Happy Bowiemas! Celebrate by listening to Bowie yucking it up impersonating other singers

boing
1

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/08/happy-bowiemas-celebrate-by-l.html

…

3 Likes
2

I just had this interesting David Bowie/John Lennon story pop up in my FB feed (of all places) today, as a matter of fact. David Bowie was talking about swiping a clever line from John, and having it backfire on him.

"Towards the end of the 70s, a group of us went off to Hong Kong on a holiday and John was in, sort of, house-husband mode and wanted to show Sean the world. And during one of our expeditions on the back streets a kid comes running up to him and says, “Are you John Lennon?” And he said, “No but I wish I had his money.” Which I promptly stole for myself.
[imitating a fan] “Are you David Bowie?”
No, but I wish I had his money.
It’s brilliant. It was such a wonderful thing to say. The kid said, “Oh, sorry. Of course you aren’t,” and ran off. I thought, “This is the most effective device I’ve heard.”

I was back in New York a couple of months later in Soho, downtown, and a voice pipes up in my ear, “Are you David Bowie?” And I said, “No, but I wish I had his money.”
“You lying bastard. You wish you had my money.” It was John Lennon."

7 Likes
3

I can’t believe that song was never released - it’s amazing. I think it really worked for “Bruce Springsteen,” too.

4 Likes
4

I like how he injected Iggy’s midwestern accent into his impersonation.

3 Likes
5

That’s cracking. What a versatile voice he had; though I thought that his Anthony Newley was actually him doing a David Bowie impression.

What must it be like to look in the mirror and see beauty and talent reflected back at you.

600×600 48 KB

2 Likes
6

I’m not entirely sure that that last one is supposed to be Neil Young. It sounds a lot more like Tom Petty., especially the phrasing and note choices and melisma.

2 Likes
7

wtf is this “Bowiemas” bullshit. i love him as much as anyone, but i think even he would object to this sort of veneration.

8

I’d buy that he’s going for Dylan, but there’s certainly a lot of Marc Bolan in #2 impression.

2 Likes
9

Frank Sinatra, on the other hand, would probably make himself a nice veneration sandwich.

10

well of course. as the saying goes, it’s Frank’s world – we just live in it.

1 Like
11

Yukking. He was yukking it up. And his Springsteen is pretty generous. You can at least understand the lyrics in Bowie’s version.

12

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.