Described as "twelve songs that I particularly like," iSelect, David's new compilation, features songs hand-picked by David to represent his extensive catalogue. English speakers can find David's fascinating track-by-track notes in the CD booklet. But, in the meantime, if you've not already bought the CD, here are David's "Life On Mars?" notes to whet your appetite.



1. Life On Mars?

This song was so easy. Being young was easy. A really beautiful day in the park, sitting on the steps of the bandstand. "Sailors bab-bap-bap-bap-baa-bap". An anomic (not a 'gnomic') heroine. Middle class ecstasy. I took a walk to Beckenham High Street to catch a bus to Lewisham to buy shoes and shirts but couldn't get the riff out of my head. Jumped off two stops into the ride and more or less loped back to the house up on Southend Road.

Workspace was a big empty room with a chaise lounge; a bargain priced art nouveau screen ('William Morris' so I told anyone who asked); a huge overflowing freestanding ashtray and a grand piano. Little else. I started working it out on the piano and had the whole lyric and melody finished by late afternoon. Nice. Rick Wakeman came over a couple of weeks later and embellished the piano part and guitarist Mick Ronson created one of his first and best string parts for this song which now has become something of a fixture in my live shows.
Purchase iSelect to continue reading David's comments on the songs he selected from his diverse catalogue as part of this unique release.

Translations courtesy of EMI.