The David Bowie songs that sum up his life in his own words

His death made planet earth blue, his life brought one of the most highly-regarded and diverse bodies of work in music history – but can we tell that journey through his music?

Here’s Bowie’s life, in his own words and work.

Space Oddity (David Bowie, 1969)

Though he’d released a debut album two years previously, Bowie’s career really starts with Space Oddity. The tale of a fictional astronaut called Major Tom who finds himself adrift in space, it was released to coincide with the 1969 moon landing and was used by the BBC in its coverage – not the most reassuring message.

Song for Bob Dylan (Hunky Dory, 1971)

Some of Bowie’s biggest songs are contained on fourth album Hunky Dory, but it’s also the singer at his most personal. The song ‘Kooks’ is a throwaway ditty for his newborn son, while he talks up Andy Warhol on a track of the same name. It’s here though he pays tribute to a musical hero, the “strange young man called Dylan with a voice like sand and glue”.

Starman (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972)

One of the most pivotal performances of Bowie’s career came on Top of the Pops in 1972. Dressed as his iconic Ziggy Stardust character, his outfit and the casual arm draped around the shoulder of guitarist Mick Ronson were a bolt from the blue, with artists from Bono to Elton John citing the moment as an inspiration.

Young Americans (Young Americans, 1975)

Bowie abruptly killed off Ziggy Stardust in July 1973. His first big stylistic shift came two years later as he abandoned the glam rock still to be found on Diamond Dogs in favour of the soul and R&B stylings of Young Americans, the change never more marked than the respective title tracks.

Always Crashing In The Same Car (Low, 1977)

Station to Station brought the Thin White Duke persona and a rather erratic period of Bowie’s life in which he subsisted on cocaine and bell peppers while keeping his urine in the fridge to prevent it being stolen by a witch. He subsequently relocated to France and Germany to get clean, changing styles once again and producing in the Berlin trilogy – Low, “Heroes” and Lodger – some of the most celebrated albums of his career.

“Heroes” (“Heroes”, 1977)

His Berlin albums may have been avant-garde but they also produced one of Bowie’s biggest hits. “Heroes” tells the tale of young lovers, one from West Berlin and one from East, who dream of escape. “I can remember/standing by the wall/and the guns shot above our heads/and we kissed, as though nothing could fall” can still bring goosebumps to this day.

Ashes to Ashes (Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), 1980)

Ditching the krautrock sounds of the Berlin trilogy, Bowie travelled to New York and found his muse taking him in a direction that would heavily influence the New Romantic movement. ‘Ashes to Ashes’ is a frankly bizarre song, built on a funk bassline, reggae guitar and a ska drumbeat that revisits the story of Major Tom. Somehow, in Bowie’s hands, it all comes together.

Modern Love (Let’s Dance, 1983)

For his next reinvention, Bowie decided to become the world’s biggest popstar. He hired Nile Rodgers of Chic to produce Let’s Dance and played no instruments on the subsequent album. Proving he really could do it all, ‘Modern Love’ reached #2 in the UK chart and is today remembered as one of his greatest songs.

Valentine’s Day (The Next Day, 2013)

Bowie made a surprise return to music in 2013 with the unannounced release of single ‘Where Are We Now?’, but the real treats were to be found on the subsequent album. ‘Valentine’s Day’ deals with school shootings in America and, as he revealed that year, it made Noel Gallagher of Oasis fame say “b*****d, why did I never write that?”.

Lazarus (Blackstar, 2016)

Having blurred the line between life and art arguably more than any major musician, Bowie went out with a bang. His final album was a space-jazz masterpiece and released just days before his death from liver cancer. The video for ‘Lazarus’ sees a frail Bowie alternately confined to a hospital bed and frantically writing, before he is pulled jerkily backward into a wardrobe and the door closes for a final time.

Bonus

Drive-In Saturday (Aladdin Sane, 1972)

This 50s-style single imagines a future in which young people have forgotten how to have sex and are forced to watch films in order to understand how it’s done in “a crash course for the ravers”.

Life On Mars? (Hunky Dory, 1971)

A feature of Bowie setlists from its release to his retirement from live performing, ‘Life On Mars?’ his best-known ballad and inspired a BBC television show of the same name about a time-travelling police officer. “Take a look at the lawman, beating up the wrong guy” indeed.

Ziggy Stardust (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972)

One of the most iconic guitar riffs of all time provides the backing to the rise and fall of the album’s title as Bowie recounts the tale of his alien rockstar creation who took it all too far – but boy, could he play guitar.

I’m Afraid of Americans (Earthling, 1997)

It must be said that the late 90s weren’t the most creatively productive of Bowie’s career, with his ill-advised foray into drum & bass a career nadir. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t good stuff to be found though, as on this pulsating track released on the soundtrack for ‘Showgirls’.

Magic Dance (Labyrinth Soundtrack, 1987)

We had to get some Bowie’s acting career in, and really any excuse to see the world’s coolest rockstar in silly mode should be taken. The Thin White Duke can hardly be accused of lacking humour with lines like “power of voodoo/who do?/you do!”.