Actors - Rock 'n' Roll Suicide

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	Actors - Rock 'n' Roll Suicide

Rock 'n' Roll Suicide was a single by David Bowie. The track was originally the closing song on the The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
, detailing Ziggy’s final collapse as an old, washed-up rock star. As such, it was also the closing number of the Ziggy Stardust live show.

The lyrics "Time takes a cigarette..." have their roots in the poem "Chants Andalous" by Spanish poet Manuel Machado where he writes: "Life is a cigarette/Cinder, ash and fire/Some smoke it in a hurry/Others savour it." Bowie has also referred to its source as being Baudelaire.

RCA, impatient for new material (having already rush-released "Rebel Rebel" from the Diamond Dogs
sessions), apparently arbitrarily picked the song for single release. Considering its age, and the song being poorly suited to being a single, the release did well to reach twenty-two in the U.K. charts — Bowie's first RCA single to miss the British top-twenty since "Changes" in 1971.

Track listing

# "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" (Bowie) –2:57 # "Quicksand” (Bowie) –5:03

Production credits

Producers:
* Ken Scott

Musicians:
* David Bowie
: vocals, guitar
* Mick Ronson: guitar
* Trevor Bolder: bass
* Mick Woodmansey: drums

Live versions

Bowie played the song at the BBC show "Sounds of the 70s: Bob Harris" May 23 1972. This was broadcasted on June 19 1972 and in 2000 released on the album Bowie at the Beeb.
A live version recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 20 October 1972 was released on Santa Monica '72
.
The version played at the famous concert at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, July 3 1973 was released on Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture. In this version Bowie said those famous words before starting the song: "This is the last concert on this tour…in fact it's the last time we’re ever gonna play". This version also appeared in the Sound + Vision boxed set.
A recording from the 1974 tour was released on David Live
. Another live recording from the 1974 tour was released on the semi-legal A Portrait in Flesh.

Other releases

It was released as a picture disc in the RCA Life Time picture disc set.
It also appeared on the following compilations:
* The Best of David Bowie (Japan 1974)
* Best of Bowie
(RCA 1979)
* Bowie: The Singles 1969-1993 (1993)
* The Singles Collection (1993)
* The Best of 1969/1974 (1997)

Cover versions

The Bollock Sisters - Maxi-Single
Tally Brown
El Vez - G.I. Ay Ay! Blues and the A Lad from Spain? EP (1996)
Tony Hadley - David Bowie Songbook
Info Riot - Ashes to Ashes: a Tribute to David Bowie (1998)

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Rock 'n' Roll Suicide ]

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