Thursday 20 October 2022

Weren't Born a Man



Some of my earliest memories of David Bowie songs are versions by other people. He would often give them away to friends like Mott the Hoople ('All the Young Dudes') and Peter Noone ('Oh! You Pretty Thing'); I've always preferred Simon Turner's interpretation of 'The Prettist Star' over the original. Still not sure about Lulu tho'.
Bowie was a huge fan of Andy Warhol but had never met the daddy of Pop Art when he penned his three minute homage to him. When he finally did play it to him he hated it. I love it. I also love his former girlfriend's versh too. And she got Mick Ronson to play guitar on it. Born Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie she'd known the artist formerly known as David Jones since they were teenagers. Probably explains why she handles the song with such care. 

 Dana Gillespie - Andy Warhol (1973)



4 comments:

  1. Oh, yes! I do like that. Thanks, Martin.

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    1. Looks like I’ve inadvertently deleted your comment, Martin! If you’re reading this can you put it up again? Ta!
      JM

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  2. You may well have actually introduced it to me come to think of it, but just in case, are you familiar with the Mainman - The Journey podcast? It's a sedately paced look at Bowie's Tony DeFries era, featuring new and archive contributions from Woody Woodmansey, Marianne Faithfull, Lou Reed, Ken Scott, Cherry Vanilla, Tony Visconti and many others, including Dana Gillespie. The pod has been on the go since the Summer of 2020, but is still only on its 57th episode. As I say, it's sedately paced.
    https://shows.acast.com/mainman-the-journey/episodes

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    1. Thank you, TS. I shall, as they say seek it out. The period '71-'74, for me, is *peak* Bowie. Would that be a hill I'd be prepared to die on? Probably.

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