Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie song) 3225559 222506675 2008-06-29T18:28:47Z 24.186.145.193 /* Cover versions */ {{otheruses|Ashes to Ashes}} {{Single infobox | Name = Ashes to Ashes | Cover = AshesToAshes3.jpg |200px | Artist = [[David Bowie]] | from Album = [[Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)]] | Released = [[1 August]] [[1980]]| Format = [[Single (music)|7" single]] | Recorded = [[Avatar Studios|Power Station]], [[New York City|New York]]<br>Good Earth, [[London]]<br>February-April 1980| Genre = [[New Wave music|New Wave]] | Length = 3:35 <small>(7" single edit)</small><br>4:23 <small>(Full-length album version)</small>| Label = [[RCA Records]]<br> <small>BOW 6</small> | Producer = [[David Bowie]], [[Tony Visconti]]| Chart position = * #1 <small>([[UK]])</small> * #6 <small>([[Sweden]])</small> | Reviews = | Last single = "[[Crystal Japan]]"<br />(1980) | This single = "Ashes to Ashes"<br />(1980) | Next single = "[[Fashion (song)|Fashion]]"<br />(1980) | | Misc = {{Extra tracklisting | Type = Studio | Album = [[Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)]] | prev_track = "[[Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (song)|Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)]]" | prev_no = 3 | this_track = "'''Ashes to Ashes'''" | track_no = 4 | next_track = "[[Fashion (song)|Fashion]]" | next_no = 5 }} }} "'''Ashes to Ashes'''" is a single by [[David Bowie]], released in 1980. It made #1 in the UK and was the first cut from the ''[[Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)]]'' album, also a #1 hit. As well as its musical qualities, it is noted for its innovative [[music video|video]], directed by Bowie and [[David Mallet (director)|David Mallet]]. Bowie has said that with this song he was "wrapping up the seventies really for myself, and that seemed a good enough epitaph for it".<ref name="The Complete David Bowie">[[Nicholas Pegg]] (2000). ''The Complete David Bowie'': pp.29-31</ref> ==Music and lyrics== [[Melancholia|Melancholic]] and introspective, "Ashes to Ashes" featured Bowie's reinterpretation of "a guy that's been in such an early song", namely [[Major Tom]] from his first hit in 1969, "[[Space Oddity]]". Described as "containing more messages per second" than any single released in 1980,<ref name="Bowie: An Illustrated Record">[[Roy Carr]] & [[Charles Shaar Murray]] (1981). ''Bowie: An Illustrated Record'': pp.109-116</ref> the song also included plaintive reflections on the singer's moral and artistic journey: :I've never done good things :I've never done bad things :I never did anything out of the blue Instead of a [[hippie]] astronaut who casually slips the bonds of a crass and material world to journey beyond the stars, the song describes Major Tom as a "[[junkie]], strung out in heaven's high, hitting an all-time low". This lyric was interpreted as a play on the title of Bowie's 1977 album ''[[Low (album)|Low]]'', which charted his withdrawal inwards following his drug excesses in America a short time before, another reversal of Major Tom's original withdrawal 'outwards' or towards space.<ref name="Bowie: An Illustrated Record" /> The final lines, "My mother said, to get things done, you better not mess with Major Tom", have been compared to the verse from a nursery rhyme:<ref name="Strange Fascination">David Buckley (1999). ''Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story'': pp.366-369</ref> :My mother said :That I never should :Play with the gypsies in the wood Bowie himself said in an interview with ''[[NME]]'' shortly after the single's release, "It really is an ode to childhood, if you like, a popular nursery rhyme. It's about space men becoming junkies (laughs)."<ref>Angus MacKinnon (1980). "The Future Isn't What It Used to Be". ''[[NME]] ([[13 September]][[1980]])'': p.37</ref> Musically "Ashes to Ashes" was notable for its delicate synthetic string sound, counterpointed by hard-edged [[funk]] bass, and its complex vocal layering. Perhaps Bowie's most sophisticated sonic work to date, its choir-like textures were created by [[Chuck Hammer]] with four multi-tracked [[guitar/synthesizer|guitar synthesizer]]s, each playing opposing chord inversions; this was underpinned by Bowie's dead-pan, chanted background voices.<ref>[[Chris Welch]] (1999). ''David Bowie: We Could Be Heroes'': p.136</ref> ==Video== [[Image:Ashes to Ashes video.jpg|thumb|right|245px|Solarised colour in the music video]] The video clip for "Ashes to Ashes" was one of the most iconic of the 1980s. Costing £250,000, it was at the time the most expensive music video ever made.<ref name="Strange Fascination" /> It incorporated scenes both in [[Solarisation|solarised]] colour (helped by an innovative [[Quantel Paintbox]] technique) and in stark black-and-white, featuring Bowie in the gaudy [[pierrot]] costume that became the dominant visual representation of his ''Scary Monsters'' phase. Also appearing were [[Steve Strange]] and other members of the London [[Blitz Kids|Blitz]] scene, including Judith Franklin and Darla Jane Gilroy, forerunners of (later participants in) the [[New Romantic]] movement that was heavily influenced by Bowie's music and image.<ref name="Strange Fascination" /><ref name="The Blitz Kids">[http://us.geocities.com/rebel_blue_rocker/ssashes.html Steve Strange at The Blitz Kids]</ref> Bowie described the shot of himself and the Blitz Kids marching towards the camera in front of a bulldozer as symbolising "oncoming violence".<ref>Steve Malins (2007). "Meeting the New Romantics", ''[[Mojo (magazine)|MOJO]] 60 Years of Bowie'': p.78</ref> Although it appears that two of the Blitz Kids bow at intervals, they were actually trying to pull their gowns away from the bulldozer in an effort to avoid them getting caught.<ref name="The Blitz Kids"/> Scenes of the singer in a space suit - that suggested a hospital life-support system - and others showing him locked in what appeared to be a padded room, made reference to both Major Tom and to Bowie's new, rueful interpretation of him. Contrary to received opinion, the elderly woman lecturing Bowie at the end of the clip was not his real mother.<ref name="The Complete David Bowie" /> ''[[Record Mirror]]'' readers voted "Ashes to Ashes" and Bowie's next single, "[[Fashion (song)|Fashion]]", the best music videos of 1980.<ref>[[Nicholas Pegg]] (2000). Op Cit: pp.75-76</ref> ==Release== "Ashes to Ashes" hit #4 in the UK Singles Chart in its first week of release, rising to #1 a week later, making it Bowie's fastest-selling single to that point in time.<ref name="Strange Fascination" /> It was issued in three different sleeves, the first 100,000 copies including one of four sets of stamps, all featuring Bowie in the pierrot outfit he wore in the video.<ref name="GoldenYears">[http://members.ol.com.au/rgriffin/GoldenYears/ScaryMonsters.html ''Scary Monsters'' at BowieGoldenYears]</ref> The B-side, "Move On", was a track lifted from his previous album, ''[[Lodger (album)|Lodger]]'' (1979). The US release had "[[It's No Game]] (No. 1)" as the B-side, while the flip side of the German release was "[[Alabama Song (David Bowie song)|Alabama Song]]". The single did not chart in America. ==Track listing== # "Ashes to Ashes" (Bowie) – 3:34 # "[[Move On (David Bowie song)|Move On]]" (Bowie) – 3:16 ==Production credits== * '''[[Record producer|Producer]]s''': ** [[Tony Visconti]] ** [[David Bowie]] * '''[[Musician]]s''': ** David Bowie: [[Singer|Vocals]] ** [[Chuck Hammer]]: Roland GR500 [[guitar synthesizer]] ** [[Carlos Alomar]]: [[Guitar]] ** [[Simon House]]: [[Violin]] ** [[Roy Bittan]]: [[Piano]] ** [[George Murray (musician)|George Murray]]: [[Bass guitar|Bass]] ** [[Dennis Davis]]: [[Drum kit|Drums]] ==Alternative versions== There have long been rumours of an extended unreleased version of the song, allegedly some 13 minutes long and featuring additional verses, a longer [[Fade (audio engineering)|fade-out]] and a synthesizer solo.<ref name="The Complete David Bowie" /> A 12:55 version that appeared on the bootleg ''From a Phoenix... The Ashes Shall Rise'' was a fake, repeating the song's instrumental breaks to achieve its additional length.<ref>[http://www.illustrated-db-discography.nl/SongA.htm#A "Ashes to Ashes" at Illustrated db Discography]</ref> Similarly, an 11:44 version on bootleg albums such as ''Glamour'', ''Vampires of the Human Flesh'' and ''Monsters to Ashes'' was again nothing more the original track with segments repeated and looped. ==Live versions== * A live recording from a special performance at the [[BBC]] Radio Theatre, [[London]], on [[June 27]], [[2000]] was released on the bonus disc that followed the first releases of the ''[[Bowie at the Beeb]]'' album. * A live recording from [[A Reality Tour]] appears on the 2003 concert DVD. * The song was also played on the [[Let's Dance (David Bowie album)|Serious Moonlight]], ''[[Sound and Vision (compilation)|Sound and Vision]]'', and ''[[Heathen Tour|Heathen]]'' tours.<ref name="The Complete David Bowie" /> ==Other releases== * To promote the single in August 1980, a so-called medley of "Space Oddity" and "Ashes to Ashes", called "The Continuing Story of Major Tom", was released on 12" in the US.<ref name="GoldenYears"/> However, this medley was simply "Space Oddity" cross-fading into the 7" single edit of "Ashes to Ashes". The promo's B-side was the full-length album version of "Ashes to Ashes". * It has appeared on the following Bowie compilations: ** ''[[ChangesTwoBowie]]'' (1981) ** ''[[Golden Years (album)|Golden Years]]'' (1983) ** ''[[Fame and Fashion]]'' (1984) ** ''[[Sound and Vision (compilation)|Sound and Vision]]'' (1989) ** ''[[Changesbowie|ChangesBowie]]'' (1990) ** ''[[The Singles Collection (David Bowie album)|The Singles Collection]]'' (1993) ** ''[[Best of Bowie]]'' (2002) ==Cover versions== * [[Lassigue Bendthaus]] - ''[[Pop Artificielle]]'' * [[Happy Rhodes]] - ''Rhode Songs'' (1993) * [[Grant Lee Buffalo]] - Live recording * [[A Perfect Circle]] - Live recording * [[Tears for Fears]] - Released on the albums ''[[Ruby Trax]]'', ''[[Saturnine Martial & Lunatic]]'' and ''David Bowie Songbook'' * [[Twilight Zone (band)|Twilight Zone]] - ''Ashes to Ashes: A Tribute to David Bowie'' (1998) * [[Bic Runga]] - Live recording * [[Something for Kate]] - Live recording released on B-sides compilation CD * [[Jacksoul]] - ''My Soul'' (2006) * [[Tripod (band)|Tripod]] - Live version combined with "Space Oddity" (2006) * [[Bojan Zulfikarpašić|Bojan Z]] - ''Xenophonia'' (2006) * [[Sneaker Pimps]] - ''ICA Home Taping Cover Set'' (2000) * [[Echo & the Bunnymen]] - [[John Peel|Peel session]] * [[La Ley (band)|La Ley]] - Live recording * [[Samantha Mumba]] - Sample used in "[[Body II Body]]" * [[The String Quartet]] - ''BowieMania: Mania, une Collection Obsessionelle de Beatrice Ardisson'' (2007) * [[Museum (band)|Museum]] - ''.2 Contamination: A Tribute to David Bowie'' (2006) * [[Danny Michel]] - ''Loving the Alien: Danny Michel Sings the Songs of David Bowie'' (2004) * [[Big Blue Missile]] ft. [[Scott Weiland]] - unreleased, but available for download [http://cosmojones.com/music.html here]. ==Coopted iconography== For the 2008 sequel to their 2006 [[BBC]] TV series ''[[Life on Mars (TV series)|Life on Mars]]'', the writing team of [[Matthew Graham]] and [[Ashley Pharoah]] decided to transplant the characters from 1973 to 1981, and chose the title ''[[Ashes to Ashes (TV series)|Ashes to Ashes]]'' because they thought of it as "that year's big Bowie track".<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/07/television "Life after Mars"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[January 7]], [[2008]]</ref> They also borrowed the famous [[pierrot]] iconography from the video of the Bowie single as part of the programme's visual design.<ref>[http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/lastnighttv/display.var.2028798.0.Back_in_the_day_when_PC_meant_copper.php "Back in the Day when PC meant Copper"], David Belcher, ''[[The Herald (Glasgow)]]'', [[8 February]], [[2008]]</ref> ==Notes== {{reflist}} {{start box}} {{succession box | before = "[[The Winner Takes It All]]" by [[ABBA]] | title = [[List of number-one singles (UK)|UK number one single]] | years = [[August 23]] [[1980]] | after = "[[Start!]]" by [[The Jam]] }} {{end box}} {{David bowie}} [[Category:Number-one singles in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:1980 singles]] [[Category:1980 songs]] [[Category:David Bowie songs]] [[fr:Ashes to Ashes (chanson)]] [[sv:Ashes to Ashes]]