Wednesday 13 April 2016

K - Kooks

Will you stay in our lovers' story
If you stay you won't be sorry
'Cause we believe in you
Soon you'll grow so take a chance
With a couple of kooks
Hung up on romancing

This little-known song from David Bowie's fourth album Hunky Dory was recorded in the summer of 1971 at Trident Studios in London England.  A live version was taped in June 1971 at the BBC In Concert radio show with John Peel and subsequently released on the 2000 compilation album Bowie at the Beeb.

The awkwardly welcoming and warm lyrics were written by Bowie to his then-newborn son "Zowie" Duncan Haywood Jones, and the LP sleeve bears the caption "For Small Z."  The song's jazzy style is a homage to the early career of Neil Young, because Bowie happened to be listening to Neil Young records when he received the news of his son's birth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsSlOGzPM90

Ken Scott, Bowie's producer at the time, loved the track and thought Bowie should do an album of children's songs.  Bowie allegedly considered the idea but never followed through on it.  Some early versions of "Kooks" found on bootlegs and BBC recordings add a line to the last verse:
And if the homework brings you down
Then we'll throw it on the fire and take the car downtown
And we'll watch the crazy people race around

1 comment:

  1. oh goodness! Can you imagine a Bowie Children's album? It would be worth a fortune, for sure!

    Mary
    #AtoZChallenge K is for Karen

    ReplyDelete