Hurrah for the 8th of January. "Why the 8th of January?" they chorused.
It's the birthday Of Elvis Presley and David Bowie of course. But as well as sharing the same date of birth there are several other Elvis/Bowie connections, here are 8 of them....
1) Bowie is quoted as saying "Elvis was a major hero of mine. I was probably stupid enough to believe that having the same birthday as him actually meant something."
2) Both had tragedies with their brothers - Elvis' twin Jesse, died at childbirth. Bowie's half-brother Terry, was a schizophrenic who committed suicide in 1985.
3) They were both comic book fans - Elvis's hair and capes were inspired by Captain Marvel, and both used a 'Shazam' style lighting strike symbol - Elvis for the 'Taking care of Business' logo, Bowie for Aladdin Sane.
4) Bowie's manager Tony DeFries styled himself as a 1970s Colonel Tom Parker (Elvis's notorious cigar smoking Manager) a factor in Bowie signing to RCA also Elvis's label, and the DeFries Mainman Management logo being designed to look a cigar band.
5) The Kubrick Link - Elvis's seventies shows started with "Also Sprach Zarathustra" from '2001: A Space Odyssey'. During the Ziggy period Bowie used the 'Clockwork Orange' version of Beethoven's 'Ninth Symphony' for his intro' music.
6) Apparently Bowie wrote Golden Years for Elvis but recorded it himself after Presley turned it down.
7) The 1972 Thailand reissue of 'Space Oddity' featured as Elvis's 'Fool' as the B-side.
8) They've both recorded Beatles covers which are still in the vaults;
Elvis - Lady Madonna ( with Elvis seemingly 'effing and jeffing' around the 'make ends meet' line).
Bowie - Penny Lane (with an extremely flaky accent on 'customer').
And as if by magic....
Elvis Presley - Lady Madonna.mp3
David Bowie - Penny Lane.mp3
9 comments:
Penny Lane is a Fake
It's listed here ( a list of all Bowie BBC sessions) as being recorded for the BBC Light Programme. And the booty I've got 'Chameleon Chronicles Vol. 2' lists is it as BBC session too.
The Illustrated DB discography says
"'A Little Bit Me a Little Bit You'and 'Penny Lane', this song appeared on the Chameleon Chronicles Vol. 2 (Living Legends LLR-CD 049) CD, suggesting it was recorded by Bowie. Actually, these two tracks started a rumour that Bowie might have recorded "more" songs in the 60s, that would have ended up on obscure compilation LPs. However, Bowie personally has denied that this is the case."
Now is he denying he recorded this song or more songs?
oh gawd the hellish collision of boowie and the beadles. i just can't take it. my sister put me off boowie as a yoof (no one can like what their little sister blasts through the bedroom wall) and the beadles are ( as everyone knows really) horrid.
elvis can make damn near anything fab so. i'll save that for tomorrow
x
ah it is tomorrow - i'm so germed up i forgot it was tuesday...
You can see why Bowie would deny it's anything to do with him can't you?..
I've got a few Elvis treats lined up for this year including a couple for Funky Friday this week, where he gets on the 'good foot'.
excellent
x
Hmm few bits I didn't know there. Looking forward to the Fabs covers, since I was unaware of both. Most of all tough I agree with everything opop & uhfdf wrote.
That'll be Bowie on the old Beatles Karaoke machine then. Hilariously though flugelhorn player seems to get himself a beat ahead towards the end. Very poor!
I'm also liking the genuinely scouse-tastic "barber shaves another coostomer". Class...
Much as I'd like to believe it's Jonesy singing 'Penny Lane' (especially as I've got a couple of copies of that MfP album knocking about), I really don't think it's him. A quick listen to 'A Little Bit Me..' confirms it, really.
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