Song Development
Bowie continued to develop songs using non-traditional methods: for "It's No Game Part 1," he challenged guitarist Fripp to "imagine he was playing a guitar duel with B.B. King where he had to out-B.B. B.B., but do it in his own way."
"Fashion" started as a song called "Jamaica" but Bowie couldn't think of anything to write, so he almost discarded the song until late in the recording cycle, when it was transformed into the song as it finally appeared on the album. The track "I Feel Free" (by Cream) was recorded "in rough mix" for the album, but did not appear on a Bowie album until a re-recording for 1993's Black Tie White Noise. A few of the other tracks on the album started with different names: "Ashes to Ashes" started as "People Are Turning to Gold" and "Teenage Wildlife" was originally called "It Happens Everyday." The track "Scream Like a Baby" was originally called "Laser" (the lyric "Scream like a baby" was sung as "I am a laser"). The song "Is There Life After Marriage?" was fully written and recorded for the album, but for unknown reasons was never released.
Read more about this topic: Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
Famous quotes containing the words song and/or development:
“A song is no song unless the circumstance is free and fine. If a singer sing from a sense of duty or from seeing no way to escape, I had rather have none. Those only can sleep who do not care to sleep; and those only write or speak best who do not too much respect the writing or the speaking.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“For decades child development experts have erroneously directed parents to sing with one voice, a unison chorus of values, politics, disciplinary and loving styles. But duets have greater harmonic possibilities and are more interesting to listen to, so long as cacophony or dissonance remains at acceptable levels.”
—Kyle D. Pruett (20th century)