David Bennett Piano - Bowie's 'Life On Mars?' is revenge on Frank Sinatra

[highplainsdem]

From Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_(song)

In early 1968, David Bowie's publisher David Platz was sharing a London office with another music publisher named Geoffrey Heath. One day, Heath arrived with an acetate disc of the 1967 French song "Comme d'habitude", which was composed by Claude François and Jacques Revaux, and sung by François. Heath, who had a limited option for the song's British rights, asked Platz for a songwriter to write English lyrics for "Comme d'habitude". Platz suggested Bowie, who had translated other songs for him. Bowie's manager Kenneth Pitt believed Bowie was a more-competent lyricist than a composer, and that if Bowie wrote "to a strong melody composed by someone else", it would guarantee him a hit.[a] Bowie's translation, which was titled "Even a Fool Learns to Love", was influenced by his recent work as a mime artist and included a reference to his 1967 track "When I Live My Dream".[3][4] In a 2002 interview with Michael Parkinson, Bowie said that he "wrote some really terrible lyrics [to it]".[5]

After Bowie recorded an unreleased demo of "Comme d'habitude" in February 1968, the song's French publishers rejected him, primarily due to his obscurity. Soon after, songwriter Paul Anka bought the rights to "Comme d'habitude" and rewrote it as "My Way", which was recorded and 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.[3][4] 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'."[5] Bowie acknowledged "My Way"'s influence in the liner notes for Hunky Dory, which state "Life on Mars?" was "inspired by Frankie".[6][7]

Using "My Way" as a basis, Bowie wrote "Life on Mars?" relatively quickly.[8] In the liner notes for the 2008 compilation iSelect, Bowie wrote he began humming the melody in a park in Beckenham, Kent; after returning home to Haddon Hall and writing the rest of the song that afternoon on piano,[12][13] which he mainly used to compose other songs.[14] Bowie believed using "Comme d'habitude" as a basis was not "theft" but "a statement of rightful ownership".[8] One Melody Maker reviewer said "Life on Mars?" was written after "a brief and painful affair" with actor 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."[15] Bowie's original handwritten lyrics were vastly different—save for the chorus—than the finished recording; they were more akin to the tone of Hunky Dory's other Nietzsche-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 ..."[16]

[Mousetoescamper]

1. The beginning of "Life On Mars" has always seemed like part of another song

David Bennett lays it out quite well. Following along with the sheet music it's obvious that "My Way" and "Life On Mars" are harmonically the same for the first seven bars. But after that the two diverge and LOM takes a much more interesting path.

When I first heard LOM, I didn't like how it begins. Musically, it sounded like lounge jazz and didn't seem to fit the lyrics or the music that follows. But when the "My Way" bars return, they've taken on a different character and everything fits. Now that I know Bowie wrote the "My Way" part as a parody, I get the gist.

Thanks!

[ProfessorGAC]

2. The Great Rick Wakeman On Piano

Later David worked with Mick Garson.
2 of my top 5 piano players in rock history worked with Bowie!
Been a while since I heard this song.