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[video static]

[Bowie]
Once upon a time, your father--

my father, everybody's father,
I presume,

wanted a good job
with a good income

to secure their family life.

A role in society.

And that's where it ended,

but now, people want
to be an individual.

And I think there's a lot
of searching to find

the individual within oneself.

["Fashion" by
David Bowie playing]

[music stops]

[woman]
Once upon a time,
there was a little house.

["The Man Who Sold the World"
by David Bowie playing]

[man]
Just say where you came from?

[Bowie]
David Robert Jones
from Stansfield Road, Brixton.

That's the first thing I knew,
in case I got lost,

'cause I used to
wander off a lot.

["The Man Who Sold the World"
by David Bowie playing]

[Bowie]
It wasn't a particularly
happy childhood.

My parents were
cold emotionally.
There weren't many hugs.

I always sort of craved
affection because of that.

[Bowie singing]
♪ I never thought I needed
so many people ♪

♪ A girl my age
went off her head ♪

♪ Hit some tiny children ♪

[Bowie]
I think there's a passion
for most people

who have an iota of,
sort of, curiosity

are bound to escape
and get out,

and try and find who one is.

["The Jean Genie"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ Small Jean Genie
snuck off to the city ♪

♪ Strung out on lasers
and slash-back blazers ♪

♪ Ate all your razors
while pulling the waiters ♪

♪ Talking 'bout Monroe
and walking on Snow White ♪

[music stops]

[Bowie]
And I spent all those
formative teenage years

adopting guises
and changing roles,

-and, um,
-[phone rings]

just learning to be somebody.

♪ There's a starman ♪

♪ Waiting in the sky ♪

♪ There's a starman ♪

♪ Waiting in the sky... ♪

♪♪♪

I want to do really quick
changes on the encores.

[woman]
Oh yeah, there will be,
there will be.

-Fastest ever.
-Providing Mick keeps out
the dressing room!

[indistinct chatter]

No, I told Ron about some
things, has he told you?

-[man] Yeah. All right?
-Yeah.

And the intro to the show?

[indistinct chatter]

What were you doing before
you hit the bright headlights?

Were you a nobody
and suddenly thought,

"Jesus, I must get into
the scene by some other way?"

I never asked Jesus
for a thing, no.

It's always
on my own initiative.

[audience laughter]

When I was 14, I became a Mod,

and it just carried on
from there.

I've always dressed
in what I consider

clothes that prevent
me becoming humdrum,

so that I would receive
reaction from people, which
would encourage me to write.

["I Can't Explain"
by David Bowie playing]

[Bowie]
London represented a lifestyle,

a new kind of language,
culturally.

It was really fantastic
at that point.

[music stops]

[man]
Where you writing songs
at this period?

[Bowie]
Not very good ones.

The majority of the things
were other people's numbers.

Little Richard stuff.
Things like that.

But I became disenchanted with
singing other people's songs.

I thought I'd write my own.

["You've Got a Habit of
Leaving" by Davy Jones playing]

[Lancaster]
He was a nobody within
my scope of knowledge

of who was
in the music industry.

But we needed a singer.

And different people came.

Amongst them was David Jones,

or Davy Jones, as he was
promoting himself at that time.

[Taylor]
We were impressed
with his voice,

although I thought he was
going to play the saxophone.

He had the alto sax
around his neck,

and it wasn't until
he started singing we realized

he was the boy for us, really.

We employed him. He didn't
employ us, we employed him.

[Lancaster]
And this was David's fourth go
in terms of bands,

hoping this would be it.

But David, of course,
had his own agenda,

where it was going to be
Davy Jones and
the Lower Third now,

but next it's going to be
David Bowie and whatever.

So there was a side
to David that you--

that wasn't revealed to you.

Hah! He was a rascal, mate.

That's it, that's all
I can really say about it.

["Baby Loves That Way" by
Davy Jones and the Lower Third
playing]

♪ Baby loves that way ♪

♪ Yes she does, yes she does ♪

♪ Baby loves that way ♪

♪ Oh, I love my baby... ♪

[Bowie]
I mean I was always very vain.

Then I found out that,
up in London,

all the mods wore make-up,
eye shadow.

And I thought
that was really peculiar,

and I thought it looked
rather good.

[Lancaster]
The group van was
this London LCC ambulance.

We lived in this ambulance, as
well as traveling to the gigs.

So, we were talking about
how could we be different
from everybody else,

and David said,
"What about wearing make-up?"

Right, I was... make-up, OK.

Now, I thought he meant
clown make-up.

Graham was driving,
as he always did.

"Here," I said, "Dave's
just come up with an idea.
What about we wear make-up?"

So Graham turned around,
"Fuck that!"

["The Jean Genie"
by David Bowie playing]

[Bowie]
Years later,
I had, uh, the same problems.

I didn't actually tell
The Spiders that
we'd have to wear make-up.

I said, "You looked very green
tonight on stage.

Do you think if--
I think if you wore make-up,

you'd probably look
a little more natural-looking."

♪ Poor Jean Genie
snuck into the city ♪

♪ Strung out on lasers
and slash-back blazers ♪

♪ Ate all the razors
while pulling the waiters ♪

♪ Talking 'bout Monroe,
walking on Snow White ♪

♪ New York's a no-go,
and everything tastes nice ♪

♪ Poor Jean Genie... ♪

[Bowie]
Actually, when they realized
how many girls they could pull

when they looked
so other-worldly,

they took to it
like a fish to water.

[laughs]

♪ ...lives on his back ♪

♪ Jean Genie
loves chimney stacks ♪

♪ He's outrageous,
he screams and he bawls ♪

♪ Jean Genie,
let yourself go, whoa... ♪

[Lancaster]
David had such a wide,
eclectic taste in things.

He thought, "Well let's
have a go at this, because
it's completely different,

it's gonna throw people
off balance, I'm sure,

uh, and let's see how it goes."

And we did that
with our set on stage.

Mostly, it was
David's own compositions,

but we'd do hits by
The Kinks or The Who,

but we'd also do things
like "Chim-Chimeree"
from Mary Poppins.

I thought,
"Why are we doing that stuff?"

["You've Got a Habit of
Leaving" by Davy Jones playing]

[Bowie] Looking back on it,
it just felt like a lot of fun
at the time

and quite, kind of,
mischievous.

You laugh a lot
when you're young, you know,

it was-- it was just,
a lot of it was really funny.

[radio tuning]

Greetings Pop Pickers,
it's Pick of the Pops.

[Lancaster]
David told us we'd got
an audition at the BBC.

This was, wow, you know, I mean,
something special. The BBC.

So, we walked into the BBC,
and did our three numbers.

"Out Of Sight,"
"Chim-Chimeree,"

and "Baby That's A Promise."

That's one of David's songs.

We did that, came away, and
then waited for the results.

I've been having second thoughts
about this, and I'd like to hear
more from the music department.

Well, frankly, to me, this
savors too much of a gimmick.

[Lancaster]
They said that it was
quite a different sound,

especially in
the Mary Poppins number.

"And the treatment of
'Chim-Chimeree' kills
the song completely."

[laughs] You cheeky sods!

"Routine beat group,
strange choice of material.

Amateur-sounding vocalist
[laughs]

who sings wrong notes
and out of tune," yes.

"Group has nothing
to recommend it."

[laughs softly]

"I don't think the group will
get better with more rehearsal.

The singer is a cockney type,
[laughs]

but not outstanding enough."

Well, you need to be
an outstanding cockney,
obviously, for the BBC.

"There is no entertainment
in anything they do.

An inoffensive,
pleasant nothing.

Backing singer
devoid of personality."

[laughs]

Where are these people now?

[radio tuning]

And each one says,
"No, no, no, no."

So, that was our post-mortem,
I suppose.

[radio tuning]

We failed.

But we got a recording contract
with Tony Hatch.

This, to me, was awe inspiring.

["Can't Help Thinking About Me"
by David Bowie playing]

[Hatch]
I'd written and produced
the song "Downtown"

with Petula Clarke.

And I'd produced
Sandy Shaw's first hit.

And when somebody
called me and said,

"We have this artist, and he
really has got a great talent,

and he writes all his own
things," I was more than happy.

[Lancaster]
David came up with
"Can't Help Thinking About Me."

We rehearsed it,
played it at the Marquee,

and then, took it into
the studio and recorded it
with Tony Hatch.

♪ I can't help
thinking about me ♪

♪ I can't help
thinking about me... ♪

[Hatch]
I thought, "This has got
the shape of a hit.

It's structured well.
It has a very strong hook."

[plays and sings
"Can't Help Thinking About Me"]

I don't know where you found
this, but it is a piano,

in case anybody
wondered what it was.

♪ Question-time that says
I brought dishonor... ♪

[Bowie]
"Can't Help Thinking About Me."
[laughs]

Well, this came out of trials
in short story writing,

little things about leaving
home and stuff like that.

♪ Mother says that she can't
stand the neighbors talking ♪

♪ I've gotta pack my bags,
leave this home ♪

♪ Start walking, yeah... ♪

[Bowie]
I couldn't really relate
to America too well,

so I started writing more about
Bromley and Beckenham.

And I tell a story
from beginning to end.

♪ Remember when we used to
go to church on Sundays ♪

♪ I lay awake at night,
terrified of school
on Mondays... ♪

[MacCormack]
He was certainly
a different child,

and I think you could tell
he was gifted,

even at that age,
eight or nine years old.

A thinker.

♪ I can't help
thinking about me... ♪

[Underwood]
The difference with him
and other kids was

that David had interests
in things that other kids
didn't have.

He was ahead of his time
regarding, you know,

reading and music and all
the things which he was into.

♪ As I pass
a recreation ground ♪

♪ I remember my friends,
always been found
and I can't... ♪

[Hatch]
There are some songwriters
that are just commentators,

but Bowie was a storyteller.

And so, he was going to
rummage into all his experiences

to find things that
he could write about.

It was something new.

♪ The station seems so cold
the ticket's in my hand ♪

♪ My girl calls my name
Hi, Dave ♪

♪ Drop in, see around,
come back ♪

-[music fades]
-[woman speaking German]

...London's top teenage club,
Der Marquee.

["Do Anything You Say"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ Two by two,
they go walking by ♪

♪ Hand in hand,
they watch me cry ♪

♪ Two by two ♪

♪ Hand in hand ♪

♪ Lonely nights,
I dream you're there ♪

♪ Morning sun and you're gone ♪

♪ Lonely nights... ♪

[Hutchinson]
David wanted The Buzz
to play sessions,

and we would be
his band on stage.

He wanted a band that was
very much a backing band

so that he would be the front
man, as a separate entity.

♪ Maybe I'll do
anything you say... ♪

[interviewer]
And now, a young British boy

whose career will surely
develop him into one of

the bigger names in
the showbiz field.

He's a great attraction
here at the Marquee,
and his name is David Bowie!

[crowd applauding and cheering]

David, you're working with
a backing group, The Buzz.

Have you always been with them?

[Bowie]
As David Bowie, yes.

[interviewer] Why do you say,
"As David Bowie"--

[Bowie] I was somebody else
before that. [laughs]

[interviewer]
This is, what,
your second record,

and it's a song you wrote?

[Bowie]
Yes, I write most
of the stuff I record,

the B-sides and A-sides.

[Gillespie]
I don't think people realized
how important the Marquee was

as a venue.

It was the hottest place to go
as far as I was concerned.

I wouldn't have said that
I would have gone specially

to see his act
at the Marquee club,

I went mainly to see some of
what I called the hotter bands.

I would sit in the audience
and gape at...

The Yardbirds or The Who.

♪ Maybe ♪

♪ I'll do anything you say ♪

♪ Maybe ♪

♪ I'll do anything you say ♪

♪ Maybe ♪

♪ I'll do anything you say ♪

♪ Do anything... ♪

The record company
decided it didn't matter what
I was going to make with David,

they were losing faith.

His songs,
they weren't good enough

to actually capture
everybody's imagination.

You know, it still isn't
that unique Bowie magic.

[Gillespie]
David was never the success

that all his other
contemporaries were,

because of being
that much younger.

You could say that he almost
had missed the boat.

But he was a very driven man,
even from those early days.

But he always was helpful to me.

You know, I always felt
I was kind of a fellow musician
with him.

Love never came into it,
which, thank God, you know,

if you're going to fall in love
with Bowie, you might as well
kiss your sanity goodbye.

Because he loved himself
extremely, always did.

And I was quite happy with that.

[birds chirping]

At one point, David said,
"Do you want to come home
and meet my parents?"

I said, "Yes, why not?"

So, that meant taking
the train to Bromley.

[Bowie]
You find yourself
in the middle of two worlds.

There's the extreme values
of people who grow up
in the countryside,

and the very urban feel
of the city.

And in suburbia, you're given
the impression that nothing
culturally belongs to you.

That you are sort of
in this wasteland.

["Trendilly"
by Alan Blaikley playing]

[Underwood]
David lived in Sundridge Park,

a mile or so from
the center of Bromley.

And, um, it was quite quiet,

there wasn't-- there was not
a lot happening there, you know.

There was a corner pub,
couple of shops.

[Gillespie]
When I was in
his parents' house,

they're facing a television,

and the parents were
sitting there quite quiet.

They offered me some
tuna fish sandwiches.

But then, there was silence.
And I'm somebody that, I mean,

I can talk to anybody,
and it was hard going.

It was soulless.

Once they'd gone out, he said,

"Whatever it takes,
I want to get out of here.

I do not want
to live like this."

["I Dig Everything"
by David Bowie playing]

[Bowie]
I think there's a passion
for most people

to have an iota of, sort of,
curiosity about them,

to escape and get out
and try and find who one is,

and find some kinds of roots,
you know,

and a desperation,

an exhaustion with the
blandness of where we grew up.

[MacCormack]
So, London was magnetic for us.

It was somewhere
we wanted to belong in.

And I think that's why
David writes about it

so often in his early career.

["The London Boys"
by David Bowie playing]

He would want to write songs
from the perspective,

like Ray Davies did, really,
of a London boy.

He always wanted it
to be home-grown.

♪ Cow bell strikes
another night ♪

♪ Your eyes are heavy
and your limbs all ache ♪

♪ You've bought some coffee,
butter and bread ♪

♪ You can't make a thing,
'cause the meter's dead ♪

[demo version]
♪ You've moved away ♪

♪ Told your folks
you're gonna stay away ♪

What struck me was just
a lot of them were really--

they were great songs,
they just--

people didn't know
about them yet.

He just wasn't
David Bowie, per se.

As we know him today.

♪ Cow bell strikes
another night... ♪

[Plati]
For him to revisit
these early songs of his,

it's just a very typical thing
for him to do.

You hear the Bowie
in the early songs.

Like he's already there.

He's, you know,
he's bubbling to the surface,

but he's already there.

♪ ...You moved away ♪

♪ Told your folks
you're gonna stay away ♪

♪ Bright lights, Soho,
Wardour street ♪

♪ You hope you make friends
with the guys that you meet ♪

♪ Somebody shows you 'round ♪

♪ Now you've met
the London boys ♪

♪ Things seem good again ♪

♪ Someone cares ♪

♪ About you ♪

[Plati]
Well that's not your typical
60's pop song, is it?

[Slick]
None of it was.

"London Boys" is a really
good example of David using

-his natural accent to sing,
to make the point.
-Right.

If you're gonna write a song
called "London Boys,"
and you are from London,

and it's about you being
a young man in London,

then the accent really
drives the point home.

[Dorsey]
I think he even
exaggerates it a little bit.

It's almost like theater.

-Oh, yeah.
-It's like he's--
it is in a sense,

he's doing a song, and whatever
the theme of that song is,

he's putting on the character
vocally that-- that tells
the story the right way.

-That's exactly--
-And he's brilliant with that.

♪ It's too late now,
'cause you're out there boy ♪

♪ You've got it made
with the rest of the toys ♪

♪ Now you wish
you'd never left your home ♪

♪ You've got what you wanted,
but you're on your own ♪

♪ With the London boys ♪

♪ Now you've met
the London boys ♪

♪ Now you've met
the London boys ♪

♪ Now you've met
the London boys ♪

[Bowie singing]
♪ Two and two are four ♪

♪ Four and four are... ♪

[Bowie]
So much of what any teenager
or young person writes

comes from
a sense of uniqueness.

Other than just rock music,

there has always been
a history of the rebel.

Of not being drawn to
the tyranny of the mainstream.

I really am open
to influence and new ideas

and old ideas, as well.

I don't put up
a block on things.

I was one of the first kids
in Britain to have
the Velvet Underground album.

I know that for a fact, because
somebody had brought me back

a demo copy of it before it was
even released in America.

The Underground were,
I thought,

the most incredible sound.

There was the sort of mixture
of rock and avant-garde.

And the combination
was so brutal.

[Hutchinson]
I don't think David
lacked confidence in himself.

He probably always knew
that he was very adaptable.

And it was more a question of
him getting on the right track

to do the thing
that would take him furthest.

And it obviously took
him a long time to do that,

with the Lower Third and then,
The Buzz,

and the other things
that he did.

["I Take It That We're Through"
by The Riot Squad playing]

♪ Well, I know
you've had it bad, girl ♪

♪ And you're not to blame... ♪

[Roll]
I think the attraction
for David

was he was looking
to move forward

and be a lot more adventurous
with his musical styles.

And we were looking for a singer
that was totally flexible.

But then David made it plain,
really, right from the get-go,

that he wanted to go
more left-field, if that's
the right term, musically.

And already, he was talking
about Velvet Underground.

[Davies]
He knew what he wanted,
and, uh, he was there to do it.

He just wanted a backing band,
with extra goodies put in.

Which we did,
we started having face painted,

we started to go
more outrageous.

I remember him
coming over to me,

"Can I draw a petal
on your face, or a flower
on your cheek?"

I said, "Yeah, do what
you want with my face.

♪ Once upon a time,
there was a toy soldier ♪

♪ And he lived
in the play room ♪

♪ Once upon a time,
there was a toy soldier ♪

♪ With a whip lash
in his hand... ♪

[Bowie]
To me,

the Velvet Underground
represented the wild side
of existentialist America,

the underbelly
of American culture.

That was everything
that I thought we should
have in England.

But, of course, being filtered
through this British system,

it came out more vaudeville.
[laughs]

["Little Toy Soldier"
by The Riot Squad playing]

[Davies]
"Toy Soldier"
was a bit of an odd one,

because it was about a young
girl coming home from school,

going to her bedroom, and
winding up a little toy soldier,

and then, being whipped
by the toy soldier.

♪ And every night, little girl
Sadie would take all
her clothes off ♪

♪ And wind up the toy soldier,
and he'd raise his whip
and say to her ♪

♪ On your knees
little Sadie... ♪

[Roll]
I don't think he was ever
embarrassed about

nicking some ideas.

He wasn't against
taking a basic number,

and then, rearranging it by
any means, including the lyrics.

♪ Taste the whip
in love not given lightly ♪

♪ Taste the whip
and bleed for me... ♪

[Roll]
That, we brought into
the stage act.

-It was just so visual.
-Yeah.

A tailors' dummy, I think, used
to get flagellated or something,

it was ridiculous, you know,
it was bizarre.

-I certainly-- I enjoyed
playing, that's for sure.
-Yeah.

Great visual act.

I don't think people listen
to the words at times,

-they could just see
people whipping, and, uh...
-Yeah.

Not many people used to get
whipped on stage in them days.

No.

♪ One day Sadie
wound and wound ♪

♪ And wound and wound ♪

♪ 'Till suddenly, the little
toy soldier's spring ♪

♪ Went ♪ [screaming]

♪ And he beat her to death ♪

[Davies]
He had some great ideas
for that time.

But David's time with us
was eight weeks.

25 gigs, that's all.

Maybe he just felt...
overnight, you know,

he's done his bit with us,
and now, want to move on to

something a bit more theatrical.

["Rubber Band"
by David Bowie playing]

[Pitt]
I was looking for someone who

could be
an all-around entertainer.

And I thought in David, we had
found someone who could be.

When we first went
to the Deram label,

the man who was in charge
of the album department

said to me,

"This is the greatest thing
that's come here

since Tony Newley."

♪ With no star to guide me ♪

♪ And no one beside me... ♪

And he was a funny sort of guy,
very much a...

cockney, lovable cockney
kind of character.

And David will only be
Anthony Newley

all the way through doing
all the other stuff.

♪ Maybe tomorrow ♪

♪ I'll find what I'm after ♪

♪ I'll throw off my sorrow ♪

♪ Beg, steal or borrow
my share of laughter ♪

[Bowie]
The thing is, I never thought
that I could sing very well,

and I used to kind of
try on people's voices

if they appealed to me
when I was a kid, about 15, 16.

So, I started singing
like Anthony Newley.

And so I was writing
these really weird
Tony Newley-type songs.

I thought,
"Yeah, this is my bag."

["Rubber Band"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ Won't you play
a haunting theme again to me ♪

♪ While I eat my scones
and drink my cup of tea ♪

♪ The sun is warm, but it's
a lonely afternoon... ♪

[Dudgeon]
He just had such wacky songs.

About the only thing
that used to bother us

was he sounded like
Anthony Newley all the time.

I mean, to the point that, you
know, we used to comment on it,

and David would just say, "Well,
I can't sing any other way."

We knew bloody well he could,
but he just had--

I think he just had a fixation
to the point that as soon
as he opened his mouth,

Anthony Newley shot out.

You know, and it was like
he just had no control over it.

♪ I hope you break your baton ♪

[laughter]

[Bowie]
Go on!

[plays "The Laughing Gnome"
by David Bowie]

[vocalizing
"The Laughing Gnome]

That's very, very simple.

["The Laughing Gnome"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ When I heard
footsteps behind me ♪

♪ And there was
a little old man

♪ Hello! ♪

♪ In scarlet and gray,
chuckling away ♪

[high-pitched chuckling]

[Alomar]
One of the great influences
that, you know, he had

was Anthony Newley.

Which to me, I didn't get that.

Who got it was my wife Robyn.

He was singing once,
and Robyn looked at me and went,

"Did he just Anthony-Newley us?"

I said,
"Yes, I think he did, honey."

♪ Ha, ha, ha, hee, hee, hee ♪

♪ I'm a laughing gnome,
and you can't catch me ♪

♪ Ha, ha, ha,
hee, hee, hee... ♪

[Bowie]
I'll always associate "Laughing
Gnome" with Gus Dudgeon,

because he used to sit there
doing tricks with his glasses

whilst I was making it.

[laughs]
Because we had the technology.

[Bowie on recording]
Ha, ha, ha!

Get down with it! Whoo!

Fuck off.

Hee, hee, hee!

He said, "Right, we need some
gnome voices on this thing,"

and I showed him it could
be done, and he was--

he went, "Oh, well,
that's it, we've got to do it."

[Bowie on recording]
♪ I'm a laughing gnome ♪

♪ And you can't catch me ♪

[radio distortion]

["The Laughing Gnome" playing]

[Vernon]
You have to slow the tape down
to pretty much the half-speed

and sing normally.

We did quite a lot of takes

and got very silly and
got very rude at times.

And there were some
obscenities that we can't
possibly talk about.

But everyone had
a good time doing it.

[Bowie on recording]
Come on, friend! Ha, ha, ha!

["The Laughing Gnome" playing]

♪ I'm a laughing gnome,
and you can't catch me ♪

♪ Said the laughing gnome... ♪

[Alomar]
In a way,
David is also very clever.

A simplicity aspect, I think,
is very, very important.

I mean, his love for
the Velvet Underground
and the whole Lou Reed thing,

and the simplicity of
"Waiting For the Man."

[plays Bowie's
"Waiting for the Man"]

♪ Waiting for the man ♪

That same pulsation--

♪ I was walking ♪

[vocalizing to the tune of
"The Laughing Gnome"]

It's exactly the same.

♪ Waiting for the man ♪

Two chords.
I mean, "Fame" is three chords.

And so,
this simplicity is amazing.

And it's totally relevant.

But...

the Velvet Underground was cool.

There's nothing cool about
"The Laughing Gnome."

["The Laughing Gnome" playing]

[Bowie laughing]
♪ I'm a laughing gnome,
and you can't catch me ♪

♪ I'm a laughing gnome,
and you can't catch me ♪

[Gillespie]
Everything he did
kind of failed.

"The Laughing Gnome,"
that single that he loathed,

didn't give him satisfaction.

I don't know how
he coped with this,

except that I do know that
if you want something hard
enough and it's not happened,

it only makes you want to
go on and want it even more.

["Sell Me a Coat"
by David Bowie playing]

[Bowie vocalizing]

Oh, my word.

54 years or so of history
coming back at me.

Bowie was young. He was trying
to make a mark for himself.

And he was
very much a Jack the Lad,
there's no two ways about it.

But, I mean,
he was very funny to work with.

We did have a lot of moments
where we collapsed in laughter.

[recording]
Where there's muck,
there's brass.

Crisp green shirt
and a lemonade sandwich
out on a horse-shoe.

That's where the men are.

David was an easy guy
to get along with, you know,

it's just that
his songs were wild.

[man in recording]
One, two, one,
two, three, four.

[Vernon]
They were totally quirky
and off-the-wall, you know.

And there are some really good
songs, and there are emotions,

and there are stories.

And this was the one thing
that Bowie was very good at.

There's no discussion about it.

["Love You 'Till Tuesday"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ Just look through
your window ♪

♪ Look who sits outside ♪

♪ Little me is waiting ♪

♪ Standing through the night ♪

♪ When you walk out
through your door ♪

♪ I'll wave my flag and shout ♪

♪ Oh, beautiful baby ♪

♪ My burning desire
started on Sunday ♪

♪ Give me your heart, and
I'll love you 'till Tuesday ♪

Well, I might be able to
stretch it 'till Wednesday.

The songs had
a different viewpoint,

singing songs that were--
appeared to be written
by children.

I don't remember ever hearing,
really, any other song

at that time that was a story
that was apparently being
told by children.

It seemed to me
completely unique.

["There is a Happy Land"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ There is a happy land ♪

♪ Where only children live ♪

♪ They don't have the time
to learn the ways ♪

♪ Of you sir, Mr. Grown-up... ♪

Good heavens, it's been 60
years since I've been here.

And I never ever used
the front door.

We always came in
through the back alley.

♪ It's a secret place ♪

♪ And adults
aren't allowed there ♪

♪ Mr. Grown-up ♪

♪ Go away, sir ♪

[music stops]

[Amadeus]
David used to do
his performances

on the window sill over there.

And David would go, "Ta-da!"

And he'd do his Flowerpot Men.

He would jump around with
a terracotta pot on his head.

[characters chattering]

[Amadeus]
His father, John,
absolutely doted on him.

But David's mum, Peggy, never
became involved in games.

She would sit and watch,
but she would never enthuse,
you know,

she wouldn't be,
"Oh, how wonderful"
or anything like that.

And she would often tell us
we were being soppy.

["Inchworm"
by Danny Kaye playing]

[Bowie]
"Inchworm," Danny Kaye,

it conjures up
my childhood for me.
[laughs]

It's very sweet.

And it was from the film
Hans Christian Andersen.

♪ Inchworm ♪

♪ Inchworm ♪

♪ Measuring the marigolds... ♪

[Bowie]
It sounded so personal.

And the person who was
singing it sounded like
he'd been hurt, too.

And I think that really got
to me, and it might have gone
into the way I wrote a bit.

You know,
I've been hurt too. [chuckles]

♪ Inchworm ♪

♪ Inchworm... ♪

[Bowie]
Often talking out your hurt,

you know, is something I find
that, you know, writers can do.

And I may have done that
a few times.

["Come and Buy My Toys"
by David Bowie playing]

[Underwood]
David's mum was quite quiet,
really, she didn't say a lot.

I wasn't sure if she liked me,
even, you know.

Because sometimes you--
you'd think,

"Well, maybe she doesn't
like me, she's a bit quiet
and doesn't say anything."

[MacCormack]
I never saw her laugh or smile.
Certainly not to me.

And, bless her heart,
when she died,

I wrote to David and said,

"I'm sorry about your mother,"
etcetera.

I said, "Actually, she never
quite took to me, your mother,"

and he wrote to me and said,
"Trouble is, Geoff,

she never quite
took to me either."

♪ Smiling girls and rosy boys ♪

♪ Come and buy my little toys ♪

♪ Monkeys made of gingerbread ♪

♪ And sugar horses
painted red... ♪

[Amadeus]
David spent his entire life
trying to win her approval.

I think when David was young,

he suffered a lot

from the problems
in his parents' marriage.

They didn't engage in...

affectionate conversation
with each other.

John was very much
in love with Peggy.

Peggy would say to John's face
it was a marriage of
convenience.

And so there was this rift.

And David had
to be very careful,

if he allowed his father
to make too much of him,
it would annoy Peggy.

I think the most significant
thing in David's life

was that he was always
striving for Peggy's love.

I think he spent his life
trying to win her approval.

♪ Rich men's children
running past ♪

♪ Their fathers
dressed in hose ♪

♪ Golden hair and mud
of many acres on their shoes ♪

♪ Gazing eyes
and running wild ♪

♪ Past the stocks
and over stiles ♪

♪ Kiss the window merry child ♪

♪ But come and buy my toys... ♪

[Bowie]
The idea of writing,
sort of, short stories,

I think that was quite novel
at the time. Excuse the pun.

I was quite satisfied with
the way things were going.

I mean, I hadn't found any
voice style, and I hadn't found
any way to perform.

[Vernon]
The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper
unfortunately

came out at the same time.

I mean, it was pretty
strong competition.

Frankly, Bowie didn't
stand a chance, really,

and that's why the record,
I guess, at the time,

completely flopped.

I mean, it didn't really
do any business at all.

["When I Live My Dream"
by David Bowie playing]

[Kemp]
It was absolutely beautiful.

It was the first time
that I heard David.

I loved all the songs, some
more than others, I suppose.

And it was that song
"When I Live My Dream."

♪ When I live my dream,
I'll be there ♪

That started
the whole thing off.

That's when I fell in love
with him, for one thing.

♪ When I live my dream ♪

♪ I'll take you with me ♪

♪ Riding on a golden horse... ♪

[Pitt]
Lindsay was using
the Deram album in his show.

He was miming to certain
aspects of this album.

And news of that got to David,

and therefore, he went to see
one of Lindsay's performances.

[Kemp]
And the curtains opened,

and there was a very beautiful
man sitting in the front row

who turned out
to be David Bowie.

Well, he came around
after the show,

and there was a kind of
a tatty curtain, which
he pulled to one side,

and it was like
the Archangel Gabriel

standing there.
This kind of light.

♪ 'Till that day ♪

♪ You'll run to
many other men ♪

♪ But let them know
it's just for now ♪

♪ Tell them that
I've got a dream ♪

♪ And tell them
you're the starring role... ♪

He had a grace and a brain,
as well as beauty.

But he was funny.

And, you know,
I mean, beauty and humor

are the two things
that attract me the most.

They gotta have both of those

if they're going to last
more than a weekend.

["Threepenny Pierrot"
by David Bowie playing]

[Bowie]
We said, "Well, let's
get together," you know.

"I'd love to write
some music for your show."

And he said,
"Well, I can't pay you,"

because he wasn't
earning anything.

"Yeah," I said, "Well, look,
that's all right, because
I want to learn mime.

So, in exchange, you teach me
mime, and I'll work with you,

you know, write some music."

♪ Bang the drum
and blow the bugle call ♪

♪ Pierrot takes the stage
to play for all ♪

♪ For here's a life
his fortune rules ♪

♪ Forsaken by
his Columbine... ♪

The premiere was
at the Oxford Playhouse,

so we got paid a nominal
kind of fee from there.

And, uh, we transferred
to the West End.

Albeit, West 11, Notting Hill,

which was not quite so
fashionable then as it is now.

And the tiny Mercury Theater,

the home of, uh, British ballet.

And I think it sat 120 seats,
so we didn't make much money.

Need I say more? Nobody came
at all. Nobody came at all.

♪ 'Till the day my dream
cascades around me ♪

♪ I'm content to
let you pass me by... ♪

[Bowie]
I thought, "Well, here I am,

I'm a bit, sort of,
mixed up, creatively.

I've got all these things
going on I like doing at once
on stage or whatever.

I'm not quite sure if
I'm a mime or a songwriter
or a singer.

Why am I doing
any of these things, anyway?"

And I realized it was because
I wanted to be well-known.

♪ Tell them I'm a dreaming
kind of guy... ♪

[Bowie]
I've always been a very curious
and enthusiastic person.

I just had to accept that

I was a person that had
a very short attention span,

would move from one thing
to another quite rapidly,

then I got bored
with the other.

♪ Ground Control to Major Tom ♪

♪ Your circuit's dead,
there's something wrong ♪

♪ Can you hear me,
Major Tom?... ♪

[Bowie]
Somehow, I knew that
what I was doing was important.

Taking elements from areas

that really shouldn't sit
comfortably with each other.

Her name
was Hermione Farthingale,

and I absolutely adored her.

I mean, she was the real
first love in my life.

And she was a ballet dancer.

We did fall in love.
It took maybe five minutes.

[laughs] Maximum.

He was a lad, a youthlet,

he was very, very young,
looked ridiculously young.
He looked about eight.

And in fact,
when I first went out with him,

it did sort of bother me
a little bit, you know,

I had to sort keep reminding
myself he was actually 21.

[Bowie singing acapella]
♪ And we talked with our eyes ♪

♪ Of the sweetness
in our lives ♪

♪ And tomorrow's
a rich surprise ♪

Hermione was a couple
of notches up, you know.

She was posh.

["Let Me Sleep Beside You"
by David Bowie playing]

[Hutchinson]
But really nice.

And they looked like mirror
images, so they fit together.

[Farthingale]
Our life was not regular.

Neither of us were
working nine to five.

And it wasn't a very
rock 'n' roll life either.

Occasionally, we had
a glass of white wine.
[inhales]

And David wasn't even
very good at having a spliff.

♪ Baby, baby ♪

♪ Brush the dust of youth
from off your shoulder ♪

♪ Because the years
of threading daisies ♪

♪ Lie behind you now... ♪

[Harris]
David was, I have to say,
the perfect English gentleman.

I mean, I remember,
for example,

when he and 'Mione
sat down for dinner,

David held the chair
for her and, uh,

pushed the chair in for her,

and being very polite,
easy-going,

and very lovely people.

♪ Let your hair hang down ♪

♪ Wear the dress
your mother wore ♪

♪ Let me sleep beside you... ♪

In the early days, he wasn't
happy, professionally, at all,

because it was a sort of
massive struggle,

that whole year.

[Bowie]
I remember
there was this endless period

where I was, like, scrubbing
out people's kitchens.

I know I did that. Anything
to pick up a few dollars.

But I needed something that
didn't tie me down in any way,

so if an audition came along
or whatever,

I'd be free to do it, you know?

[Farthingale]
But by August,
it suddenly came to him

that what he wanted to do was
this mixed media performance.

♪ I will give you dreams ♪

♪ And I'll tell you things
you'd like to hear ♪

♪ Let your hair hang down ♪

[Bowie]
I was in a mixed media group,

which means that
one of us could dance,

another one could sing, and
another one had some poetry,

and we put it all together.
And, uh, it went underground.

It was called Feathers.

And the girl was Hermione

and, uh, the guy
was Hutch on guitar.

["Ching-A-Ling"
by Feathers playing]

♪ Two lover souls we spied ♪

♪ They wished
the cloud boys sang to me ♪

♪ A cheerful happy cry... ♪

[Hutchinson]
David and, uh, Feathers,
we could do a song

quite heavy and quite deep.

But you can change
the mood on a gig

by doing something
with a nice snappy guitar riff.

And "Ching-A-Ling" song
was, uh, fine.

It was a good song.
And it had, uh,

you know, that was unusual,
in its way.

[Visconti]
"Ching-A-Ling" was based
on David's 12-string,

his traveling piano, you know,
that's what he used
all the time to write on.

And as long as he stayed
on that instrument,

songs were gonna come out
that way. It was, you know,

you can't play, like, uh,
rock riffs on a 12-string.

You just can't.
[laughs]

He'd try one thing,
try another.

Things didn't--
If they didn't work out,
that was absolutely fine.

And just move on to the next.

But he wasn't lost.
He just wasn't found either.

["Sell Me a Coat"
by David Bowie playing]

[Bowie]
We used to do some mime pieces,
you know, and it was like

just throwing in
everything I knew to keep
an audience's attention

more than anything else.

I can't remember the specifics
of his performance,

other than what I photographed.

[Stevenson]
It was pretty much
like mime exercises,

but a bit extra.

It didn't really do it for me.

But the man did.
[laughs]

♪ Sell me a coat
with buttons of silver ♪

♪ Sell me a coat
that's red or gold ♪

♪ Sell me a coat... ♪

[Stevenson]
I didn't shoot color
with David,

'cause it seemed like a waste.

Color, whole different
thing and expense.

Yeah, he was obviously not
gonna be a massive star, so...

why would I want
color in my library?

[Kemp]
David asked me to see

a little show that he'd
got together with Feathers.

[Bowie]
I was walking home,

and I happened to glance in
the window of this junk shop.

And there it was.

[Kemp]
It had a piece called The Mask.

David, I suppose, had seen
Marcel Marceau along the line.

But he wasn't Marcel Marceau.

[man and woman laughing]

[Kemp]
It was dreadful.

I cringed.
[stammers] I really cringed.

[recorded applause]

And there are always
people that say,

"He was very good in
that miming, wasn't he?"

Oh, no, he was a load of shit.

[Harty]
Has any of the criticism or
any of the attacks hurt you?

[Bowie]
Yes, everything hurts me
very much. I'm very sensitive.

But, uh, I put myself
in that position, so that's...

what I'm in for, isn't it?

[Farthingale]
Feathers was never
destined to last.

He never said,
"Let's the three of us
get really famous together."

It was a stepping stone.

But I had also said to myself,

"Am I actually going to be with
David for the rest of my life?"

And I didn't think
I was actually going to.

He was clearly going somewhere.

And I just didn't think
I was going to tread
that path with him.

Song of Norway was
a big MGM spectacular,

which needed dancers
for seven months or so.

It was something that
nobody in their right mind
would've turned down.

I just thought, "Yeah, this
is what I want to be doing."

I suddenly realized
that I had to...

I had to pull out, stop.

[Bowie]
Oh, God, yes, my heart broke.

She was doing
this funny romp in Norway

with bits of ballet in it, and
that she was, uh, cast in that.

God, I didn't get over that
for such a long time.

It really broke me up.

[Amadeus]
I think he was vulnerable,

and he was scared
of being abandoned.

I think he was very hesitant
about giving himself.

["When I'm Five"
by David Bowie playing]

And David must've been
very frightened

by all the comings and goings
of various family members.

♪ When I'm five ♪

♪ I will read the magazines
in mummy's drawer ♪

♪ When I'm five ♪

♪ I will walk behind
the soldiers in the ♪

♪ May Day parade... ♪

[Bowie]
I have a cousin
who's very dear to me

who was shuttled around
from family to family

and came to stay with us
for a while.

My mother had, uh, children
that I never really knew about,

but were also shifted off
to another family.

It just seemed
everybody in the family

had this kind of attribute
of being in transition
from one stage to another.

♪ When I'm five ♪

♪ I will catch a butterfly and
eat it and I won't be sick... ♪

[Bowie]
I think I'd realized that

the transitory nature
of life was, um,

something that we all had
to deal with.

I think one of the reasons
he was so very good as a child,
and he was,

was because he was afraid
he'd be given away too.

[Bowie singing acapella]
♪ Ground Control to Major Tom ♪

♪ Your circuit's dead,
there's something wrong ♪

♪ Can you hear me, Major Tom? ♪

[Bowie]
I related it to myself
a lot more

than anything
I'd written up until then.

There was something about it
that touched areas of my fears

about my own insecurity,
socially,

and maybe emotionally.

This feeling of isolation that
I had ever since I was a kid

was really starting
to manifest itself.

I think the isolation
of the film 2001

made itself very obvious
when I wrote the song
"Space Oddity,"

because for the first time,

I really felt a sense of
how you could write
as an isolationist.

["Space Oddity"
by David Bowie playing]

[Bowie]
I thought,
"Well, gee, I am Major Tom.

Here I am in my own
cosmic space, and

nobody can possibly understand
what it's like to be out here

on this umbilical cord
attached to my craft."

♪ Ground Control to Major Tom ♪

♪ Ground Control to Major Tom ♪

♪ Take your protein pills
and put your helmet on... ♪

[Hutchinson]
David wrote it as
a song for two people,

Ground Control and Major Tom.

David would sing the lead, and
I would come up with easiest way

for me to sound right
as the harmony voice.

♪ Check ignition and
may God's love be with you ♪

♪ Blast off! ♪

Not only that,
I should've been on the record

as Ground Control, obviously.

But I'd left.
I was in a drawing office
in Scarborough by then.

♪ This is Major Tom
to Ground Control ♪

♪ I'm stepping
through the door ♪

♪ And I'm floating
in the most peculiar way ♪

♪ Can I please get back
inside now, if I may?... ♪

[Visconti]
When I heard the demo
of "Space Oddity,"

I didn't like it all that much.

And, uh, I handed it
to Gus Dudgeon.

He really loved David.

[Dudgeon]
I said, "Tony, you're crazy.

Are you sure you don't wanna
do this song?" And he said,

"No, you wanna do it,
obviously." I said,
"I can't wait."

And, uh, so he said, "Well,
you do that on the B-side,

and I'll do
the rest of the album."
I said, "OK, fine."

[Visconti]
If Gus were alive,
which he isn't, unfortunately,

he would be
presenting this to you.

And, uh, I was really,
really impressed

with the job that David and
Gus Dudgeon had done on this.

What makes this work is drama.

The first thing you hear is
an ominous 12-string guitar

fade up from nothing.

So all that is quite dramatic.

That's not
your average pop song.

But you know,
it doesn't hit you in the face,
doesn't hit you in the head.

It's drama.
And you're sucked into it.

So this is a very
clever device that he used.

[Bowie singing acapella]
♪ Ground Control to Major Tom ♪

♪ Ground Control to Major Tom ♪

[Visconti]
So David used this
revolutionary new instrument,

the mighty little Stylophone.

So it all adds to the kind of
science-fiction quality
of the song.

♪ Check ignition and
may God's love be with you ♪

Very dramatic lift-off,
isn't it?

["Space Oddity"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ This is Ground Control
to Major Tom ♪

♪ You've really made
the grade ♪

And another new thing
it had on it,

which the Beatles kind of
debuted, was the Mellotron.

[playing chords
from "Space Oddity"]

David wanted it,
because he wanted it to sound,

not like strings,
but like strings.

And I knew exactly what
he meant. It's recorded strings.

So, tapes inside.

Um, but one of the problems
you have with this instrument

is that, uh, a note
only lasts eight seconds.

And then, it cuts out.

So, if you hold
a chord long enough,

and sometimes you need
to hold it for a lot longer
than eight seconds,

after you get to
the eight-second mark,
it starts to...

[chord distorts and stops]

to do that, which is why
I hated the bloody thing,

um, to be brutally
honest with you.

♪ And the papers want to know
whose shirts you wear ♪

♪ Now it's time to leave
the capsule if you dare ♪

Covered it in echo to get the
actual sound that David wanted.

Which I have nicked ever since
to use on Yes records.

♪ Though I'm past
100'000 miles ♪

♪ I'm feeling very still ♪

♪ And I think my spaceship
knows which way to go ♪

♪ Tell my wife I love her
very much, she knows ♪

♪ Ground Control to Major Tom ♪

♪ Your circuit's dead,
there's something wrong ♪

♪ Can you hear me, Major Tom? ♪

[Harty]
David, the record
which you have

in our charts in Britain
at the moment

is undoubtedly your biggest
success to date, isn't it?

[Bowie]
My only success to date.

♪ Here am I floating round
my tin can ♪

[Visconti]
When he had the big hit
with "Space Oddity,"

that's where the change came
where he started seeing
himself as a star.

♪ Planet Earth is blue
and there's nothing I can do ♪

[Visconti]
People knew who
David Bowie was then.

He was the Major Tom guy

and they'd say,
"Hey, Major Tom" and all that.
People would see him, you know.

Which he loved.
He absolutely loved it.

[announcer]
Accepting the Special Merit
Award for Originality,

David Bowie.

[Visconti]
But they said, "You'll never
write another song

like this again,"
and he didn't.

What he did come up with
was something no one
dreamt about at the time.

He was the first rock star
to take on a different identity.

In other words, it was
Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie.

That was his stroke of genius.

["Starman"
by David Bowie playing]

[Bowie]
Off the record, what
everybody told me is that,

"David, you've gotta
have a single."

So, I said,
"Right, I'll go away,

and I'll write an RP-type
single in my style.

[laughs]
Based loosely on "Oddity."

[man] Loosely on "Space Oddity".

-Right.
-So that people say,

"Ah, this is what we were
waiting for from David Bowie,

is a follow-up
to 'Space Oddity.'"

That's "Starman."
"Starman" was strictly,
I wrote it in about 15 minutes.

I used every cliché phrase
I could think of

to do with starmen and people
in space [unclear] and

let the children boogie
and all that.

Shoved it in three minutes
and on a nice tune.

♪ Didn't know what time it was
and the lights were low ♪

♪ I leaned back on my radio ♪

♪ Some cat
was layin' down some ♪

♪ Get it on rock 'n' roll,
he said ♪

♪ Then the loud sound
did seem to fade ♪

♪ Came back like a slow voice
on a wave of phase haze ♪

♪ That weren't no D.J.
that was hazy cosmic jive ♪

[interviewer]
Do you enjoy being a rock star?

[Bowie]
Fantastic. [laughs]

I'm just really,
I'm itching to write.

I've never really thought,
"Well, I'm gonna
make my mark as a..."

I just thought,
"Well, I'll be David Bowie.

The first David Bowie,
that's all."

♪ There's a starman
waiting in the sky ♪

♪ He'd like to come
and meet us ♪

♪ But he thinks
he'd blow our minds ♪

♪ There's a starman
waiting in the sky ♪

♪ He's told us not to blow it ♪

♪ 'Cause he knows
it's all worthwhile ♪

♪ He told me ♪

♪ Let the children lose it ♪

♪ Let the children use it ♪

♪ Let all the children boogie ♪

[Cambridge]
When we did the Space Oddity
album in Trident studio,

David used to walk about
like he was a star.

You could see it just by--

He could walk into a pub,
and you think,

"He's gonna be a star," and
you could t--, you know, that.

But not necessarily about
his music or his playing
at that time, you know.

["Letter to Hermione"
by David Bowie playing]

He was a bit like
a folky singer.

He wasn't, like,
the rock God he became.

But, then again,
David was very deep, you know?

He would never...

wore his heart on his sleeve,

he would never come out to you
and say, "I'm really worried
about this," you know.

He would just ride over it.

♪ The hand that
wrote this letter ♪

♪ Sweeps the pillow clean ♪

♪ So rest your head
and read a treasured dream ♪

♪ I care for
no one else but you ♪

♪ I tear my soul
to cease the pain ♪

♪ I think maybe
you feel the same ♪

♪ What can we do?... ♪

[Bowie]
So, I wrote my, you know,
my "Letter to Hermione"

on my album.
There, that'll show her.

I write something that public,

and she'll see that
she really messed me up.

♪ So I've been writing you
just for you... ♪

He was definitely
feeling that song.

That was him being vulnerable.

I think we only did
one or two takes.

There was no reason
to keep recording it

and do it one more time,
better.

He just did that performance

and it was heart-tugging.

♪ They say your life
is going very well ♪

♪ They say you sparkle
like a different girl ♪

♪ But something tells me
that you hide ♪

♪ When all the world
is warm and tired ♪

♪ You cry a little
in the dark ♪

♪ Well so do I... ♪

Did I cry? Probably.

I missed him terribly.
We missed each other.

As friends, apart from
anything else, you know,

that's what we really,
we really missed. Yeah.

♪ I'm not quite sure
what I'm supposed to do ♪

♪ So I'll just write
some love to you ♪

♪ Still don't know
what I was waiting for ♪

♪ And my time
was running wild ♪

♪ A million dead end
streets and ♪

♪ Every time I thought
I'd got it made ♪

♪ It seemed the taste
was not so sweet ♪

[Bowie]
It almost seemed like 1970
was the cumulative year for me.

That's where it all sort of
started to make sense.

["Conversation Piece"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ I took this walk
to ease my mind ♪

♪ To find out
what's gnawing at me ♪

♪ Wouldn't think
to look at me ♪

♪ That I've spent
a lot of time in education... ♪

[Bowie]
I was living in this, uh, huge,
almost neo-gothic pile

down in Beckenham
called Haddon Hall.

Which had some kind of, uh,
baronial hall entrance
hall-type thing.

And the band that
we collected together,

Visconti and,
at the time, Angela,

all kind of shared this,
uh, baronial hall.

So it's kind of
a commune thing.

[Visconti]
Angie, when I met her,
was this free spirit.

She was outspoken, had courage
like you wouldn't believe.

She could walk up to anybody and
give them a piece of her mind.

Or get things.

And Angie was the one
who made things happen.

["The Width of a Circle"
by David Bowie playing]

[Bowie]
Mick came from Hull, you know,
and was very down to Earth.

[laughs]

But when I first heard
him play, I thought, [gasps]

"That's my Jeff Beck. He is
fantastic, this kid is great."

And so, I sort of hoodwinked
him into working with me.

[Victonti]
What David should've said was,
"He's my Mick Ronson."

Mick was his own man.

He could play like Beck,

but he was definitely
a very different guitarist

in the sense that Mick was
also a violinist and a pianist.

He studied classical music.

He picked up things that most
rock guitarists didn't know.

[Bowie]
My new band was called Hype.

Tony Visconti on bass,
Mick Ronson on guitar,

and John Cambridge on drums.

And myself on rhythm guitar
and keyboard thing.

♪ In the corner of
the morning in the past ♪

♪ I would sit and blame
the master first and last ♪

♪ All the roads were
straight and narrow ♪

♪ And the prayers
were small and yellow ♪

♪ And the rumor spread
that I was aging fast... ♪

[Bowie]
One of the first gigs that
we did was in February 1970

at the Roundhouse with Hype.

And I think it was probably
my first costume band.

And our respective girlfriends
and wives and whatever

put together all these
really ridiculous, like,

cartoon capers
comic hero costumes.

[Cambridge]
The Roundhouse gig
with the costumes,

that was Angie's idea.

She said we should
all get dressed up,

and maybe David
did want to maybe, uh,

a bit in it as well, but
Angie had a lot to do with it.

I was Cowboy Man with a cowboy
hat on. I had a frilly shirt.

[Bowie]
Ronson was Guitar Gangster,

and he wore a sort of
gangster's outfit.

And I became
this kind of Spaceman,

silver llama and all that.

Tony was Hypeman.

He was like a converted
Superman-type thing.

♪ So softly a super God cries ♪

[Bowie]
We thought we were kind of,
you know, smart.

But nobody even
looked at the stage.

I mean, it was really just
the most depressing night
of our lives.

♪ Where all were minds
in uni-thought ♪

♪ Power is weird
by mystic's thoughts... ♪

[Bowie]
But I think I was getting
nearer to what I wanted to do,

which is to create
this alternative world.

Which is what I ultimately
ended up doing with
the Ziggy thing.

♪ A man would tear
his brother's flesh,
a chance to die ♪

♪ To turn to mold ♪

[Woodmansey]
I got a call from David.

"I've got this place
in Beckenham in Kent

called Haddon Hall,
and we all live there.

And I'm doing another album.

You know, will you come?"
So, I was like, "Ooh."

[laughs]

["Looking for a Friend"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ Watch me while you can... ♪

[Coleman]
Haddon Hall was obviously
neglected, wonderful building.

They just rented it and

probably someone was glad
to have anyone in there.

It was a bit like a squat.

[Woodmansey]
Mick and I slept on
the landing in sleeping bags.

I remember waking up
one morning, there was a--

I just heard giggling and
screaming down below
through the banisters.

I looked down and there
was like, ten naked females

prancing about downstairs.

♪ You don't have to be
a big wheel ♪

♪ You don't have to be
the end... ♪

I never saw ten naked women.
I saw two.

But people would try to get
into my bedroom.

And climb into bed with,
uh, Liz and myself,

and it was like, "Mate,
you're in the wrong room.

Go back in that room," you know?
"It's not like a bordello."

Which it kind of resembled
after a while.

[Woodmansey]
You never quite knew
what was gonna happen.

And then David would come down
the staircase in the dress.

You know,
you'd never seen that before.

"It's a man's dress." I said,
"Yeah, I assumed that,"
you know?

[MacCormack]
It was definitely
a man's dress.

Although zipped up
in the same way as a woman's.

We all wore dresses
at that time.

And, uh, no, we didn't. No.

["She Shook Me Cold"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ We met upon a hill ♪

♪ The night was
cool and still... ♪

[Bowie]
I was still very much trying
to find who I was as a writer.

And electric music was
appealing to me more and more.

Especially the heavier
kind of guitar-oriented things.

♪ I will go back again ♪

♪ My God, she shook me cold ♪

[Woodmansey]
I mean,
The Man Who Sold The World

is not completely disconnected
from the Led Zeppelin style

heavy metal that was beginning
to arrive, as well.

I think all the sounds
that he's going through

are things that he's listening
to, having a look at,

pulling into the next record
and, you know,

using that and
going on from there.

["Running Gun Blues"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ I slashed them cold,
I killed them dead ♪

♪ I broke the gooks
I cracked their heads ♪

♪ I'll bomb them out
from under their beds ♪

♪ But now I've got
the running gun blues... ♪

[Woodmansey]
On Man Who Sold The World,

he was starting to get
more of a concept of

"I'll do what I want to do"

lyrically, particularly,
and song-wise.

Um, Man Who Sold The World
opened the floodgates.

I think he was learning that
his ideas could be put across.

And I think the times when
he didn't compromise

on what he wanted to say
were the successful things.

["All the Madmen"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ Day after day ♪

♪ They send my friends away ♪

♪ To mansions cold
and gray... ♪

[Bowie]
One of my, sort of,
half-siblings

meant so much to me in my early
years, and his name was Terry.

He was my half-brother.
My mother's son.

♪ To the far side of town ♪

♪ Where the thin men
stalk the streets ♪

♪ While the sane stay
underground... ♪

[Bowie]
Terry probably gave me

the greatest education
that I could ever have had.

I mean, he just introduced
me to the outside things.

And I guess Terry had shown me

that there has always been
a history of the outside,

of the rebel.

Of not being in the center,

not being drawn to
the tyranny of the mainstream.

But then he would go away
for long periods.

One period he went away,
he joined the, uh, RAF.

And when he came back,
he had changed considerably.

And was showing very evident
signs of schizophrenia.

And then,
he went into hospital,

and he stayed in hospital
for the rest of his life.

♪ Day after day ♪

♪ They tell me I can go ♪

♪ They tell me I can blow ♪

♪ To the far side of town ♪

♪ Where it's pointless
to be high ♪

♪ 'Cause it's such
a long way down ♪

♪ So I tell them that ♪

♪ I can fly ♪

♪ I will scream,
I will break my arm ♪

♪ I will do me harm... ♪

[Bowie]
Insanity was something
that I was terribly fearful of.

But I felt that
I was the lucky one,

because as long as
I could put those psychological
excesses into my music,

then I could always
be throwing it off.

[Amadeus]
One of the porkies
that David perpetuated

for a very long time was
that he came from a family

where insanity
seemed to be the norm.

And it just wasn't true.

Yes, Terry had his breakdown.

But, um, I believe
it was a bad acid trip.

[Visconti]
Every arrangement we did

on The Man Who Sold The World
album,

we started them
in Haddon Hall,

but we finished most
of the album in the studio

and made up
our own parts on the spot.

And David would
go off into the hallway
and write the lyrics.

I'd go out half an hour later,

and he'd just be
holding hands with Angie.

I'd go, "Come on, write the
damn lyrics, for God's sake!"

The Man Who Sold The World
was writ--,

the lyrics were written on
the same day we recorded it,

which was the last day
of the album.

["The Man Who Sold the World"
by David Bowie playing]

[Woodmansey]
"The Man Who Sold The World"
as a song

was kind of about

meeting himself in the future
and where he'd been

and you kind of--

that's the picture you,
or I had in my head.

♪ We passed upon the stair ♪

♪ We spoke of was and when ♪

♪ Although I wasn't there ♪

♪ He said I was his friend ♪

♪ Which came as some surprise ♪

[demo version]
♪ I spoke into his eyes ♪

♪ I thought you died alone ♪

♪ A long long time ago ♪

[Woodmansey]
I thought at the time,

"OK, it's pretty hard rock
and progressive, a lot of it."

So, imagine you've got a
Zeppelin album, a Sabbath album,

and this guy in a dress.

It's not gonna happen,
just from the cover alone.

♪ Who knows? ♪

♪ Not me ♪

♪ We never lost control ♪

♪ You're face to face ♪

♪ With the man
who sold the world ♪

[Coleman]
I was having to create
a bill out of nothing.

And so, I started off with
people that I liked and knew.

So, I rang David and said, "Are
you interested in doing it?"

Got Angie, who said, "No,
he's doing some solo gigs, and

he's not enjoying them
very much," um,

in her inimitable way.

And then, I rang again and got
David a couple of days later,

and he said, "Well, I'm kind of
interested in doing it."

[Bowie]
I did the second festival
ever in 1971.

I got on at 5:30
in the morning.

And it was just me and this
electric Woolworth's organ
that I'd brought.

[organ playing
"Oh, You Pretty Things"]

♪ Wake up you sleepy head ♪

♪ Put on some clothes,
shake out your bed ♪

[David and crowd laughing]

[Bowie on stage]
This is about homo superior.

You're letting
the lyrics down, badly.

[laughter]

[Gillespie]
David, Angie, and I
went to Glastonbury.

And I do remember
people crawling out of their
sleeping bags and their tents.

And he was up there
on his own.

♪ I still don't know
what I was waiting for ♪

♪ And my time
was running wild ♪

♪ A million
dead end streets and ♪

♪ Every time I thought
I'd got it made ♪

♪ It seemed the taste
was not so sweet... ♪

[Coleman]
Then, a few more arrived,
and a few more arrived,

and then, people were running
around waking people up.

I could see people,

I could see little scurrying
figures up the hillside

from my seat
on the side of the stage.

Until eventually there were
about 4-500 people there.

♪ How the others
must see the faker... ♪

[Coleman]
The sun was out,
it was warming up,

and these people had
obviously thought they were
the only people on the planet

that had discovered
this young man, and it r--,

it really was an important
moment for a lot of people.

[Bowie on stage]
I tell you what, um,

I just wanna say that
you've given me more pleasure

than I've had in
a good few months of working,

and I don't do gigs anymore,
because I got so pissed off

with working and dying
a death every time I worked.

And it's really nice
to have somebody appreciate me
for a change.

[applause]

[Bowie]
'71 is when I got down
to seriously writing

and trying to, uh,
not diversify too much.

I was, uh, trying to be
a one-man revolution.

[laughter]

["Changes"
by David Bowie playing]

[Grace]
I know exactly
what he wanted, he told me.

He said, "World domination."

He said there was absolutely no
doubt that he was going to be,

you know, a world-class
superstar that he became.

And that's what he wanted.

♪ Still don't know
what I was waiting for ♪

♪ Time was running wild ♪

♪ A million
dead end streets and ♪

♪ Every time I thought
I'd got it made ♪

♪ It seemed the taste
was not so sweet ♪

♪ Then I turned
myself to face me ♪

♪ But I've never
caught a glimpse ♪

♪ How the others
must see the faker ♪

♪ I'm much too fast
to take that test ♪

♪ Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes ♪

♪ Turn and face the strange ♪

♪ Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes ♪

♪ Don't want to be
a richer man ♪

♪ Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes ♪

♪ Turn and face the strange ♪

♪ Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes ♪

♪ Don't tell them
to grow up and out of it ♪

♪ Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes ♪

♪ Turn and face the strange ♪

♪ Oh, changes ♪

♪ But you see, you've left us
up to our necks in it ♪

♪ Time may change me ♪

♪ But I can't trace time... ♪

[Bowie]
God came to me and he said,
"Let there be Ziggy," you know?

And I just saw the world
in another kind of fashion.

And it was about pushing
together all the pieces

and all the things
that fascinated me culturally.

A hybrid of everything I liked.

Just playing around
with the idea of rock 'n' roll.

♪ Turn and face the strange ♪

♪ Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes ♪

♪ Look out
all you rock 'n' rollers... ♪

[Woodmansey]
He needed a vehicle,

he needed a character
to feel comfortable

and to put his ideas across.

It seemed like
he really needed that.

Which was missing
from all those earlier attempts
at success.

♪ Time may change me ♪

♪ But I can't trace time ♪

[audience applauding]

["My Death"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ My death waits like ♪

♪ A beggar blind ♪

♪ Who sees the world ♪

♪ Through an unlit mind ♪

♪ Throw him a dime ♪

♪ For the passing time ♪

♪ My death waits ♪

♪ To allow my friends ♪

♪ A few good times
before it ends ♪

Is it difficult for you to do
what you've just been doing

in a tiny television studio?
I mean,

throwing yourself outwards.

Uh, I find singing and
performing very easy.

But, uh, this is awful.

I've never done this before,
chat show like this.

-Never done--
-I find this very difficult.

-Are you nervous?
-Yes, very.

♪ Oh, let's pick violets for ♪

♪ The passing time ♪

♪ My death waits there ♪

♪ In a double bed ♪

♪ Sails of oblivion ♪

♪ At my head ♪

♪ Pull up the sheets against ♪

♪ The passing time... ♪

[Harty]
How long do you give it?

-What, me?
-Yeah.

-How long do I give me?
-Yeah,

how many years
do you give yourself?

I don't mean, "How many years
do you give yourself in life?"

But how many years can you
be a head of the glamor field

and the head
of the glitter field?

Oh, no, I've never
been ahead of anything.

I've been, I think on my own.

I'm not, I'm not in an Olympics.

[piano playing]

[Bowie]
The artist
is strictly a figment

of people's imagination.

I really believe that.

We're the original false
prophets, we are the Gods.

We want it all, you know,
we want all the adulation

and people to read the lyrics
and everything,

just to play the game.

We don't exist.

And I know that that, that's--
I feel that same emptiness

that they all feel
when they get there.

'Cause they know
that it's not real.

[Garson]
David didn't like
a comfort zone.

He could've done Ziggy
for his whole life,

and he would've had fans,
but he wanted to move on.

So, I knew Ziggy was not
gonna be long-lived.

[Bowie]
Well, it's the last one
tonight, you know?

[interviewer]
Is it? Oh, I heard it was last
for all time, is that right?

We shall see
at the end of the show.

[laughs]

Has been mentioned.

[interviewer]
You're making an announcement,
are you, tonight?

[Bowie]
Um, if that's the case,
I will be.

I knew that it was
a very important show.

I knew he was nervous.

Because something
was really working.

And he spent a decade
working to that.

Go away.

[interviewer]
I can glean that you're nervous,

but I really think
the audience you have tonight,

it's the easiest
you've ever had.

-You think so?
-Oh. And how.

["Moonage Daydream"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ I'm a mama-papa
coming for you ♪

♪ I'm the space invader ♪

♪ I'll be a rock 'n' rolling
bitch for you ♪

♪ Keep your mouth shut ♪

♪ You're squawking
like a pink monkey bird ♪

♪ And I'm busting up
my brains for the words ♪

♪ You know I am ♪

♪ Keep your electric eye
on me, babe... ♪

The Hammersmith gig, of the
thousand shows I did with him,

had a mystique, an energy.

This is something special.

It was something electric
about it.

["Suffragette City"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ Oh, don't lean on me man ♪

♪ 'cause you can't
afford the ticket ♪

♪ I'm back on
Suffragette City ♪

♪ Oh, don't lean on me man ♪

♪ 'cause you can't
afford the ticket ♪

♪ I'm back
on Suffragette City... ♪

[Hutchinson]
We finished the last song

and David walked
to my side of the stage.

And said, "Don't start
'Rock And Roll Suicide,'"

which I play the intro on,

"until I tell you."

So I figured
he must be gonna say,

"Thanks for the tour, we'll see
you in September," or whatever.

But he didn't.

[Bowie]
Of all the shows on this tour,

this, this particular show
will remain with us the longest.

-Because...
-[audience cheering]

not only is it, not only is it
the last show of the tour,

but it's the last show that
we'll ever do. Thank you.

[Woodmansey]
I thought,
"OK, maybe this is a stunt."

And then, part of me was going,

"I've just got the sack."
[laughs] Live.

♪ Time takes a cigarette ♪

♪ Puts it in your mouth ♪

♪ You pull on your finger ♪

♪ Then another finger,
then your cigarette ♪

♪ The wall-to-wall is calling ♪

♪ It lingers,
but still you forget ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ You're a rock 'n' roll
suicide... ♪

[MacCormack]
It did really seem odd that, at
the very height of his career,

he was extinguishing it
with a couple of phrases.

It must've seemed to people,

"Why would you do that?
Why would you give it all up?

When you're just
at the starting grid."

♪ But you can't eat
when you've lived too long... ♪

[MacCormack]
Extraordinary night,
an extraordinary statement.

♪ You're a rock 'n' roll
suicide... ♪

There was something
very calculated about it.

And I think

what he had that most artists
didn't have is he had a sense of

what is commercial, what works,

what can sell in addition
to his own integrity.

♪ Don't let the sunlight
blast your shadow ♪

♪ Don't let the milk float
ride your mind... ♪

[Hutchinson]
Ziggy Stardust
was a culmination

of all the things that David
tried to do in the 60's.

I think with Ziggy Stardust,
he achieved the success,

uh, that an individual like
Ziggy Stardust would aim for.

But David himself
wasn't Ziggy Stardust.

So, I think he'd already
stepped outside of
that character,

back into being David Bowie.

Thank you very much.

Bye-bye, we love you.

[audience cheering]

[Bowie]
To make the kind of
breakthrough I needed,

I had to put on a few trappings
in the beginning.

And I think now,

I will just be David Bowie,
period.

I've got massive plans
for the future.

["Rebel Rebel"
by David Bowie playing]

♪ Rebel rebel ♪

♪ You've torn your dress ♪

♪ Rebel rebel ♪

♪ Your face is a mess ♪

♪ Rebel rebel ♪

♪ How could they know? ♪

♪ Hot tramp, I love you so! ♪

♪ Rebel rebel ♪

♪ You've torn your dress ♪

♪ Rebel rebel ♪

♪ Your face is a mess ♪

♪ And you're a ♪

♪ Rebel rebel ♪

♪ How could they know? ♪

[audience]
♪ Hot tramp, I love you so! ♪

You bet!

♪ Hey baby,
let's stay out tonight ♪

♪ Hey baby,
let's stay out tonight ♪