Golden Years (song) - Other Releases

Other Releases

• The song appeared as the B-side of an alternate version of the single "Fame".
• It was released as the B-side of the U.S. release of "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)" in December 1979.
• In November 1981 it appeared as the B-side of the single "Wild Is the Wind".
• It was released as part of the RCA Records Life Time picture disc set and the Fashion Picture Disc Set.
• Several Bowie compilations have featured the song:
  • Changesonebowie (1976)
  • Best of Bowie (1980)
  • Golden Years (1983)
  • Changesbowie (1990)
  • The Singles Collection (1993)
• The 7" single version also appeared on The Best of 1974/1979 (1998).
• It was included in on the album Trainspotting #2: Music from the Motion Picture, Vol. #2 (1997)
• It was included on the original soundtrack of A Knight's Tale (2001), starring the late Heath Ledger. The original film score was written for the film by Hollywood composer Carter Burwell. One scene in the movie is a formal dance, which calls for courtly music based on Burwell's love theme to segue into David Bowie's song "Golden Years". It presented several challenges. First, the whole dance had been choreographed and filmed to an arbitrary tempo which begins at a slow courtly pace and speeds up and up until Bowie's song kicks in. Burwell had to match that tempo and the choreography after the fact and also find some credible path from a formal and restrained dance to a joyful '70s pop tune. They obtained Bowie's permission to pull tracks from his multitrack master of the song so they could mix these into Burwell's arrangement, helping to introduce his song before it has really begun. The end result is not on either of the CDs which were released (song or score soundtrack). Tony Visconti, who produced the original recording of the song, supervised the remix session and Bowie dropped by as well to hear what they found in his multitrack.