History gives certain molds and stances to artists that might not be 100-percent accurate, and some Bowie fans, as well as critics who have considered his early work unremittingly hip and cutting-edge, may find the notion - that an effete musical satirist such as Rose affected Bowie's work - unacceptable. Bowie, of course, was a much better singer and a much harder rocker. There can be no doubt that Rose influenced Bowie's early-'70s work, particularly Hunky Dory, which owed something to Rose's early albums in both the quasi-musical piano styles and thorny-rose lyrics. ![]() When he sang about flowery love and idyllic free living, there were sarcastic and ironic undercurrents that made him hard to take seriously at the same time, the words were too far out for him to get accepted by Broadway or the easy listening pop market. But stick to writing, we'll get someone else to sing them." Lyrically, he was a different story, with an arch and whimsical tone that both reflected and mocked the counterculture. These were delivered in a whiney voice that made it easy to envision scenes of cigar-chomping Tin Pan Alley publishers telling him, "We like your songs, kid. Musically, Rose was firmly in the pre-World War II camp, sounding like a Broadway songwriter with his jaunty piano and bouncy singalong melodies. Bowie also covered another song from that album, "Buzz the Fuzz," in live performances (it can be heard on a 1970 bootleg), and Tiny Tim did "Fill Your Heart" on the B-side of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips." If he's remembered by rock audiences at all, it's because David Bowie covered a Rose song - "Fill Your Heart" (co-written by Rose and Paul Williams), from Rose's 1968 debut album - on Hunky Dory. It isn't quite accurate to call him a rock artist, but he fits in rock about as well as anywhere else. The entire session, apart from the believed-lost ‘I’m Waiting For My Man’, was released in 2021 on The Width Of A Circle.An odd and goofy singer/songwriter who didn't fit in any comfortable niche when he emerged in the late 1960s, New Orleans pianist Biff Rose was like a vaudeville entertainer reincarnated as a spacy hippie. Jeff Griffin produced the session, which was for an edition of The Sunday Show.įifteen songs were recorded: ‘Amsterdam’, ‘God Knows I’m Good’, ‘Buzz The Fuzz’, ‘Karma Man’, ‘London Bye Ta-Ta’, ‘An Occasional Dream’, ‘The Width Of A Circle’, ‘Janine’, ‘Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud’, ‘Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed’, ‘Fill Your Heart’, ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’, ‘The Prettiest Star’, ‘Cygnet Committee’, and ‘Memory Of A Free Festival’. It took place at the BBC Paris Studio on Lower Regent Street, London.īowie was backed by Mick Ronson on guitar, Tony Visconti on bass, and John Cambridge on drums. BBC recordingĭavid Bowie’s fourth BBC radio session was recorded on 5 February 1970, and broadcast on Radio 1 three days later. The song remains a quaint period piece, though why he decided to record an anti-drug song well after the hippie dream had died is unknown.Ī recording from Aylesbury on 25 September 1971 was released on the 2022 box set Divine Symmetry. Corrupted by her evil ways, and via a series of excruciating puns, he soon becomes “the pusher on the force… taking pills and shots”.īowie performed ‘Buzz The Fuzz’ live in 19. The song tells the story of “a rookie cop” in Los Angeles who meets a femme fatale named Alice Dee, a play on LSD. ![]() Rose’s version appeared on his 1968 debut album The Thorn In Mrs Rose’s Side, which also featured his song ‘Fill Your Heart’. ‘Buzz The Fuzz’ was written by Biff Rose, and recorded by David Bowie during a BBC radio session in early 1970. LyricsDavid Bowie: vocals, guitar, keyboards.
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