“It makes me bigger”: Woody Woodmansey’s favourite song by David Bowie
Ask any David Bowie aficionado what their favourite song is, and chances are that there’s not going to be a straightforward answer. It’s completely understandable in some respects – how exactly do you pick out one single entity from a songbook so prolific and completely world-altering? It’s almost an impossible task. But if it’s a difficult choice for those on the outside looking on in awe, consider it unfathomable for those in the Starman’s closest inner circle, who not only worshipped the tunes but, more often than not, had a hand in creating them.
Woody Woodmansey is someone who knows exactly what this was like in the most important and pivotal moments of Bowie’s career, as the drummer for his most esteemed backing band, The Spiders from Mars. In a recent interview with Far Out, he was relatively humble about the scale of his achievements, but it’s still mind-blowing to imagine the scenes he witnessed and the calibre of music history that he was an integral part of forming.
Naturally, within this, it’s hard for Woodmansey to specifically pick out one single song that holds the most special place in his heart because, in many ways, every one of them does. Whether they were attached to particularly notable studio sessions or iconic gigs, each piece of Bowie’s 1970s discography will have some form of fond memory attached, thus making it impossible to arrange in a hierarchy. Nevertheless, there is one song that has always remained his particular favourite, not because of its specific memory but because of the strength of spirit and feeling it evoked.
There aren’t many songs out there that can enliven something so deep in your inner soul, but for Woodmansey, one particular 1972 hit of Bowie’s did just that. “‘Moonage Daydream’ was like an epic journey that took you into another universe,” Woodmansey mused. “Playing live, it’s like that. When I play ‘Moonage Daydream’ live, I can’t help it, I go somewhere bigger than I am. It makes me bigger, or, at least, my concept of me is bigger and more able to tackle this messed-up universe. But it gives me some power or some spiritual jolt, just some oomph to be able to tackle things. And so I’m bigger when I’m playing it.”
It’s certainly high praise, but not unwarranted in the sense of the buoyancy of spirit that the song gives Woodmansey in the moments in which he needs it most. Of course, playing live is bound to add some extra transcendental element, but even just listening to the studio cut is enough to move something in him, the drummer explains. “Good music gives you that; that’s why I got into music in the first place,” he reminisces. “It’s the first live song that I ever stood in front of and listened to – I thought I was doing a freak dance. In fact, I was just nodding my head. But that’s not actually what was happening in the real world. And I thought, ‘Well, if it can make me feel like that, there’s something there.’”
Talking of the power of such songs as a “good medicine,” it’s evident that Bowie’s songbook, and in particular ‘Moonage Daydream’, had a pivotal effect on the rest of Woodmansey’s career, let alone his outlook on life. That was the precise power of the man – that he could create a sonic world so transcendental and completely enveloping, all while keeping everything he did rooted in a searing sense of realness that could never be mistaken.
It was a testament to both Bowie and The Spiders from Mars that even their own music had the power to invoke a special spirit in their souls. Given the manic fame that was blasted their way, they all had more than ample opportunity to become jaded by the success, but the fact that more than 50 years later, ‘Moonage Daydream’ still possesses all of its original floaty, other-worldly quality speaks to the sheer timelessness of everything that Bowie envisioned. He certainly did live up to Ziggy Stardust’s alien persona, after all.
