"Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" 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 ...
, originally released as the closing track on the album ''
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' (often shortened to ''Ziggy Stardust'') is the fifth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 16June 1972 in the United Kingdom through RCA Records. It was co-pr ...
'' on 16 June 1972. Co-produced by
Ken Scott, Bowie recorded it with his backing band
the Spiders from Mars – comprising
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 ...
,
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, alt ...
and
Mick Woodmansey. It detailed Ziggy's final collapse like an old, washed-up rock star and, as such, was also the closing number of the Ziggy Stardust live show. In April 1974
RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
issued it as a single.
Music and lyrics
Bowie saw the song in terms of the French
chanson
A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic so ...
tradition, while biographer David Buckley has described both "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" and the album's opening track "
Five Years" as "more like
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...
show songs than actual rock songs". Critic
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...
similarly found it to have "a grand sense of staged drama previously unheard of in rock & roll".
Although Bowie has suggested
Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fro ...
as his source, the lyrics "Time takes a cigarette..." are somewhat similar to the poem "Chants Andalous" by
Manuel Machado: "Life is a cigarette / Cinder, ash and fire / Some smoke it in a hurry / Others savour it". The exhortation "Oh no, love, you're not alone" references the
Jacques Brel
Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...
song "You're Not Alone" ("Jef") that appeared in the musical ''
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
''Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'' is a musical revue of the songs of Jacques Brel. Brel's songs were translated into English by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman, who also provided the story. The original 1968 Off-Broadway product ...
''.
Bowie performed Brel's "My Death" during some Ziggy Stardust live shows, and performed "Amsterdam" live on the BBC.
In 2003 Bowie described the
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the hono ...
songs 'Try Me' and 'Lost Someone' as "loose inspiration" for the song.
Release and aftermath
"Rock 'n' Roll Suicide", recorded on 4 February 1972, was one of the last songs recorded for ''Ziggy Stardust'', along with "
Suffragette City
"Suffragette City" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was originally released in April 1972 as the B-side of the single " Starman" and subsequently appeared on his fifth studio album ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust a ...
", which would immediately precede it in the album tracklisting, and "
Starman
''StarMan'' is a 1996 fantasy novel by Australian writer Sara Douglass. It follows the second book in the series, '' Enchanter'', with Axis marching north with his army to confront a formidable enemy.
Background
''StarMan'' was first published ...
", soon to be issued as a single. As the final song on the album and climax to the Ziggy Stardust live shows throughout 1972–73, it soon became a slogan, appearing on many fans' jackets.
In April 1974 RCA, impatient for new material and having already rush-released "
Rebel Rebel
"Rebel Rebel" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released in the UK in February 1974 by RCA Records as the lead single from the album ''Diamond Dogs''. Written and produced by Bowie, the song is based around a distinctiv ...
" from the ''
Diamond Dogs
''Diamond Dogs'' is the eighth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 24 May 1974 through RCA Records. Bowie produced the album and recorded it in early 1974 at Olympic and Island Studios in London and Ludolph Studios i ...
'' sessions, arbitrarily picked the song for single release. Two years old, and already in the possession of most Bowie fans through ''Ziggy Stardust'', its release has been labelled simply a "
dosh
Dosh or DOSH may refer to:
* Mary Lucy Dosh (1839-1861), American Roman Catholic nun and nurse
* Dosh (musician) (born 1972), American musician
* ''Dosh'' (album)
* Deoxysarpagine hydroxylase, an enzyme
* Kariel Gardosh (1921–2000), Israeli c ...
-catching exercise". It stalled at No. 22 in the UK charts – Bowie's first RCA single to miss the British Top 20 since "
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 ...
" in January 1972. According to
Acclaimed Music
Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, deca ...
, it is the 2,141st most celebrated song in popular music history.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
played the song on the "Death and Taxes" episode of Season 1 of his
''Theme Time Radio Hour'' show in 2007. Afterwards Dylan recalled how Bowie "told everyone he was going to retire after the
Ziggy Stardust Tour
The Ziggy Stardust Tour was a concert tour by David Bowie during 1972–73, to promote the studio albums ''Hunky Dory'', ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' and ''Aladdin Sane''. Bowie was accompanied by his backin ...
" then added, "I remember that. I told him not to do it".
Track listing
All tracks written 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 ...
.
# "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" – 2:57
# "
Quicksand
Quicksand is a colloid
A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a ...
" – 5:03
Personnel
According to Chris O'Leary:
*
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 ...
– lead vocal, 12-string acoustic guitar
*
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 ...
– lead and rhythm guitars, ARP synthesiser, backing vocal, string arrangement
*
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, alt ...
– bass guitar
*
Mick Woodmansey – drums
* Unknown musicians – two trumpets, two trombones, two tenor saxophones, baritone saxophone, eight violins, four violas, two cells, two double basses
Technical
*
Ken Scott – producer
* David Bowie – producer
Live versions
* Bowie played the song on the
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. ...
...
on 23 May 1972. This was broadcast on 19 June 1972 and in 2000 released on the album ''
''. Before beginning the song, Bowie announced: "This is the last show we'll ever do." This was later understood as the retiring of Ziggy Stardust. This version also appeared in the ''
''.
Another live recording, from the second leg of the same tour (previously available on the unofficial album ''A Portrait in Flesh''), was released in 2017 on ''
''. A live version from the third leg of the tour was released in 2020 on ''I'm Only Dancing (The Soul Tour 74)''.
* Bowie retired this song from his live repertoire after the 1990
.
''Life Time'' picture disc set.
* It also appeared on the following compilations:
** ''The Best of David Bowie'' (Japan 1974)
** ''
''.