The song that inspired David Bowie and John Lennon’s ‘Fame’
There is something about David Bowie and John Lennon that seems to exist in two separate spheres. While most associated Lennon with The Beatles, positioning him as one of the most influential figures of the 1960s, Bowie only came into his own during the following decade. But for a moment, during a moment of personal crisis and creative renaissance for Lennon, the two collided, working together on one of Bowie’s most defining anthems, ‘Fame’.
They came together at a chaotic time in both of their lives. David Bowie was a new star, and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in 1972 turned him into a bonafide leader of the sparky new glam rock era. He was unlike anything anyone had seen before, looking and sounding like the commander of a new regime.
For Lennon, the early ‘70s were a time of confusion. No longer a Beatle, he was trying to understand his position in the world as an artist. His immediate response seemed to spiral out, leaving Yoko Ono and running away on what is called his ‘lost weekend’, but that lasted years between 1973 and 1975. He was burning out and dealing with alcoholism, drug dependency, and depression in the most self-destructive way possible. And as Bowie was also getting into his own addictions, he was a perfect partner in pain.
But while both would eventually crash out later, in 1973, they were riding high on the thrill of rebellion and the excitement of revived creative energy as the two musical legends began sharing ideas and encouraging each other’s sonic experimentation.
One day, the idea at hand was ‘Fame’, Bowie’s funky contemplation on the trappings of celebrity and the mental mind-fuck notoriety brings. It was a topic Lennon could deeply relate to, so naturally, he wanted to be involved.
Together, along with Bowie’s frequent collaborator, Carlos Alomar, they wrote the song. During a 2020 interview with The Intercept, Alomar remembered the moment that the song was beginning to come together as his mind filled with ideas for its distinctive riff.
While Lennon and Bowie came from a rock and roll background, Alomar had funk and soul on his resumé. He heard some of that coming out on the track as they began working on it, stating, “Taking from my past history of working with James Brown, I decided to approach it like that.”
In particular, The Flare’s ‘Foot Stompin’ came to mind. Alomar had an idea of combining the track’s hyper-catchy doo-wop melody with elements of funk and Bowie’s own brand of glam rock. With all these sparks of ideas spinning around his brain, he needed to get to work. “I was invited to go out to dinner with them,” he remembered of that day in the studio. “Who would say ‘No’ to that? Well, Carlos Alomar said ‘No’ to that because I was hearing these guitar parts in my head, and I was not about to go and have dinner with David Bowie and John Lennon and be all goo-goo ga-ga and forget my parts.”
By the time they came back, he had the iconic guitar licks of ‘Fame’ down. Luckily, Alomar missing out on what would have been an incredible dinner table to be at paid off. “To my delight, when David Bowie returned and heard all of the parts I had laid down he basically said, ‘The song is done’”.
Having played on more Bowie albums than any other musician, Alomar earnt the artist’s trust. He seemed to under the Starman’s mind, knowing that when he introduced ‘Foot Stompin’’ to Bowie and the Beatle, they’d love it.
