It's a Crash Course for the Ravers

Today's post is a time travel trip to the near future, a time when humans have forgotten how to procreate.   They watch old porno flicks to understand how it was done.  From 1973's Aladdin Sane, Drive-In Saturday is one of my favorite glam-period David Bowie songs.   From the odd doo-wop opening to the fantastic sax solos, this was a never-to-be-repeated experiment in arrangement and mood.   The chorus is just perfect with its complicated walking chord progressions and hilarious lyrics referring the stereotypical hunk in the old sex films - "His name was always Buddy!"  "She'd sigh like Twig the wonder kid" is a reference to late 60's fashion model Twiggy.

There are two version here, the first the original release, the second a much more recent live recording, which starts with David explaining how Mott The Hoople turned down the song and he was so pissed that he shaved off his eyebrows.   It is a very different arrangement that he sings with a real passion, and the cutesy backup singers really bring a 60s girl group vibe to the proceedings.

You've got your cue line and a handful of 'ludes

Opinions vary on the genuineness of David Bowie as a rock'n'roller. For me it is not so much a question of his theatrics. Nor is it a matter of his chameleon like qualities, shifting from the long haired hippy in a man-dress to an alien rocker to the thin white duke, etc. It all comes down to the music. There are big swaths of his career that lay outside my area of interest, but from 1970 to 1980 he turned out a string of songs - both for himself and for others - that I believe are essential listening.

In 1974 he released Rebel Rebel as a single from the upcoming Diamond Dogs LP. In the spirt of the Kink's Lola, it is a real gender bender - "You've got your mother in a whirl, cause she's not sure if you are a boy or a girl". In the USA the 45rpm release was a completely different production than on the album and on the UK single. The tempo is a bit faster, there are wonderful phased vocal harmonies, the run time is 1:20 shorter, and the mix is absolutely on fire. The US single version is very hard to find. My brother bought the single back in the day, and I finally found it on the Sounds & Vision box set. Some obliging soul has put it up on YouTube, so I suggest you give it a listen. It really rocks my sock off.

And a favorite memory from the olden days - I saw a punk band from Pine Bluff, Arkansas perform this song at the Blue Grotto club on S. Main in uptown Tulsa in 1980. Priceless!