BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) “HEROES”
(“Heroes” – 1977) Pretty much all of Bowie’s songs are very good, about three dozen of them are great, and more than a handful are timeless classics. There’s a point when making lists like this where there is no wrong answer. Picking the four best David Bowie songs is like picking which of your children you’d want to live. You love them all and for different reasons. With “Heroes”, it’s obvious. This song is triumph.
(THREE) CHANGES
(“Hunky Dory” – 1972) This may be my favorite Bowie track of all time, but then again the ranking changes (no pun intended) rather often. It’s crazy to think this song started off as a parody of a nightclub song and almost didn’t have lyrics at all to it. The song is a beautifully composed and performed masterpiece. It digs into the idea of a man acknowledging and coming to terms of sort with the fact that youth is no longer represented by his generation. Instead of wallowing in despair, Bowie seems to accept it and I don’t want to say “embrace” it, but rather he owns it.
(TWO) FAME
(“Young Americans” – 1975) This might be Bowie’s most famous track. The funk of this song is so pimptastic that it can easily change the mood of a night upon hearing. There’s a great clip floating around out there of Bowie rocking this on “Soul Train”. He lip syncs poorly and is rumored to of been messed up on coke, but it’s just a great glimpse of awesomeness. The irony of his condition in the video is strong based on the ironic and snarky take on celebrity. One fact a lot of people surprisingly don’t know is that this guy named John Lennon did backup vocals on the “Fame” portion. It’s also inspired by a Jackson 5 live album. Take the musings of the Jackson 5, the back up support of Lennon, and Hendrix’s studio and you get one of the funkiest jams of all time.
(ONE) SPACE ODDITY
(“Space Oddity” – 1969) It’s hard to argue about this one. “Ground control to Major Tom” rings throughout the word as the beginning words of one of the greatest rock songs of all time. A lot of Bowie’s songs are arguably his best, but this isn’t up for discussion. This is it. This is the definitive David Bowie song. Its number one and the rest fight it out for number two. There are times when you like a “Changes” or a “Suffragette City” most, but when it’s said and done you can always count on “Space Oddity”. Its charm, its witty, its weirdness, and its grandeur are what Bowie is all about.
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