The David Bowie and Elvis Presley collaboration that never happened
Like most aspiring rock musicians of the 1960s, David Bowie was enamoured with the showmanship and musical talent of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock’ n’ Roll. By the time Bowie laid his first tracks with his divisive eponymous debut album of 1967, Elvis’ most successful years were behind him, but the troubled star was soon to buy a flared suit and embark on his famous Las Vegas chapter.
During this period in the early 1970s, Bowie, who shares his birthday with Elvis, also sported some outlandish flares and enjoyed global fame under his Ziggy Stardust guise. Elvis first became aware of Bowie in 1971, when the Starman appeared on the front row of one of his concerts at Madison Square Garden.
“I came over for a long weekend,” Bowie once recalled of the evening. “I remember coming straight from the airport and walking into Madison Square Garden very late. I was wearing all my clobber from the Ziggy period, and I had great seats near the front.”
“The whole place just turned to look at me, and I felt like a right cunt. I had brilliant red hair, some huge padded space suit and those red boots with big black soles,” Bowie continued. “I wished I’d gone for something quiet because I must have registered with him. He was well into his set.”
Although Bowie feared that he may have upset Elvis, no animosity ever materialised between the two and as label mates, they came achingly close to collaborating. Making the first move, Bowie allegedly wrote his 1975 single, ‘Golden Years’, in hopes that Elvis would sing it. Having recently collaborated with John Lennon on Young Americans, anything seemed possible.
“Apparently, Elvis heard the demos because we were both on RCA, and Colonel Tom [Parker, Presley’s manager] thought I should write Elvis some songs,” Bowie recalled in a 2002 interview with Blender. “There was talk between our offices that I should be introduced to Elvis and maybe start working with him in a production-writer capacity. But it never came to pass.”
Naturally, this missed opportunity would plague Bowie’s mind for years to come, but he wasn’t left empty-handed. Not long after their plans to collaborate on ‘Golden Years’ slid out of view, Presley sent Bowie a warmhearted letter. “I would have loved to have worked with him. God, I would have adored it,” Bowie remembered. “He did send me a note once. ‘All the best, and have a great tour.’ I still have that note.”
Sadly, Presley never offered his masterful vocals to ‘Golden Years’, and Bowie’s original version of the song appeared on the 1976 album Station to Station. Tragically, Elvis passed away a year later in August 1977, aged 42.
A few decades later, the country star Dwight Yoakam revealed that Elvis had, in fact, been very keen to collaborate with Bowie. Speaking to the Orange County Register, Yoakam said Bowie once told him that six months before his death, Elvis phoned him up, asking if he would produce his next album.
“That was based on Elvis having heard Bowie’s ‘Golden Years’, and I thought ‘Oh my God, it’s a tragedy that he was never able to make that’,” Yoakam explained. “I couldn’t even imagine 1977 David Bowie producing Elvis. It would have been fantastic. It has to be one of the greatest tragedies in pop music history that it didn’t happen, one of the biggest missed opportunities.”
Listen to David Bowie’s ‘Golden Years’ below.
