Actors - Space Oddity

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	Actors - Space Oddity

"Space Oddity" was David Bowie's first hit single. It is about the launch of Major Tom, a fictional astronaut who mysteriously becomes lost in Outer Space. Released in 1969 to coincide with the Apollo 11 moon landing, it appears on the album of the same title. The BBC featured the song in its television coverage of the lunar landing.

Narrative and content

"Space Oddity" is also a powerful narrative, echoing Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey
, released in 1968. The similarity in titles suggests that film was on Bowie's mind when he wrote it. The main character in the movie is called "David Bowman".

The song is often interpreted to be about self-destruction and estrangement from humanity. Major Tom's cryptic last message, "Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles / I'm feeling very still / And I think my spaceship knows which way to go / Tell my wife I love her very much, she knows", suggests that he is still alive and well and chooses to kill his circuit to ground control.

Bowie seems to confirm this interpretation with his 1980 follow up to "Space Oddity", "Ashes to Ashes", where Ground control eventually receives a message from Major Tom: "I'm happy, hope you're happy too". Drug users, specifically those who experiment with hallucinogens, find another meaning in the lyrics as well as the instrumentals. The song comes after Bowie's battle with drugs in the 1970s. In "Ashes to Ashes", Major Tom's communication failure could be reinterpreted as losing human contact due to drugs.

In an interview on VH1 Legends in 1997, the narrator and Bowie himself stated that the inspiration was his relationship with Hermione Farthingale, a woman who Bowie had deep feelings toward.

This narrative continues in rock music throughout the late 20th century, both in Bowie's own work and that of others. As well as the aforementioned "Ashes to Ashes", Elton John's "Rocket Man" seems to allude to Major Tom, though not by name. It tells of an unnamed astronaut who is lonely in space, who's "not the man they think I am at home". Bowie alludes to this analogy in a live performance of "Space Oddity" released on the David Bowie BBC Sessions 1969-1972, in which he sings, "I'm just a rocketman!" In 1983, the German pop singer Peter Schilling released his own take on the story, entitled "Major Tom". Bowie himself returned to the subject on 1995's 1.OUTSIDE
album with the song "Hallo Spaceboy," and a hit single remixed by The Pet Shop Boys even included disjointed lyrics from the original "Space Oddity".

Recording and release

Following Bowie's split from record label Deram, his manager Kenneth Pitt managed to negotiate a one-album deal (with options for a further one or two albums) with Mercury Records, and their UK subsidiary Phillips in 1969. Next he tried to find a producer. George Martin turned the project down, while Tony Visconti liked the album demo-tracks, but considered the planned lead-off single, "Space Oddity", a gimmick track, and delegated its production to Gus Dudgeon. An early version of the song had appeared in Bowie’s promotional film Love You Till Tuesday.

Following recording of a fresh version, the single was rush-released on July 11, 1969 to coincide with the Apollo 11 moon landings. In the UK, it was used in conjunction with the BBC’s coverage of the landing, and also promoted via adverts for the Stylophone, which featured on the record. This exposure finally gave Bowie a hit, reaching #5 in the chart. It failed to chart in America, however.

Ivan Mogol wrote Italian lyrics, and Bowie recorded a new vocal, releasing the single "Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola" ("Lonely Boy, Lonely Girl") in Italy, reportedly to take attention away from covers by the Italian bands Equipe 84 and The Computers.

The song was awarded the 1969 Ivor Novello Award, together with Peter Sarstedt's "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)".

The song became so well-known that Bowie’s second album, originally released as David Bowie in the UK (like his first album), was renamed after the track for its 1972 reissue by RCA, and has since become known by this name.

In December 1972, Mick Rock shot a film clip of Bowie performing the song during the sessions for Aladdin Sane
, which was used to promote the January 1973 US reissue on RCA, which reached #15 in the Billboard Chart. This was then used to support RCA’s 1975 UK reissue, which gave Bowie his first #1 single in November.

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