He’s so divine, his soul shines…
As promised yesterday, (09.17.2010 NEWS: BOWIE ON COVER OF TIMES PLAYLIST MAGAZINE TOMORROW) here’s a bit more regarding today’s Playlist magazine, which comes with today’s Times newspaper in the UK.
Firstly, if you’re a Times subscriber you can read the whole thing online
The main body of the text was written by Cameron Crowe for the liner notes of the reissue of Station to Station, and you’ll be able to read those when the album comes out in a little over a week.
However, the remainder of the piece is taken up with four appreciations of the genius of David Bowie by Paul Weller, Tracey Emin, Morrissey and Annie Lennox. Here follows a paragraph excerpt from each, though the Morrissey contribution is only a paragraph anyway.
Obviously they all have some special things to say about the impact of David Bowie on their lives and it’s really worth getting your hands on a copy to read the full thing.
Please bear in mind that the headlines to each item may no longer make sense as we are only using excerpts…the Tracy Emin piece being the best example of this. And so, over to the fans…
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Paul Weller on Bowie?s unique allure
Bowie always had his finger on the pulse and was a cut above everyone else. He brought glamour back to music and rock n? roll and a lot of those kids wouldn?t have normally listened to someone like him but, even though he was androgynous and camp, he was held in such high esteem that a lot of those rough working class kids really adored Bowie and, it might sound like a cliché, but there were a few right hard thugs I knew that said he was the only geezer they?d ever consider shagging. Round my way there were a few blokes who were brave enough to wear a bit of make up of a Saturday night, which is chancing your f****ing arm just a bit in Woking, but he held a very special position. He had this art side and a street side as well and always looked cool. I?ll always take my hat off to him.
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Tracey Emin on Bowie?s hunger for knowledge, and public transport
But the amazing thing about him is that he has a profound effect on people and it is a lot deeper than just fashion and clothing. It isn?t just how you look. My favourite album is Young Americans and the single is my all time favourite single and when I did Desert Island discs that was the track I took with me and when I went to a desert island I actually did take it with me. Bowie was a real maverick, but if you talk to David about it he is very self effacing. He looked up to Andy Warhol and when he first went to New York he was so green and wide eyed and none of the Warhol lot even acknowledged his presence but he was so enthusiastic and naive ? hence the song about Warhol on Hunky Dory. But the other thing about Bowie was if you were into him and dressed a bit odd you weren?t thought of as weird. He was like this satellite of love ? excuse the pun ? but he made you feel normal which is important when you grow up. Aligning yourself with him meant that you weren?t weird – it was just that everyone else was really very boring. A lot tried to look like him or just cobbled together a look from a mixture of his looks – the word zootheque comes to mind ? the seventies were like that and a lot of people looked like a hybrid of Bowie. I saw him live many times and it was a privilege.
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Morrissey on Bowie?s elegant femininity
When he launched himself on Top of the Pops and Lift Off with Ayshea singing Starman, there was no doubt that this was fanatically homosexual; it was a darker force and it was in Bowie?s eyes, his mouth, his voice, and it was menace and he really didn?t care at all about dislodging people. Bowie had an elegant femininity about him, which suddenly made Bolan seem too short to sit at the table. And that, I?m afraid, was that.
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Annie Lennox on a memorable duet
We performed Under Pressure together at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley in 1992. I was one of the very few female performers. I can be quite shy, and I knew that for me doing that performance was the pinnacle of any performance I could ever give. It?s not every day that you get to perform with David Bowie. And I thought, I’m gonna savour this for ever. I wanted to be his counterpart in the performance. So when we were having the rehearsal, he said, as an offhand remark just before I left, ?oh, by the way, what are you gonna wear? Why dont you get Anthony Price to make the dress.? And I left the rehearsal thinking, ?shit, gotta get a dress.?
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As I say, these are merely excerpts and I’ve noticed that there is more in the online versions than there is in the Playlist magazine. I’ll post the full things on the MBs in a week or so.