“As I ask you to focus on”
David Bowie’s Life On Mars? single was released forty two years ago today in the UK. (June 22nd, 1973) Though taken from the 1971 classic, Hunky Dory, it wasn’t released in its own right until 1973 in the UK, capitalising on its popularity as a live number during the Aladdin Sane Tour of the same year. It reached #3 on the official UK singles chart.
Pictured here is a still from Mick Rock’s beautiful Life On Mars? promotional video and the original US trade advert for Hunky Dory, wherein David had scribbled a few notes on a piece of headed hotel stationary from The Warwick in New York regarding each of the tracks on Hunky Dory.
Taking into account the insertion and crossing out that David made to his original annotation, the entry for Life On Mars? read: “Life on Mars - This is a sensitive young girl’s reaction to...The Media.”.
However, a bit of close quarter scrutiny reveals what he had originally written: “Life on Mars - This is a sensitive young girl’s reaction to songs like My Way, films like Love Story and newspapers”
This is kind of ironic considering the note Bowie scribbled for Life On Mars? on the back sleeve of Hunky Dory read: “INSPIRED BY FRANKIE”, a reference to My Way being a part of the song’s history. But that’s a whole other story.
See more Life On Mars? memorabilia on the official David Bowie Instagram page.
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