The David Bowie song that featured an angry Marc Bolan on guitar
David Bowie and Marc Bolan, two titans of the imminent London glam-rock scene, battled it out in the late 1960s. Bowie, who had achieved modest fame with his 1969 album Space Oddity thanks to its titular single, was yet to break out as a world-worthy star. Ahead in the chase at this stage was Marc Bolan, who had established himself as the frontman of psychedelic folk band Tyrannosaurus Rex, the precursor to T. Rex that enjoyed four well-received albums in the late ‘60s.
By 1970, Bowie had become close with his friendly rival, Bolan, and his American producer Tony Visconti. At around this time, Bowie was working on the material that would eventually make up Hunky Dory, but early in 1970, the Starman also had a contract with Philips to record ‘The Prettiest Star’. During these sessions, Bowie brought in Visconti as his bassist and producer, Rick Wakeman on piano and Bolan on lead guitar to record the intended b-side, ‘London Bye Ta-Ta’.
“Mercury released another single, ‘The Prettiest Star’,” Visconti told Uncut. “It had been recorded in January, having been started during the day of the evening that we played the Speakeasy. It was finished a few days later, along with an old chestnut, ‘London Bye Ta-Ta’. This is the third time I recorded the song [‘London Bye Ta-Ta’], once for Deram, once for the BBC and now, possibly the quintessential version, with myself on bass, Marc Bolan on lead guitar and Godfrey McLean on drums, who was in a London soul band called The Gass.”
Unfortunately, the session was not a happy affair, especially for Bolan. “Marc came to the session for an hour, played his solo and left promptly,” Visconti remembered in 1983. “The atmosphere was very heavy.”
“All I wanted to do was promote Marc as an electric guitarist,” Visconti told Spinner in 2010. “I thought it would have been a great coup to have him play on David’s record. David was extremely happy to have Marc play on the record.”
He added: “But after Marc had played this brilliant solo – and he also played on another track too called ‘London Bye Ta-Ta’ – [Bolan’s wife] June just sniped at David, ‘He’s too good for you! He shouldn’t play on your music!’ and she dragged Marc out. It was one of the few times that I saw him at a loss for words.”
“Marc just wanted to be a star,” he concluded, “This was like the carpet was pulled out from under him. If Bowie had asked him to join the band, he probably would have.”
Hear Marc Bolan’s contribution to David Bowie’s ‘London Bye Ta-Ta’ below.
