Just a few facts to give you with this Jam: Bowie offered this song to the band 'Mott The Hoople', but they turned it down. Bowie was a big fan of theirs, but they weren't selling well. They were about to break up, so, to keep them going, Bowie offered to produce their next album, and, although they rejected this number, they did record Bowie's "All The Young Dudes," which became a big hit, and got them out of a financial mess.
The heavy saxophone backing sound is not actually saxophones. It was created by an "ARP" synthesizer. Bowie wanted a larger-than-life sax sound, so they used the synth to create the sounds that a real sax couldn't. And, the word "droogie" (from the line "Aw, droogie, don't crash here") is from the book and movie "A Clockwork Orange". In the context of the book and the song, it means "friend." Like most of the words in the book's teen-slang language, "Nadsat", it's based on the Russian dialect.
The famous "Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am" lyric was the title of one of the tracks on Charles Mingus' 1961 "Oh Yeah" album (according to Mingus, it was also a phrase that his drummer, Max Roach, used when he was "unable to express his inner feelings"). Bowie was most likely well aware of this, being a jazz lover himself.
A mainstay of the hit album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars", it was a B-side on both 1972's "Starman" and 1975's "Young Americans", though it was later a disastrous, non-charting single release in its own right in 1976. We'll say no more about that! This is the "live from Hammersmith Odeon" version. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffragette_City
15 Comments (since 29 Mar 2014)
leejohnson
[YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlyFBW6pbZ0 Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/lee.johnson.2000/posts/10152323222824295]
leejohnson
Just a few facts to give you with this Jam: Bowie offered this song to the band 'Mott The Hoople', but they turned it down. Bowie was a big fan of theirs, but they weren't selling well. They were about to break up, so, to keep them going, Bowie offered to produce their next album, and, although they rejected this number, they did record Bowie's "All The Young Dudes," which became a big hit, and got them out of a financial mess.
leejohnson
The heavy saxophone backing sound is not actually saxophones. It was created by an "ARP" synthesizer. Bowie wanted a larger-than-life sax sound, so they used the synth to create the sounds that a real sax couldn't. And, the word "droogie" (from the line "Aw, droogie, don't crash here") is from the book and movie "A Clockwork Orange". In the context of the book and the song, it means "friend." Like most of the words in the book's teen-slang language, "Nadsat", it's based on the Russian dialect.
leejohnson
The famous "Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am" lyric was the title of one of the tracks on Charles Mingus' 1961 "Oh Yeah" album (according to Mingus, it was also a phrase that his drummer, Max Roach, used when he was "unable to express his inner feelings"). Bowie was most likely well aware of this, being a jazz lover himself.
leejohnson
A mainstay of the hit album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars", it was a B-side on both 1972's "Starman" and 1975's "Young Americans", though it was later a disastrous, non-charting single release in its own right in 1976. We'll say no more about that! This is the "live from Hammersmith Odeon" version. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffragette_City
Bukowski
Absolute classic.
HappyZebra
great!
kemiladashdot
nice write up and jam
nangeanarendra
thanks for liking my jam
myrtle
Excellent!
gingrich1
Classic.
leejohnson
@polly7923 Me, 19, and not so innnocent, he he he!!!! ;)
lynn200
love this one...and vimeo now plays for me,5 days now,whoopee.
leejohnson
@lynn200 Good news, Lynn.
nangeanarendra
thanks for liking my jam