“I think my spaceship knows which way to go”
David Bowie • Space Oddity • Will Kenny Everett Make It To 1980? Show • 31 December 1979
You're no doubt already familiar with this broadcast, but now Nacho Videos has enhanced and extended it and given it a bit of a polish to further enhance your viewing experience.
Directed for the show by Bowie’s video director of the time, David Mallet, the action takes place in a high-ceilinged padded cell and an exploding kitchen with an unflappable nurse.
Speaking to Angus MacKinnon in the NME in 1980, Bowie said:
“That came about because (David) Mallet wanted me to do something for his show and he wanted Space Oddity. I agreed as long as I could do it again without all its trappings and do it strictly with three instruments. Having played it with just an acoustic guitar onstage early on, I was always surprised as how powerful it was just as a song, without all the strings and synthesizers. In fact the video side of it was secondary; I really wanted to do it as a three-piece song.”
Both scenes were recreated for the May 1980 filming of Ashes To Ashes, the continuity experts among you will notice the very obvious differences.
So, ten years after it was originally a hit, Major Tom also had the last word of the 70s for Bowie. Another 40 years on and the impact of this version is just as powerful.
Read Nacho's notes with more detail regarding the recording of both the sound and vision, along with the complete video, here.
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