Arnold Corns was a band, formed by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

in 1971, the name of which was inspired by the

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

song "

Arnold Layne "Arnold Layne" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd. Released on 10 March 1967, it was the band's first single release. It was written by Syd Barrett. Lyrics The song's title character is a transvestite whose strange hobby is stealing wo ...

History

This was one of Bowie’s side projects and something of a

dry run Dry run may refer to: * Dry run (testing), a testing process * Dry run (terrorism), a test by a terrorist organization to examine the reaction to an attempted attack Places in the United States Settlements * Dry Run, Ohio, a census-designated p ...

for '' Ziggy Stardust''. The band was formed in

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

and Bowie agreed to write for them. At the same time he also agreed to write for the 19-year-old designer Freddie Burretti (born: Frederick Burrett, aka Rudi Valentino). Bowie came up with the idea of combining Burretti and Arnold Corns, and with the help of the trio of

Mick Ronson Michael Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session music ...

Mick Woodmansey Michael "Woody" Woodmansey (born 4 February 1950) is an English rock drummer best known for his work in the early 1970s as a member of David Bowie's core backing ensemble that became known as the Spiders from Mars in conjunction with the relea ...

and

Trevor Bolder Trevor Bolder (9 June 1950 – 21 May 2013) was an English rock musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his long association with Uriah Heep and his tenure with the Spiders from Mars, the backing band for David Bowie, a ...

, a revised version of Arnold Corns was created during the spring of 1971. Bowie was writing material that later became ''

Hunky Dory ''Hunky Dory'' is the fourth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 17December 1971 through RCA Records. Following the release of his 1970 album, '' The Man Who Sold the World'', Bowie took time off from recording and tourin ...

'', as well as songs earmarked for Burretti, and Oliver Abraham was briefly given credit for helping with the majority of the songs. Burretti as the frontman was a total fabrication. The first session by the band, on 10 March 1971, which included "Lady Stardust", "Right on Mother" and " Moonage Daydream" was recorded at the

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

Studios. This was followed by a session, recorded at the

Trident Studios Trident Studios was a British recording facility, located at 17 St Anne's Court in London's Soho district between 1968 and 1981. It was constructed in 1967 by Norman Sheffield, drummer of the 1960s group the Hunters, and his brother Barry. ...

on 4 June 1971, which included "Man in the Middle" and "

Looking for a Friend Looking is the act of intentionally focusing visual perception on someone or something, for the purpose of obtaining information, and possibly to convey interest or another sentiment. A large number of troponyms exist to describe variations o ...

". The band’s first single, "Moonage Daydream" (with a spoken intro "whenever you're ready") / " Hang On to Yourself", was released on

B&C Records B&C Records (which stood for Beat & Commercial) was a British record label run by Trojan Records' owner, Lee Gopthal. It existed primarily between May 1969 and September 1972. In 1971, the progressive and folk artists that were still signed t ...

on 7 May 1971 and was a flop. Both these songs later reappeared on ''Ziggy Stardust'' in new versions with updated lyrics. The Arnold Corns versions appeared as bonus tracks on the

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first Compact Disc, CD-only independ ...

CD re-release of '' The Man Who Sold the World'' (minus the spoken intro on "Moonage Daydream"). A second single, "Looking for a Friend" / "Man in the Middle" (vocals by Valentino), was planned but scrapped (it was released in 1985 by Krazy Kat Records). In August 1972, B&C Records issued "Hang on to Yourself" / "Man in the Middle" as the second single. Burretti designed a number of suits with Bowie, now displayed at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

. Burretti never sang on any of their recordings. The above personnel appear on the "Moonage Daydream" / "Hang Onto Yourself" session. Ronson, Bolder and Woodmansey participated in later recording sessions. Carr-Pritchard is the lead-vocalist on "Man in the Middle", which he reportedly wrote (though the song is attributed to Bowie). A third vocalist heard with Bowie and Carr-Pritchard on "Looking For a Friend" is assumed to be Micky King (who recorded the Bowie composition "Rupert the Riley").

References

External links

{{Authority control David Bowie