The man who inspired David Bowie’s ‘Moonage Daydream’
In conversations about David Bowie‘s artistic genius and documents exploring all the worlds, stories and characters that made him one of the most revolutionary figures of all time, rarely is there much indication of the inspiration behind such moves or the people who made it all possible. Bowie was, for all intents and purposes, a genius mind who deserves the credit, but what about all the rest?
From jumping on the cultural moment that was the space race craze to morphing into fully formed entities with an artistic vision that changed the game forever, Bowie seemingly never experienced a shortage of ideas. He knew how to remain authentic and why doing so was the only way you could ever truly make an imprint on the industry in any real, meaningful way.
As he once said, “Never play to the gallery”. In Bowie’s world, the worst thing an artist could do was to jump on a trend or try to be commercial for the sake of it, and the moment that anybody starts making things they think others will like, that’s when they put out their worst stuff. So, as much as he could, he kept his head down, his spirits up, and his mind in the right place, knowing that under these circumstances, his audience would find him.
This is likely also why most regard The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust as one of his greatest records. Fronted by our beloved Ziggy Stardust, this wasn’t just any other rock record; it took all the themes and issues of society and transformed them into something abstract, with characterisation that, by nature, bent and reshaped the rules of reality—from gender fluidity to the subverted nature of stardom and its inherent hierarchical structures.
One song that was reshaped to serve the narrative was ‘Moonage Daydream’. The track was originally written and released when Bowie was in his band Arnold Corns, with slightly different lyrics curated for fashion designer Freddie Burretti. Burretti has been mooted as “the ultimate co-shaper of the Ziggy look”, influencing the singer’s thin, tailored, androgynous look. He was initially a part of Arnold Corns alongside the budding ‘Starman’ but became more of a fashionista sidekick as the times rolled on.
When it came to re-releasing the song later, Bowie changed the lyrics and built arrangements based on ‘Sure Know a Lot About Love’ by The Hollywood Argyles. “It was a combination of the baritone sax and the piccolo on the solo, which I thought, ‘Now there’s a great thing to put in a rock song’. Which I nicked, then put in ‘Moonage Daydream’ later,” he said. But Burretti was a seminal muse, someone Bowie slated to be the next Mick Jagger, first discovered by the singer at the gay bar Sombrero and definitive in how he approached his own art.
According to Angela Bowie, everything about him drew you in, for much of the same reasons someone might describe about Bowie: “He was wearing white Spandex hotpants with a navy blue sailors trim and a sailor shirt with short sleeves out of the same white spandex edged in navy on the collar and sleeves,” she recalled in 1999, per The Ziggy Stardust Companion.
She added, “He looked totally Scandinavian with high cheekbones and lots of blond hair, but he was tall and had big hands and feet, speaking of his artistry and physical stamina. Every night, he made new clothes to wear. He was so brilliant.”
Although the lyrics changed, it’s easy to view ‘Moonage Daydream’ as written about someone you might grow fixated with, someone with the kind of charm that pulls you in and makes you confused about whether you want to stand or stare or do everything in your power to adopt the same charisma. “I’m an alligator,” Bowie sings. “I’m a mama-papa coming for you, I’m the space invader, I’ll be a rock ‘n’ rollin’ bitch for you”. Maybe, just maybe, he had already absorbed all of those powers, standing tall as a figure at the peak of coolness.
