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“Hey babe, it's time to say goodbye*”

Rebel Rebel and Alabama Song are two Bowie 45s which were originally released on this day in 1974 and 1980 respectively.

The former was a Top 5 single on the UK chart while the latter peaked at #23. We’ll post more about Rebel Rebel nearer to the 40th anniversary picture disc issue next month.

Alabama Song was a fan favourite on the 1978 World Tour, so even though the record buying public may have found the unusual tempo and key changes a challenge, fans were glad that a studio version of the song had finally been made available.

The release was

“Don’t you wonder sometimes”

Originally a #3 UK hit for Bowie in 1977 when it was released as the first single from the classic Low album, Sound And Vision was unusual in that the lead vocal didn’t appear until half way through the song.

It was also strange that it didn’t precede the album release and considering this and the fact that RCA barely promoted the single in the UK, it’s surprising it did so well on the singles chart there.

Produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, the song also featured a guest vocal from Mary Hopkin, Visconti’s then wife.

If you’ve not heard Sound And Vision

“A couple of songs from your old scrapbook”

Hot on the heels of their top 500 albums poll, the latest issue of NME (February 8th) has a cover feature titled: The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time.

David Bowie has a long list of compositions in the poll, with a half page devoted to "Heroes" alone. Here’s the opening paragraph of that particular article:

“The list of things that are wrong with "Heroes" is a short one. In summary: those quotation marks. They seem to provide a song of such unrestrained emotion with a get-out-of-jail-free disclaimer of irony.