‘The Prettiest Star’: the love song David Bowie wrote to propose to Angie Bowie
‘The Prettiest Star’ is one of the most interesting cuts David Bowie ever released. This is largely because he released it twice, under two very different guises. These iterations were in the fresh-faced David Bowie days of the ‘Space Oddity’ era and the fame-damaged star of Aladdin Sane, representing either side of the coin. The material is also etched into history because he conceived it as a means of proposing to his first wife, Angie, a woman credited with significantly impacting his early success.
The first version of the sincere ballad arrived on March 6th, 1970, as the follow-up to his breakout single ‘Space Oddity’. Ostensibly a love song – a form he rarely explored – it was recorded two months prior at London’s Trident Studios. Interestingly, Bowie is not the only icon featured in this arrangement, given that it also boasts T. Rex’s Marc Bolan on guitar, who was drafted in by producer Tony Visconti.
Bowie penned the tribute to Angie in December 1969. After completing it, he played it to her over the telephone while she was visiting her parents over the Christmas break in Cyprus. In Backstage Passes: Life on the Wild Side with David Bowie, Angie recalled how the song paved the way for Bowie’s proposal: “He was very sweet too. He played me his new song, ‘The Prettiest Star’, and told me it was written for me. And then he asked me to marry him, and I accepted.”
Although the single received credit from the music press, it was ultimately a commercial flop and, like the bulk of his output at the time, it failed to chart. Bowie’s stark jump from the heady sci-fi of ‘Space Oddity’ to the heartfelt love song put a lot of listeners off.
Bowie would air his frustrations in Melody Maker on March 28th, 1970. Explaining why he didn’t release another ‘Space Oddity’, he said: “I think a lot of people are expecting another ‘Space Oddity’, and ‘Prettiest Star’ is nothing like it. I’m sure this is why the BBC aren’t plugging it. Everyone wanted another song with the same feel as ‘Space Oddity’, but as I’d done it, I didn’t see the point of doing it again. The song served its purpose, but I hope I’m not going to be expected to write and record a whole lot of stuff that is so obvious as ‘Space Oddity’.”
Understanding that there was much quality within the widely misunderstood piece, Bowie would later re-record ‘The Prettiest Star’ for his sixth album, 1973’s Aladdin Sane. This time, he refined the formula, and it remains one of the highlights of the dark jazz-inspired opus.
