The singer David Bowie called “one of the best lyricists in England”
There aren’t many accurate ways to describe the music of David Bowie for someone who hasn’t heard him yet.
Simply put, he was one of the greatest chameleons that the world had ever known, and half of the rock scene wouldn’t have been able to make a dent in the charts if it weren’t for him giving everyone else the right to be weird every time they made a record. But when looking through every single one of his records, changing up his lyrical style mattered just as much as any of the strange instruments that he included in the mix.
He was looking to break down what people thought was acceptable in rock and roll, and that sometimes meant going out on a limb and making mental images that no one had ever approved of before. ‘The Thin White Duke’ was already being a bit more risque when talking about the darker side of life on Station to Station, but even when looking at some of his more famous records, the glam-rock period is still one of the most off-the-wall pieces of his discography.
But right when he was beginning to become one of the biggest stars in the world once MTV kicked in, The Smiths were giving everyone something different from the underground. Morrissey never claimed to be one of the most commercial forces in the world, but when looking at the lovelorn lyrics that he poured into over half of The Smiths’ greatest records, you could hear that he did actually have a heart underneath all of that brooding.
And while ‘The Starman’ was riding higher than ever after Let’s Dance, he could recognise when the game had been changed when he covered Morrissey’s ‘I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday’, saying, “I do think he’s one of the best lyricists in England, and an excellent songwriter, and I thought his song was an affectionate spoof. Of course, this is where it gets very incestuous because Mick Ronson produced Morrissey’s last album. Anyway, I thought, I’ll take that song he’s done and I’ll do it my way, so we’ll have David Bowie doing Morrissey doing David Bowie!”
But there’s a good chance that ‘The Moz’ wouldn’t have been around if not for Bowie. The rock and roll world had changed extravagantly since the days of Ziggy Stardust, but the disaffected kid with flowers in his pocket singing ‘This Charming Man’ was only given those open doors thanks to hearing Bowie play ‘Starman’ on Top of the Pops for the first time in the early 1970s.
Then again, they couldn’t have come to more different conclusions when it came to their outlook on life. It’s no secret that Morrissey has a slightly morose feeling about the world, but even though Bowie doesn’t see the world as completely accepting of those like him, he is more than willing to be a shoulder for the outsiders to lean on. Morrissey was the one more introverted, but Bowie was always calling out to everyone, reminding them that they aren’t alone going through their struggles.
So, really, seeing Bowie channel Morrissey on this tune was almost like trying to put a little bit of sunshine into his track. Nile Rodgers was back on production duties on this record, so there was already a more upbeat feel to everything, but his way of poking fun at Morrissey was only the next stop on a career that was already about to go through yet another musical detour in the 1990s.
While Morrissey has been content to make morose music without the help of Johnny Marr, Bowie was the one proving that anyone could find a way to keep changing up their style up until the day he passed away with Blackstar. He may have been taking the mickey out of ‘The Moz’ a little bit, but sometimes the most dejected pop stars needed someone to send them a message to lighten up.
