Suffragette City

Infobox Single
Name = Suffragette City


Artist = David Bowie
from Album = The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
B-side = “Stay”
Released = 9 July 1976
Format = 7" single
Recorded = Trident Studios, London, January 1972
Genre = Glam rock
Length = 3:25
Label = RCA Records
2726
Writer =
Producer = David Bowie, Ken Scott
Certification =
Chart position =
Last single = “TVC 15”
1976
This single = “Suffragette City”
1976
Next single = “Sound and Vision”
1977
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Type = studio
Tracks = ;Side one
# "Five Years"
# "Soul Love"
# "Moonage Daydream"
# "Starman"
# "It Ain't Easy";Side two
#

"Lady Stardust"
# "Star"
# "Hang on to Yourself"
# "Ziggy Stardust"
# "Suffragette City"
# "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type =


Lower caption = “Suffragette City” is a single by David Bowie.

Recorded towards the end of the "Ziggy Stardust" sessions, “Suffragette City” is a trademark piece of early 1970s Bowie glam, with a piano riff heavily influenced by Little Richard, a lyrical reference to "A Clockwork Orange" (the word “droogie”) and the sing-a-long hook "Wham bam thank you ma'am!” the song had become a fixture of Bowie’s live shows, and one of his best known album cuts.

In 1976, it was issued as a single to promote the "ChangesOneBowie" compilation in the UK, with the US single edit of “Stay” on the B-side. The single failed to chart.

Track listing

# “Suffragette City” (Bowie) – 3:25
# “Stay” (Bowie) – 3:21

Production credits

* Producers:
** Ken Scott on "Suffragette City"
** Harry Maslin on "Stay"
** David Bowie

* Musicians:
** David Bowie: Vocals, Guitar on "Suffragette City"
** Mick Ronson: Guitar, piano and ARP synthesizer on "Suffragette City"
** Trevor Bolder: Bass on "Suffragette City"
** Mick Woodmansey: Drums on "Suffragette City"
** Carlos Alomar, Earl Slick: Guitar on "Stay"
** George Murray: Bass on "Stay"
** Dennis Davis: Drums on "Stay"
** Roy Bittan: Piano on "Stay"

Appearances in popular culture

*Before recording it himself, Bowie offered it to the band Mott the Hoople if they would forego their plan of breaking up. The group refused, but recorded Bowie's "All the Young Dudes" instead.
*British indie band Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine sampled the line "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am!" in their song "Surfin' USM".
*It is featured as one of the staple songs in the video game "Rock Band" and was also used in one of the trailers for the game.
*Steve Marriott originally sung "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am!" in The Small Faces' song "Wham Bam Thank You Mam" in the 60s and throughout his career
* The song was the background for the closing credits on Ben Stiller's 2007 movie "The Heartbreak Kid".
* The song was in the background of Gilmore Girl's episode "Say Goodnight, Gracie" when Jess reunites with his father.
* The song is one of the featured theme songs in the video game, Driver: Parallel Lines.
* The song was performed on "" by Tara Slone.
* The song was performed on "" by Storm Large with Dave Navarro on guitar.
*In the "Sandman" graphic novel "" by Neil Gaiman, "Suffragette City" is the name of a strip club that is destroyed by the goddess Ishtar as a demonstration of the true power of sex and lust.
* The song was used as background music in the trailer for the film "The Long Kiss Goodnight".
* In the popular U.S. version of the sitcom "The Office" Steve Carell (as Michael Scott) put a play on the lyrics "Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am" by saying to his receptionist "Pam Pam thank you Pam."

Trivia

*Bowie's own style of saxophone playing couldn't produce the raunchy effect he wanted for the song, so an ARP synthesizer was used instead, imitating a saxophone sound.Fact|date=June 2007
*Although there is a distinct break between the two songs, "Suffragette City" often receives airplay paired with "Ziggy Stardust", the song immediately preceding it on the album.Fact|date=June 2007
*The full list of chords for Suffragette City is--not in this order--A, B, C, D, E, F and G--all major and all natural.
*"Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am" was a song by jazz artist Charles Mingus on his 61' LP "Oh Yeah"

Other releases

* It was released as the B-side of the singles "Starman" in April 1972 and "Young Americans" in February 1975.
* A picture disc release appeared in the RCA "Life Time" picture disc set.
* It also appeared on the following compilations:
** "The Best of David Bowie" (Japan 1974)
** "ChangesOneBowie" (1976)
** "Changesbowie" (1990)
** "" (1993)
** "The Singles Collection" (1993)
** "RarestOneBowie" (Japan 1995)
** "The Best of 1969/1974" (1997)

Live versions

* Bowie recorded the song for the BBC radio programme "Sounds of the 70s: John Peel", and this was broadcast May 23rd, 1972. In 2000 this recording was released on the "Bowie at the Beeb" album.
* A live version recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 20 October 1972 was released on "Santa Monica '72".
* The version played at the famous concert at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, July 3 1973 was released on "Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture".
* A recording from the 1974 tour was released on "David Live". This version was also released in the "Sound and Vision" box set. Another live recording from the 1974 tour was released on the semi-legal "A Portrait in Flesh".

Cover versions

* Mr. Big - Live recording on "Live at Budokan" (1997)
* Alice in Chains - "Sweet Alice" (1989)
* Toni Basil - "Live at the Roxy"
* Big Audio Dynamite - "F-Punk" (1995)
* Boy George - Live in Detroit, Michigan (1995), live at every show of his UK tour in January and February 2008, and on the album "The Unrecoupable One Man Bandit" (1998)
* Corpus Delicti - "Goth Oddity - A Tribute to David Bowie" (1999)
* Duran Duran - Live recording - "1980 Birmingham Christmas Show"
* Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Single (1989)
* Golden Delicious - "Crash Course for the Ravers - A Tribute to the Songs of David Bowie" (1996)
* Adolf & the Piss Artists - "Zero Hour" (2000)
* The Get Up Kids - "Eudora" (2001)
* Steve Jones - "Fire and Gasoline" (1989)
* Seu Jorge recorded a Portuguese version for the film "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" (2004)
* Killer Nannies In America - "Ashes To Ashes: A Tribute to David Bowie" (1998)
* Kyosuke Himuro – Single (1988)
* L.A. Guns – "Cuts" (1992)
* Of Montreal – Live on March 17, 2007 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
* Hazel O'Connor – Single
* Red Hot Chili Peppers – B-side to the "Aeroplane" single (1996)
* Andy Taylor – Single
* Turbonegro – Single (1998)
* Warrant - "Under the Influence" (2001)
* Wakefield - "New York Minute" soundtrack (2004)
* Wounded Turkey - "Only Bowie" (1995)
* Nerve Agents - "Kill Your Idols / Nerve Agents Split"
* Storm Large ft. Dave Navarro - ""
* Vixen - "Live & Learn" (2006)
* Franz Ferdinand & Scissor Sisters V Festival (2005)
* Tara Slone - "Just Look Pretty and Sing" (2007)
* Poison - "Poison'd!" (2007)
* Rehasher - "Off Key Melodies"
* *The Spiders from Mars - "The Mick Ronson Memorial Concert" (2001); the Spiders here consisting of Joe Elliott (vocals, acoustic guitar), Phil Collen (guitar), Bill Nelson (guitar), Trevor Bolder (bass), Woody Woodmansey, (drums), Billy Rankin (guitar), and Phil Lanzon (keyboards)
* Ozark Henry - "Glittering 2000: Belgian Acts Revisiting Glam Classics" (2000)

References

* Pegg, Nicholas, "The Complete David Bowie", Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-14-5