Alabama Song (David Bowie song)

Infobox Single
Name = Alabama Song


Artist = David Bowie
B-side = Space Oddity
Released = 15 February 1980
Format = 7" single
Recorded = Good Earth Studios, London, 2 July 1978
Genre = Cabaret, Opera
Length = 3:51
Label = RCA Records
BOW 5
Writer =
Producer = David Bowie, Tony Visconti
Certification =
Last single = "John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)"
(1979)
This single = "Alabama Song"
(1980)
Next single = "Ashes to Ashes"
(1980)

"Alabama Song" is a single by David Bowie, a cover of a song from Bertold Brecht’s opera "Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny" (see "Alabama Song"). Sometimes known as "Moon of Alabama", it had previously been covered by The Doors.

Bowie, a Brecht fan, incorporated the song into his live show during his 1978 world tour (a concert recording would subsequently appear on the 1991 reissue of "Stage"). He cut a version at Tony Visconti’s studio after the European leg of this tour, and in 1980 it was issued as a single to hasten the end of Bowie’s contract with RCA.

With its unconventional key changes, the track "seemed calculated to disrupt any radio programme on which it was lucky enough to get played".Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). "Bowie: An Illustrated Record": p.108] Nevertheless, backed with a stripped-down acoustic version of "Space Oddity" recorded in December 1979, the single reached #23 in the UK.

Bowie would later appear in a BBC version of Brecht’s "Baal", and release an EP of songs from the play. He performed "Alabama Song" again on his 1990 Sound+Vision Tour and 2002 Heathen tours.

Track listing

# "Alabama Song" (Bertold Brecht, Kurt Weill) – 3:51
# "Space Oddity" (acoustic version) (David Bowie) – 4:57

The German 1982 rerelease of the single included "Amsterdam" as an additional B-side.

Production credits

* Producers:
** Tony Visconti
** David Bowie

* Musicians:
** David Bowie: Vocals, Guitar
** Adrian Belew: Guitar
** Carlos Alomar: Guitar
** Simon House: Violin
** Sean Mayes: Piano
** Roger Powell: Keyboards
** George Murray: Bass
** Dennis Davis: Drums

Live versions

* A live version recorded at Philadelphia Spectrum in April 1978 was released as a bonus track on the Rykodisc reissue of the live album "Stage".

Other releases

* It was released as the B-side of the Japanese single "Crystal Japan" in February 1980.
* The German release of the single "Ashes to Ashes" in August 1980 had "Alabama Song" as the B-side.
* In 1992 it was released as a bonus track on the Rykodisc reissue of "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)".
* It appeared on the compilation "The Singles Collection" in 1993.

Notes

References

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