"Life on Mars?" is a song by English singer-songwriter
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 ...
, first released on his 1971 album ''
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 ...
''. In 1968, Bowie was commissioned to write English lyrics for the
Claude François
Claude Antoine Marie François (; 1 February 1939 – 11 March 1978), also known by the nickname Cloclo, was a French pop singer, composer, songwriter, record producer, drummer and dancer. François co-wrote the lyrics of "Comme d'habitude" (c ...
French song "
Comme d'habitude
"" (, French for "As usual") is a French song about routine in a relationship falling out of love, composed in 1967 by Jacques Revaux, with lyrics by Claude François and .
In 1968 the song was adapted by David Bowie and given new lyrics to crea ...
". After his lyrics were rejected, songwriter
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including " Diana", " Lonely Boy", " Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and "(You're) Having My Baby". Anka also ...
rewrote it into "
My Way
"My Way" is a song popularized in 1969 by Frank Sinatra set to the music of the French song "Comme d'habitude" composed by Jacques Revaux with lyrics by Gilles Thibaut and Claude François and first performed in 1967 by Claude François. Its E ...
", made famous by singer
Frank Sinatra in 1969. Annoyed at the success of "My Way", Bowie used the song as a template and wrote "Life on Mars?" as a parody of Sinatra's recording. It was written primarily on piano and recorded on 6 August 1971, the final day of the ''Hunky Dory'' sessions. Co-produced by Bowie and
Ken Scott
Ken Scott (born 20 April 1947) is a British record producer and engineer known for being one of the five main engineers for the Beatles, as well as engineering Elton John, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Duran Duran, the Jeff B ...
, the backing band consisted of guitarist
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 musici ...
, bassist
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 ...
and drummer
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 rel ...
; Ronson also composed the song's
string arrangement. Piano was played by
Strawbs member
Rick Wakeman.
Musically, "Life on Mars?" is described as a "soaring, cinematic ballad". Primarily
glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...
, with elements of
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...
and
art rock, the song has a complex structure, containing different
chord changes throughout. The instruments act in tandem with one another and Bowie's vocal, steadily growing throughout its runtime. Lyrically, the song describes a girl who goes to the cinema to escape reality, using numerous
surreal
Surreal may refer to:
*Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art
* "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki
* ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze
*Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor
...
images, thematically reflecting
optimism
Optimism is an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor, or outcomes in general, will be positive, favorable, and desirable. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass filled w ...
and the effects of
Hollywood. Despite its title, the song has no connection to
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
itself, instead a reference to a then-recent media frenzy between the United States and
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
.
At the height of Bowie's fame as
Ziggy Stardust,
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
issued "Life on Mars?" as a
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
on 22 June 1973 in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number three. The single was promoted by a promotional video shot by photographer
Mick Rock
Michael David Rock (born Michael Edward Chester Smith; 21 November 1948 – 18 November 2021) was a British photographer. He photographed rock music acts such as Queen, David Bowie, Waylon Jennings, T. Rex, Syd Barrett, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop ...
, featuring a made-up Bowie in a turquoise suit singing the song against a white backdrop. Bowie performed the song during his concerts frequently throughout his career, performances of which have appeared on several
live albums. The song also has appeared on numerous
compilation albums and was remixed by Scott in 2003 and 2016, the latter being a 'stripped down'
mix. The 2016 mix was accompanied by a remastered and reedited version of Rock's video.
"Life on Mars?" is considered by biographers and reviewers as one of Bowie's finest songs, with many describing it as a masterpiece. Praise is also given to Bowie's vocal performance and growth as a songwriter. Several publications have also considered it one of the greatest songs of all time. The song was the namesake of the British television series ''
Life on Mars
The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ...
'' and has featured in other films and television shows. Artists who have covered the song include singer
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...
and
Nine Inch Nails members
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...
and
Atticus Ross
Atticus Matthew Cowper Ross (born 16 January 1968) is an English musician, record producer, composer, and audio engineer. Along with Trent Reznor, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for '' The Social Network'' in 2010. In 2013, th ...
. The song charted worldwide following
Bowie's death in 2016 and became a frequent tribute song for the artist; tributes by Nicholas Freestone and singer
Lorde garnered widespread attention.
Background and writing
In early 1968,
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 ...
's publisher, David Platz, was sharing a London office with another music publisher, Geoffrey Heath. One day, Heath brought in an acetate of the 1967 French song "
Comme d'habitude
"" (, French for "As usual") is a French song about routine in a relationship falling out of love, composed in 1967 by Jacques Revaux, with lyrics by Claude François and .
In 1968 the song was adapted by David Bowie and given new lyrics to crea ...
", composed by
Claude François
Claude Antoine Marie François (; 1 February 1939 – 11 March 1978), also known by the nickname Cloclo, was a French pop singer, composer, songwriter, record producer, drummer and dancer. François co-wrote the lyrics of "Comme d'habitude" (c ...
and
Jacques Revaux
Jacques Abel Jules Revaud (; born 11 July 1940), known as Jacques Revaux (), is a French songwriter, most famous for his 1968 writing collaboration with singer Claude François on the song "Comme d'habitude", whose text was reworked by Canadian si ...
, and sung by François. Having a limited option for the song's British rights, Heath requested Platz for a songwriter to write English lyrics for the song. Platz suggested Bowie, who at that point had done other translations for him. Bowie's then-manager,
Kenneth Pitt
Kenneth Cooper Pitt (10 November 1922 – 25 February 2019) was a British publicist and talent manager, who managed the career of musicians including David Bowie in the late 1960s.
Biography
Pitt was born in Uxbridge, Middlesex. In the 1950 ...
, believed that Bowie was a stronger lyricist than a composer and if he wrote "to a strong melody composed by someone else," it would guarantee him a hit. Bowie's translation, titled "Even a Fool Learns to Love", took influence from his then-recent work as a
mime
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...
and featured a reference to his 1967 track "When I Live My Dream". He later told
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other talk shows and programmes both in the U ...
in a 2002 interview that he "wrote some really terrible lyrics
o it
O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...
.
Although Bowie recorded an unreleased demo in February 1968, the French publishers of "Comme d'habitude" rejected him, primarily due to his obscurity. Soon after, songwriter
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including " Diana", " Lonely Boy", " Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and "(You're) Having My Baby". Anka also ...
bought the rights to "Comme d'habitude" and rewrote it into "
My Way
"My Way" is a song popularized in 1969 by Frank Sinatra set to the music of the French song "Comme d'habitude" composed by Jacques Revaux with lyrics by Gilles Thibaut and Claude François and first performed in 1967 by Claude François. Its E ...
", a song made famous by American singer
Frank Sinatra in 1969. The success of "My Way" prompted Bowie to write "Life on Mars?" as a parody of Sinatra's recording. He told Parkinson: "That really made me angry for so long—for about a year... eventually I thought, 'I can write something as big as that, and I'll write one that sounds a bit like it.
Bowie acknowledged the song's influence in the
liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes.
Origin
Liner notes are desc ...
for ''
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 ...
'', which state that the song was "inspired by Frankie".
Using "My Way" as a basis, Bowie wrote "Life on Mars?" relatively quickly. He later recalled in the liner notes for the 2008 compilation ''
iSelect'' that he began humming the melody in a park in
Beckenham
Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...
, Kent, thereafter returning home to Haddon Hall and writing the rest of the song that afternoon on piano, which he primarily used to compose other songs of this period. Bowie believed that using "Comme d'habitude" as a basis was not "theft", but rather "a statement of rightful ownership". One ''
Melody Maker'' reviewer suggested the song was written after "a brief and painful affair" with actress Hermione Farthingale. While on tour in 1990, Bowie introduced the song by saying "You fall in love, you write a love song. This is a love song."
Despite writing it quickly, Bowie's original handwritten lyrics were vastly different—save for the chorus—than the finished recording, being more akin to the tone of ''Hunky Dory''s other
Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his car ...
-inspired numbers: "There's a shoulder-rock movement and the trembling starts / And a great Lord signs in vain / What can you buy when there's no-one to tell you / What a bargain you made..."
Recording
Early demo
Bowie recorded a
demo
Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to:
Music and film
*Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release
* ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes
* ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
of "Life on Mars?" between May and June 1971. According to biographer
Nicholas Pegg, the demo runs at a short length of 1:53 and features Bowie alone on vocals and piano. Lyrically, it only contains the first verse and chorus, and featured several lyrical variations from the finished track, including "It's a simple but small affair", "Her mother is yelling no, and her father has asked her to go" and "It's a time for the lawman beating up the wrong guy". The demo remains unreleased. According to biographer
Marc Spitz
Marc Spitz (October 2, 1969 – February 4, 2017) was an American music journalist, author and playwright. Spitz's writings on rock and roll and popular culture appeared in ''Spin'' (where he was a Senior Writer) as well as ''The New York Times' ...
, Bowie had recorded demos of "Life on Mars?" and other ''Hunky Dory'' tracks "
Oh! You Pretty Things
"Oh! You Pretty Things" is a song written by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released on his 1971 album ''Hunky Dory''. It was the first song he wrote for the album. Bowie recorded the song as a demo before giving it to singer Peter Noo ...
" and "
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...
" around this time, which inspired Bowie's new manager,
Tony Defries, to look into securing a new record contract for Bowie, eventually signing him with
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
.
Studio version
Work on ''Hunky Dory'' officially began at
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. ...
in London on 8 June 1971. "Life on Mars?" was recorded on the final day of the sessions, 6 August. According to O'Leary, Bowie and co-producer
Ken Scott
Ken Scott (born 20 April 1947) is a British record producer and engineer known for being one of the five main engineers for the Beatles, as well as engineering Elton John, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Duran Duran, the Jeff B ...
considered the track to be "the Big One" and saved it for the end. Earlier in July, Defries sent a letter to jazz pianist
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...
asking him to play piano during a session. There is no known evidence that Moore replied and although the specific song Defries was asking him to play on is unknown, biographer Kevin Cann deduces that it was most likely "Life on Mars?". In the end, piano was played by keyboardist
Rick Wakeman, noted
session musician and member of the
Strawbs, who previously played
Mellotron on Bowie's
1969 self-titled album. In 1995 he recalled that he met with Bowie in late June 1971 at Haddon Hall, where he heard demos of "
Changes
Changes may refer to:
Books
* ''Changes'', the 12th novel in Jim Butcher's ''The Dresden Files'' Series
* ''Changes'', a novel by Danielle Steel
* ''Changes'', a trilogy of novels on which the BBC TV series was based, written by Peter Dickinson ...
" and "Life on Mars?" in "their raw brilliance ... the finest selection of songs I have ever heard in one sitting in my entire life ... I couldn't wait to get into the studio and record them." The piano Wakeman played was the same 1898
Bechstein used by
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
for "
Hey Jude" and later by
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
for "
Bohemian Rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack o ...
".
![Rickwakemanmoog](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Rickwakemanmoog.jpg)
Along with Wakeman on piano, the backing band consisted of guitarist
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 musici ...
, bassist
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 ...
and drummer
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 rel ...
. Ronson also composed the song's
string arrangement which, according to Woodmansey, was the first he had ever undertaken: "He was very nervous about it. We had a whole string section at Trident with the proper
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
session players who, if one note was not written properly, would turn their noses up and you wouldn't get a good sound out of them. So Mick was really nervous, but when they played the parts they realized these rock'n'rollers might not be guys we want to be in the studio with, but the parts are good. They took it on and really went with it." Ronson's wife Suzi recalled that he composed the arrangement while sitting in the studio restroom. Additionally, Woodmansey told ''
'' in 2016 that "Life on Mars?" was the first time he realised the "calibre" of Bowie's songwriting, saying "It had just gone to another level of quality... it was something really special." He also noted that it was a bit scary because there was nothing around like that
Bowie recorded his vocal performance in one take. Regarding Bowie's talent as a vocalist, Scott stated: "He was unique.
"Life on Mars?" is described by biographer David Buckley as a "soaring, cinematic ballad". Musically, the song has been classified as
". The song features a complex structure: the verses are primarily in the key of
, but different chord changes are present throughout, including C7 ("told her to go"),
("lived it ten times"). The pre-chorus sections go from F major to
, which is dominant throughout the choruses; Bolder's bassline features a rising
. Bowie delivers his vocals passionately during the choruses and almost nasally in the verses.
The song begins with a single piano note, followed by a
, with Bowie beginning his vocals on the third beat. The same chord sequence for "My Way" is used for the opening bars of "Life on Mars?". Bolder enters on bass at the line "sunken dream". At the pre-chorus, the instruments begin to build: strings and bass crash on the downbeat, Wakeman continues a run of chords on piano, while Bowie's voice grows in intensity, changing from
("focus on/SAI-LORS"). He weakens his B note briefly for "OH man" before changing from E to
on "law-man". The final climax arrives at the word "Mars", a B note which he holds for three bars. Afterwards, another sequence plays out before the next verse begins.
Ronson based his string arrangement on the bassline Bolder worked on during rehearsals for the track. The other instruments act as a counterpoint to the strings during the chorus: on drums, Woodmansey plays, in O'Leary's words, a "snare-medium tom fill to echo a descending violin line", while Wakeman adds "dancing" replies on piano. Ronson plays the
during the second verse at the "Ibiza" line. Bowie noted that Wakeman "embellished the piano part" of his original melody and Ronson "created one of his first and best string parts" for the song.
describes Ronson's string arrangement as "gargantuan", and Sandford argues that the "lush, orchestral arrangement" of the track is what ''Hunky Dory'' would be best remembered for.
Towards the end, after Ronson gives a short, "vibrato-saturated" guitar solo—recorded in one take—the strings play "grand sweeps" before a climactic tom-roll. Doggett and O'Leary compare the tom-roll to the