on the list of the greatest things about an iPod is the fact that it can drop a song through your earholes completely out of the blue that courses through your body like a bad case of Dengue fever. But in a good way. I don’t claim any understanding of the algorithm that runs the iPod’s shuffle feature, but I do know that it keeps me on my toes (Rush’s “New World Man” followed by “Edelweiss” from The Sound of Music soundtrack followed by Ella’s “Blue Moon,” etc., etc.).
The latest gem is David Bowie‘s “Life On Mars,” which first appeared on the album Hunky Dory in 1971. Bowie recorded this song at the height of his artistic powers (unless you consider “Let’s Dance” the height of Bowie’s artistic powers, in which case, there’s no help for you). This was before David came to the U.S. and got all whacked out on the cocaina and yellow zoot suits.
The song is something of a mini epic, with a gentle, lilting piano intro building slowly into a full orchestral crescendo. The writing’s great, too, and the combination of the bare bones kit work with the orchestra and Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust-era vocal stylings create a thing of true beauty.
One of the most recent covers of this song appeared on the soundtrack for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and was performed by Brazilian folk guitar virtuoso Seu Jorge. I’ve been trying to order this album off Amazon, but I’ve been getting a shopping cart error for the past 24 hours. Frustrating. If anyone has a copy of this album and feels like sharing, let me know.