Aladdin Sane by David Bowie Song Info
"Aladdin Sane (1913–1938–197?)" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, the title track from his 1973 album Aladdin Sane. Described by biographer David Buckley as the album's "pivotal" song, it saw Bowie moving into more experimental musical styles following the success of his breakthrough glam rock release The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in 1972. The name is a pun on "A Lad Insane" and it was inspired by Bowie's half-brother Terry, who had been diagnosed as a schizophrenic. An early variation was "Love Aladdin Vein", which Bowie dropped partly because of its drug connotations. The dates in parentheses refer to the years preceding World War I and World War II, with the third unknown date reflecting Bowie’s belief in an impending World War III. The title has been rendered a number of ways on different releases since 1973. The original vinyl issue of Aladdin Sane listed it as "Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)", followed by "RHMS Ellinis", the name of the ship on which it was written, in keeping with Bowie's practice on the album of indicating the origin of each track. The coda includes a quote from the song "On Broadway", and on the compilation album Changestwobowie (1981) it appeared in liner notes as "Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)/On Broadway", co-credit going to Mann, Weil, Leiber and Stoller. On the 1990 Rykodisc CD reissue the track was referred to as simply "Aladdin Sane", but subsequent CD reissues of the album in 1999, 2003 and 2013 restored the "Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)" title. Bowie wrote "Aladdin Sane" in December 1972 as he sailed back to the UK following the first leg of his US Ziggy Stardust tour. The subject matter was inspired by a book he was reading, Evelyn Waugh’s 1930 book Vile Bodies (filmed in 2003 as Bright Young Things, a phrase that also appears in the song's lyrics). Bowie saw in Waugh's story of "frivolous, decadent and silly" behaviour on the eve of "imminent catastrophe" a reflection of contemporary society, particularly in America. At Bridge School Benefit X in 1996, Bowie played the song acoustically and reflected that the song was "about young people, just between the two wars, wanting to go and screw girls and kill foreigners." The song features a piano solo by Mike Garson, an American keyboardist who had recently joined Bowie's band. Bowie politely rejected Garson’s initial solo attempts, one in a blues style, the other Latin, asking the pianist for something akin to "the avant-garde jazz scene in the 60s". Live versions "Aladdin Sane" was debuted live in February 1973, prior to the album’s release, and often played in concert during the later Ziggy Stardust tours and again on the Diamond Dogs tour in 1974. A performance from the first leg of the 1974 tour was released on David Live (1974), the same track also appearing on Rock Concert. A live version from the second leg of the same tour (previously available on the unofficial album A Portrait in Flesh) was released in 2017 on Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles '74). Bowie revived the song on stage in 1996, again with Garson on piano. In November of that year, he recorded an acoustic version with vocals from bass player Gail Ann Dorsey for the BBC session ChangesNowBowie, which was broadcast on 8 January 1997. This performance was released on an album titled ChangesNowBowie in 2020. Performances on the Outside Summer Festivals Tour were duets with bassist Gail Ann Dorsey that included quotations of "On Broadway" and "All Day and All of the Night".
