Changes (David Bowie song)
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| "Changes" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by David Bowie | ||
| from the album Hunky Dory | ||
| B-side(s) | Andy Warhol | |
| Released | January 1972 | |
| Format | 7" single | |
| Recorded | Trident Studios, London, July 1970 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 3:33 | |
| Label | RCA 2160 |
|
| Producer(s) | Ken Scott | |
| Chart positions | ||
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US: #66 1972, #41 1975 |
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| David Bowie singles chronology | ||
| "Holy Holy" 1971 |
"Changes" 1972 |
"Starman" 1972 |
"Changes" was a single by David Bowie, taken from the album Hunky Dory. Despite missing the top 40 when issued as a single, "Changes" is one of Bowie’s best-known songs. The lyrics are often seen as a manifesto for Bowie and his chameleonic personality throughout the 1970s, and his frequent reinventions of his musical style. Bowie's vocals are uncannily reminiscent of Gene Pitney's (just compare the latter's "Half Heaven, Half Heartache" or "Backstage (I'm Lonely)", a stylistic ode or parody that became even more conspicuous on the "Ziggy Stardust" album.
Perhaps the most famous of lines comes at the end of the second verse, used in the opening of the 1985 movie The Breakfast Club:
- "And these children that you spit on
- As they try to change their worlds
- Are immune to your consultations
- They’re quite aware of what they’re going through..."
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Changes" (Bowie) – 3:33
- "Andy Warhol" (Bowie) – 3:58
[edit] Production credits
- Musicians:
- David Bowie: vocals, guitar
- Mick Ronson: guitar
- Trevor Bolder: bass
- Mick Woodmansey: drums
- Rick Wakeman: piano
[edit] Live versions
- Bowie played the song at the BBC show "Johnny Walker Lunchtime Show" May 22nd, 1972. This was broadcasted in early June, 1972 and in 2000 released on the album Bowie at the Beeb.
- A version recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 20 October 1972 was released on Santa Monica '72. This version also appeared on the Japanese release of RarestOneBowie.
- A previously unreleased live version from Boston Music Hall October 1st, 1972 was release in the Sound + Vision box set. This was also released on the bonus disc of the Aladdin Sane - 30th Anniversary Edition in 2003.
- A live version recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, July 3rd, 1973 was released on Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture.
- A live version from the 1974 tour was released on David Live, in which Bowie notably sang 'children that you SHIT on' as opposed to 'spit on'. This version was also released on the album Rock Concert (Netherlands 1979) and as a B-side of the Spanish version of the single "Knock on Wood". Another live recording from the 1974 tour was released on A Portrait in Flesh (Australia 1996).
[edit] Other releases
Bowie hit compilations rarely omit the song despite its lack of chart success – indeed, the retrospectives Changesonebowie (1976), Changestwobowie (1981) and Changesbowie (1990) have taken their titles from the song.
- The Best of David Bowie (Japan 1974)
- Fame and Fashion (1984)
- Sound + Vision (1989)
- Bowie: The Singles 1969-1993 (1993)
- The Singles Collection (1993)
- The Best of 1969/1974 (1997)
- It was released as the B-side of the UK rerelease of "Space Oddity" in 1975.
- It appeared on two picture disc sets "Fashion" and the RCA "Life Time Disc Set".
[edit] Cover versions
- Butterfly Boucher - recorded in 2004 for the Shrek 2 soundtrack, featuring Bowie on alternating vocals.
- Seu Jorge recorded a Portuguese version for the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. (2004)
- Shawn Mullins - The Faculty Soundtrack and The First Ten Years (1998). It was also released on single in 1998.
- Us Together - single
- In the Simpsons episode "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge", Homer sings his own lyrics to the song while working underneath his car: "Ch-ch-ch-changes! Time to change the oil! Changes! Don't want to be an oily man..."
[edit] References
Pegg, Nicholas, The Complete David Bowie, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-14-5
