivery to the lush instrumental breaks has this sort of opening-out-to-something-bigger effect, reflecting what it would be like to "leave the capsule." In the first instrumental break it's huge and inspiring; the second break's chaos reflects the more dire circumstances, fading away into the blackness of space.
If Labyrinth is all you know of David Bowie you have quite a lot of astonishing surprises in store. His oeuvre is so varied and he was always developing his vocal performing skills. "Life on Mars?" from the early period is powerful and full of surprises. Most of the performances on the Ziggy Stardust album were pivotal for modern rock and roll. "Golden Years" and "Station to Station" later on are tours-de-force, though if you listen carefully to Golden Years you'll see he gets away with some really sloppy articulations (a descending run sort of collapses under its own weight). But then when you listen to the late-seventies albums Low, Lodger, and Heroes you will probably never be the same. The vocal performances on those are so varied and innovative you will be tempted to do a whole series on the trio. Likewise with the challenging and astonishing Scary Monsters that followed, and his final album Blackstar.
David Bowie truly is one of a kind. There are no other artists quite like him. I cannot wait for you to explore the wild vast catalog of his music
This song is actually a lot darker than it seems at first glance. "Major Tom" was slang for Heroin back in the day, and the song resolves with the astronaut saying goodbye and leaving the last link to humanity to succumb to the emptiness of space.
To me, early Bowie has a slight taste of Pink Floyd: the layering and isolation of sounds, time changes, the slow builds and crescendos...
the ability to transport the audience to somewhere far away.
No. You are thinking of Ashes to Ashes
Thank you - that was so informative! I’ve loved this song for about 45 years, and I learned new things about it today. 😊 I hope you do a deep dive into Bowie - this is the tip of the iceberg, and he’s always outstanding!
Elizabeth, your reaction is fantastic, especially for never having been immersed in Bowie’s music! I’ve been listening to and loving this song since it was released and still learned much from your analysis. You have to remember that space travel beyond the moon, and extra vehicular activities (spacewalks) were still theoretical when this was recorded. It was a visionary song then and remains so today.
So many amazing Bowie performances, but honestly I'd be most interested to hear your analysis of one of his final songs. Blackstar or Lazarus in particular, both of which were written and produced while he knew he had very little time left. Extremely emotional songs all over that last album of his.
I can't believe this is your first dive into the rock god that is David Bowie. This is the yard stick that all modern music should be measured by. You could do an entire album on this guy with the genius of everything from Ziggy Stardust to China Girl to Hallo Spaceboy. I believe he wrote this after watching 2001 A Space Oddesey and he easily gives off that space feeling in his words and music. Im certain you will get many requests to do another dive into his huge hit Heroes and i suggest the fantastic live version he did of it in 2002. Love the guy, love his work 😍👍
Listened to this song so many times, but your reaction and analysis gave me a brand new perspective. Thank you. And please consider more Bowie for your channel.
I love how he’s singing a duet (or harmonizing) with himself, and each part is panned hard to each side.
Headphones are a great way to listen.
And are you sure the lead is centered at times, or are to two vocal takes just in unison, doubled?
So much about this just sounds so ethereal.
Major Tom went to space and chose not to return to earth.
SOOOO much Bowie for you to hear. One of a kind.
Next Bowie reaction you should just pick ANY song at random from “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”