“He said I was his friend…”
Forty one years ago today a 25-year-old Lulu released the first of a few career resurrections in the shape of the Bowie-penned Polydor 45, The Man Who Sold The World/Watch That Man.
Produced and arranged by David Bowie and Mick Ronson the track reached #3 on the official UK singles chart, Lulu’s first top ten hit for five years.
The unlikely coupling created lots of press for the release, the Daily Mirror article in our montage being just one such item.
The success of the record prompted RCA to take full page adverts for the Bowie album of the same name with the wording: Contains the original version of The Man Who Sold The World.
It’s a cracking record with a superb arrangement and a great Bowie sax riff and licks from Ronno that aren’t on the original Bowie version. Apparently DB is a bit partial to the Lulu version himself.
Lulu went on to record a couple more songs with David that ended up on his own Young Americans album after he decided to keep them for himself…but that’s another story.
Check out Lulu singing The Man Who Sold The World here on YouTube.