Boys Keep Swinging

During the Lodger recording sessions, Bowie had wanted to capture a garage band style for the track, and agreed with Brian Eno that the best way to achieve this sound was to get the band to swap instruments after this was 'suggested' by Eno's deck of 'Oblique Strategies' cards which supplied the suggestion "Reverse Roles". Guitarist Carlos Alomar played drums and drummer Dennis Davis played bass.

"Boys Keep Swinging" has exactly the same chord sequence as the song "Fantastic Voyage" from the same album ("Fantastic Voyage" was also the B-side to the single of "Boys Keep Swinging"). RCA decided against releasing the single in the US, choosing "Look Back in Anger" instead. Bowie performed the track with a puppet body special effect on Saturday Night Live on 15 December 1979, joined by Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias as backing singers. During the broadcast NBC censors muted the lines "life's a pop o'the cherry" and "other boys check you out", but failed to notice the puppet's bouncing phallus at the close of the song.

The song reached No. 7 in the UK, returning Bowie to the top 10 of the Singles chart for the first time since "Sound and Vision" in February 1977. It was performed only during one tour, the 1995 Outside Tour. Interviewed in 2000, Bowie said the following about the song: "I do not feel that there is anything remotely glorious about being either male or female. I was merely playing on the idea of the colonization of gender."^[2]

Track listing

"Boys Keep Swinging" (Bowie, Eno) – 3:17
"Fantastic Voyage" (Bowie, Eno) – 2:55

Production credits

Producers:
- Tony Visconti
- David Bowie
Musicians:
- David Bowie: lead vocals, guitar on "Boys Keep Swinging", piano on "Fantastic Voyage"
- Adrian Belew: guitar on "Boys Keep Swinging", mandolin on "Fantastic Voyage"
- Dennis Davis: bass guitar on "Boys Keep Swinging", percussion on "Fantastic Voyage",
- Tony Visconti: bass guitar on "Boys Keep Swinging", mandolin on "Fantastic Voyage", backing vocals on "Fantastic Voyage"
- Carlos Alomar: drums on "Boys Keep Swinging"
- Brian Eno: piano on "Boys Keep Swinging", ambient drone on "Fantastic Voyage"
- Simon House: violin on "Boys Keep Swinging", mandolin on "Fantastic Voyage"
- Sean Mayes: piano on "Fantastic Voyage"

Other releases

The song appeared on the following compilations:
- Chameleon (Australia/New Zealand 1979)
- The Best of Bowie (1980)
- Christiane F. soundtrack (1982)
- Sound + Vision (1989)
- Bowie: The Singles 1969-1993 (1993)
- The Singles Collection (1993)
- The Best of David Bowie 1974/1979 (1998)
- Best of Bowie (2002)
- The Platinum Collection (2005/2006)
- Nothing Has Changed (2014)
It was released as a picture disc in the Fashions Picture Disc Set.

Cover versions

A Camp - Covers (EP) / Love Has Left the Room (2009)
AFX - Ashes to Ashes: A Tribute to David Bowie (1998)
The Associates - Released as a single in 1979 without copyright permission as a publicity stunt (it worked, the band landing a record deal soon afterwards). This version is included on Starman: Rare and Exclusive Versions of 18 Classic David Bowie Songs, CD premium from the March 2003 issue of Uncut magazine.
The Dambuilders - Crash Course for the Ravers - A Tribute to the Songs of David Bowie (1996)
Mr Russia - .2 Contamination: A Tribute to David Bowie (2006)
The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower - INRI (2006)
Sarah Harding - St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold (Original Soundtrack) (2009)
Screamfeeder - Home Age (1999)
Shihad - Single
Susanna Hoffs - When You're a Boy (1991) and David Bowie Songbook
Blur's 1997 track "M.O.R." heavily borrowed the rhythm and harmonic structure of the song, and after legal intervention, was credited to "Blur/Bowie/Eno".
Duran Duran in We Were So Turned On: A Tribute to David Bowie (2010).
Hirsute Pursuit Tighten That Muscle Ring (2012). Vocals by Boyd Rice.

Notes

↑ Graham, Ben (January 11, 2016). "30-Years On: David Bowie's Lodger Comes In From The Cold". The Quietus. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
↑ Abdulmajid, Iman (2000), "Watch That Man", Bust magazine: 32–33

References

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

External links

Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

David Bowie singles

1960s

1964	"Liza Jane"

1965	"I Pity the Fool" "You've Got a Habit of Leaving"

1966	"Can't Help Thinking About Me" "Do Anything You Say" "I Dig Everything" "Rubber Band"

1967	"The Laughing Gnome" "Love You till Tuesday"

1969	"Space Oddity" "Ragazzo solo, ragazza sola"

1970s

1970	"The Prettiest Star" "Memory of a Free Festival"

1971	"Holy Holy" "Moonage Daydream" "Hang On to Yourself"

1972	"Changes" "Starman" "John, I'm Only Dancing" "The Jean Genie"

1973	"Drive-In Saturday" "Time" "Life on Mars" "Let's Spend the Night Together" "Sorrow"

1974	"Rebel Rebel" "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" "Diamond Dogs" "Knock on Wood" "Rock 'n' Roll with Me"

1975	"Young Americans" "Fame" "Golden Years"

1976	"TVC 15" "Suffragette City" "Stay"

1977	"Sound and Vision" "Be My Wife" "'Heroes'"

1978	"Beauty and the Beast" "Breaking Glass"

1979	"Boys Keep Swinging" "DJ" "Yassassin" "Look Back in Anger" "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)"

1980s

1980	"Alabama Song" "Crystal Japan" "Ashes to Ashes" "Fashion"

1981	"Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" "Up the Hill Backwards" "Under Pressure" "Wild Is the Wind" "The Drowned Girl"

1982	"Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy"

1983	"Let's Dance" "China Girl" "Modern Love" "Without You" "White Light/White Heat"

1984	"Blue Jean" "Tonight"

1985	"This Is Not America" "Loving the Alien" "Dancing in the Street"

1986	"Absolute Beginners" "Underground" "As the World Falls Down" "Magic Dance" "When the Wind Blows"

1987	"Day-In Day-Out" "Time Will Crawl" "Never Let Me Down"

1989	"Under the God" "Heaven's in Here" "Tin Machine" / "Maggie's Farm (live)" "Prisoner of Love"

1990s

1990	"Fame '90"

1991	"You Belong in Rock n' Roll" "Baby Universal" "One Shot"

1992	"Real Cool World"

1993	"Jump They Say" "Black Tie White Noise" "Miracle Goodnight" "The Buddha of Suburbia"

1994	"Ziggy Stardust"

1995	"The Hearts Filthy Lesson" "Strangers When We Meet" / "The Man Who Sold the World (live)"

1996	"Hallo Spaceboy" "Telling Lies"

1997	"Little Wonder" "Dead Man Walking" "Seven Years in Tibet" "Pallas Athena" "I'm Afraid of Americans" "I Can't Read"

1999	"Without You I'm Nothing" "Thursday's Child" "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell"

2000s

2000	"Survive" "Seven"

2002	"Slow Burn" "Everyone Says 'Hi'" "I've Been Waiting for You" "Shadow Man"

2003	"New Killer Star" "Just for One Day (Heroes)"

2004	"Never Get Old" "Rebel Never Gets Old"

2006	"Arnold Layne" (David Gilmour version)

2010s

2011	"Golden Years - David Bowie vs KCRW"

2013	"Where Are We Now?" "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" "The Next Day" "Valentine's Day" "Love Is Lost"

2014	"'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)"

2015	"Blackstar" "Lazarus"

2016	"I Can't Give Everything Away"

Discography
Book:David Bowie Book:Bowie singles and songs
Category:David Bowie

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.