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Sunday, September 26, 2010

2. Starman by David Bowie 1972

Living in Nunawading in the early Seventies delivering goods on my chemist round ($3.60 a week) I had my transistor taped to my handlebars listening to 3AK when this came on. It blew my teenage mind. I had to keep the radio on all night hoping it would come on again. I don't think it did but I managed to find the album on sale at the Newsagent in Blackburn near the train station. Ziggy Stardust really changed my life. After this all I wanted to do was be in a band.
Eventually I got there several years later with Little Murders. At one stage we played Rebel Rebel when we were trying to expand our repertoire to accommodate gigs where we were expected to play 3 sets. Would have loved to play Starman but it was a bit too hard for me.
Starman literally seemed to fall from outer space. Completely alien and that no one else I knew at Box Hill High deemed it of any value made it more special.
I would carry the album to any parties or get togethers and try and get the host to play it.

Didn't know what time it was the lights were low oh how
I leaned back on my radio oh oh
Some cat was layin' down some rock 'n' roll 'lotta soul, he said
Then the loud sound did seem to fade
Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase 
That weren't no D.J. that was hazy cosmic jive


When I played it to my own kids later on they loved the song too and we'd all sing along to bowie in the car. "There's a Starman waiting in the sky" I didn't get to see the Top of The Pops performance that altered a lot of teenagers minds in the UK until a lot later but I still have two massive scrapbooks of all things Bowie. The last time he toured Australia he did this song. My heart stopped for a brief moment. Brilliant!

1 comment:

  1. Off topic, but i remember taking a transistor radio to Elwood beach in the 70's and i got hassled over and over by do-gooders demanding i "get a permit" to play it publicly and querying me "do u have a license for that radio?".

    I nearly died when i got to England in the 80's to hear they still had "TV detector vans"..

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