Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud

Infobox Song
Name =Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud


Border =
Caption =
Type =B-side of "Space Oddity" single
Artist =David Bowie
alt Artist =Cristina Donà
Album =David Bowie (aka "Space Oddity")
Published =
Released =1969
track_no =
Recorded =
Genre =
Length =4:42 (single version)
4:52 (album version)
Writer =David Bowie
Label =Philips
Producer =Gus Dudgeon
Tracks =Side 1
# "Space Oddity"
# "Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed"
# "Don't Sit Down"
# "Letter to Hermione"
# "Cygnet Committee"Side 2
# "Janine"
# "An Occasional Dream"
# "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud"
# "God Knows I'm Good"
# "Memory of a Free Festival"
Misc =
Audio sample? ="Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud" is a song written by David Bowie in 1969 and first released as B-side to his single "Space Oddity". It was later included in his second eponymously-titled album (released in the U.S. as "Man of Words, Man of Music" by Mercury and reissued by RCA in 1972 as "Space Oddity"). The album version features a full orchestral arrangement and is also notable for the debut on a Bowie record of Mick Ronson, who contributed uncredited lead guitar and handclaps midway through the track. [David Buckley (1999). "Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story": p.79]

Bowie himself said of the song: "It was about the disassociated, the ones who feel as though they're left outside, which was how I felt about me. I always felt I was on the edge of events, the fringe of things, and left out. A lot of my characters in those early years seem to resolve around that feeling. It must have come from my own interior puzzlement at where I was". [Chris Welch (1999). "We Could be Heroes"]

Other releases

*The single version for guitar (played by Bowie) and cello (by Paul Buckmaster) was released as the B-side to "Space Oddity" and "Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola", prior to the album version. The B-side cut later appeared on the "Sound and Vision" box set in 1989. One release of "Space Oddity" mistakenly rendered the B-side's title as "Wild Eyed Boy From Freedom". [Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). "Bowie: An Illustrated Record": p.27]

*Bowie played this song on "Sound of the 70s" with Andy Ferris on March 25, 1970. The show was broadcast on April 4, 1972 and in 2000 was released on "Bowie at the Beeb".

*A live version recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, on July 3, 1973 was released on "Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture" (1983). The song was played as a part of a medley with "Oh! You Pretty Things" and "All the Young Dudes".

*The track appeared on the Japanese compilation "The Best of David Bowie" in 1974.

Cover versions

*Cristina Donà

Notes