Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
Ground Control to Major Tom (ten, nine, eight, seven, six)
Commencing countdown, engines on (five, four, three)
Check ignition and may God’s love be with you (two, one, liftoff)
…Finally, he teamed up with Elton John producer Gus Dudgeon to create “Space Oddity,” a song he’d been fiddling with all year. The folk ballad about astronaut Major Tom getting stranded in space was rushed out by his label to coincide with the launch of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and the BBC played the song during the coverage of the event. “In England, it was always presumed that it was written about the space landing, because it kind of came to prominence around the same time. But it actually wasn’t,” he told Performing Songwriter. “It was written because of going to see the film 2001, which I found amazing.
–rollingstone.com
| Single by David Bowie | |
|---|---|
| from the album David Bowie | |
| B-side | “Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud” |
| Released | 11 July 1969 |
| Format | 7-inch single |
| Recorded |
|
| Genre |
|
| Length | 5:15 (album version) 4:33 (UK single edit) 3:26 (U.S. single edit) |
| Label | Philips |
| Songwriter(s) | David Bowie |
| Producer(s) | Gus Dudgeon |
Continue reading “July 11: David Bowie released Space Oddity (single) in 1969 – 50 years ago today”