Virginia Plain
1972
Ferry lifted the title from his own art-school painting of a giant cigarette packet, Eno's VCS3 shrieking behind him.
★ 6.3
The Songs canon
Sourced and sung.
Every song chosen by hand, with the recording to play it.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Funeral For a Friend Love Lies Bleeding
1973 · From Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
John wrote the instrumental half imagining music for his own funeral; Hentschel's ARP 2500 overdubs did the rest.
★ 6.3
Rock and Roll All Nite
1975 · From Dressed to Kill
Casablanca's Neil Bogart asked for a party song; Stanley wrote the chorus, and the live take beat the studio single.
★ 6.4
Personality Crisis
1973 · From New York Dolls
Eight days at the Record Plant with Rundgren, and Johansen's strut arrived years before punk had a name.
★ 6.5
Candle in the Wind
1973 · From Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Taupin lifted the phrase from a Janis Joplin tribute and pointed it at Marilyn Monroe; the chorus does the mourning.
★ 6.8
Moonage Daydream
1972 · From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Bowie first threw it away on a fake band called Arnold Corns, then rebuilt it at Trident around Ronson.
★ 7.0
Bennie and the Jets
1973 · From Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Gus Dudgeon overdubbed crowd noise from old concerts, and the fake live track topped the Hot 100.
★ 7.1
Somebody to Love (Queen)
1976 · From Greatest Hits
Mercury wrote it at the piano, then three voices were multitracked into something the size of a gospel choir.
★ 7.4
All the Young DudesMott the Hoople
All the Young Dudes
1972
Mott were splitting up when Bowie offered them this, written within hours of hearing the band was finished.
★ 7.5
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
1973 · From Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Sessions collapsed in Kingston, so the band regrouped at a French chateau and Taupin traded Oz for a Lincolnshire farm.
★ 7.7
Ziggy Stardust
1971 · From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Cut at Trident in November 1971, never a single, and Ronson's riff draws the character as sharply as the words.
★ 7.7
Walk on the Wild Side
1972 · From Transformer
Herbie Flowers doubled upright and electric bass for a session fee, and Bowie's old sax teacher played the closing solo.
★ 8.1
Changes (David Bowie)
1971 · From Hunky Dory
Rick Wakeman's piano, Bowie's own saxophone, and a stutter on the title that flopped before it defined him.
★ 8.3