“Space Oddity” is a song that was written and recorded by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was first released on 11 July 1969 by Philips Records as a 7-inch single, then as the opening track of his second studio album David Bowie.
After the commercial failure of his self-titled debut album in 1967, Bowie’s manager Kenneth Pitt commissioned Love You till Tuesday, a promotional film that was intended to introduce Bowie to a larger audience.
For the film, Bowie wrote “Space Oddity”, a tale about a fictional astronaut named Major Tom; its title and subject matter were partly inspired by Stanley Kubrick‘s film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Bowie’s feelings of alienation at that point in his career.
Musically, “Space Oddity” was one of the most complex songs Bowie had written up to that point, and marked a change from the music hall-influenced sound of his debut to a sound that is akin to psychedelic folk and inspired by the music of the Bee Gees. The song’s style, structure, lyrics and arrangement compare to those of the Bee Gees‘ 1967 single “New York Mining Disaster 1941“, which has similar minor chords and chorus. Space Oddity was a Bee Gees type song. David knew it, and he said so at the time … the way he sang it, it’s a Bee Gees thing.”
Here’s the more commercial version reissued 1972 for the US where it became Bowie’s first US hit, now as the artist Ziggy Stardust
