A Tribute To The Artist David Bowie…
I came across a great documentary celebrating David Bowie the other night, and then shortly afterwards an article about him as well and I was reminded of just how iconic he is to so many people.
Bowie died on January 10, 2016, at age 69 after a private 18-month battle with liver cancer. His death occurred just two days after his 69th birthday and the release of his final album, Blackstar, which was widely interpreted as a parting gift to fans…I wanted to share a few of my favorite Bowie songs, plus the wild story of his collaboration with Queen!
The True Story About A Brilliant Musical Mashup! David Bowie Sings With Freddie Mercury!
In looking back at David Bowie’s incredible career, there is one very unique song he wrote – or co-wrote that is! It’s one of music’s best-loved songs: Queen teaming up with Bowie for the classic “Under Pressure!”
It’s a song that was fueled by lots of wine and other substances – well, according to folklore…so just how did Bowie end up recording with Queen?
Here’s the story!
It All Began In Switzerland….
Doesn’t everything? Well, in this case, Queen had been working on the song – at the time called “Feel Like”, at a recording studio in Montreux, Switzerland. David Bowie was a friend and came by to sing backing vocals on another Queen song, “Cool Cat”…
They started jamming together on “Feel Like”, and they ended up with “Under Pressure!” As Queen Guitarist Brian May told Mojo magazine in October 2008:
“It was hard, because you had four very precocious boys and David, who was precocious enough for all of us. David took over the song lyrically. Looking back, it’s a great song but it should have been mixed differently. Freddie and David had a fierce battle over that. It’s a significant song because of David and its lyrical content.”
Here is a terrific, fan-created acapella mashup of the song, focusing on performances by each singer:
Author Mark Blake wrote a terrific biography called “Is This the Real Life?: The Untold Story of Freddie Mercury and Queen.” His book has a few more choice bits about the recording…
Blake writes that Bowie and Mercury “swap[ped] verses blind, which helped give the song its cut-and-paste feel.”
And stories abound that the band and Bowie enjoyed copious amounts of wine – and other substances while recording the song.
Brian May gives an in-depth look at every facet of the recording of the song, which he admits begins with a lot of wine at a local restaurant…but he also gives a lot of terrific insight about the creative process at work – which began when Guitarist John Deacon played 6 chords for Bowie:
“Ding-Ding-Ding Diddle Ing-Ding!”
Here is how May described what happened next:
“Suddenly hunger took over and we repaired to a local restaurant for food and a fair amount of drink. (Local Vaux wine as drunk in Montreux is a well-kept secret).
A couple or three hours later, we’re back in the studio. “What was that riff, you had, Deacy?” says David B. “I was like this”, says John Deacon.
“No it wasn’t, says Bowie – it was like this”.
This was a funny moment because I can just see DB going over and putting his hand on John’s fretting hand and stopping him.
It was also a tense moment because it could have gone either way.”
So Bowie’s interest in those 6 chords led to the recording of a masterpiece – and one of his most popular songs…
“Under Pressure” is considered one of Bowie’s greatest songs – and of course, Queen released it on their next album as well…
Here is the official Queen video:
David Bowie’s death caused an overwhelming outpouring from fans – and every single friend and fellow Artist praised his honesty, warmth and generosity…here is one of my favorite songs – the hauntingly dark “Diamond Dogs”, performed live with incredible energy in 1974:
One more to share: we all know that Bowie let his musical curiosity take him to different places, like when he knocked out a string of pop confections like “China Girl” from his 1983 smash album “Let’s Dance!”
And let’s not forget this unique collaboration – with the legendary crooner Bing Crosby!
This gorgeous holiday classic was partially written by Bowie after he arrived at the studio!
Here’s that story!
There are so many fascinating phases to his musical career. Here is a look at some more of the music he created that I loved most:
He also starred in a number of great movies, but perhaps my favorite is the erotic thriller “The Hunger”…
Queen also created an amazing amount of great music, and Freddie Mercury was a mad genius…here is a look at their masterpiece, “A Night At The Opera”:
There are so many classic songs from both Queen and Bowie…and Freddie sang one that paid tribute to the power of the radio! Here are more:
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Categories: 70's Music, Art, Classic Rock, Cult Movies, Memoirs, Music, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities
johnrieber 
this is a wonderful ode to bowie, he has really grown on my over the years
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Great tribute article, John. As you already know, I am a huge Bowie fan. My favourite song of his is still ‘Life On Mars’, which was about as close to a tiny rock opera as you could get back then. And it was from my favourite album of his, ‘Hunky Dory’. The week that was released, I bought a copy on the Friday and played it more or less non-stop all weekend. I was 19 years old, and I thought it was simply incredible.
Best wishes, Pete.
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