David Bowie: 20th Century Boy

Bowie with Molko at the 1999 Brit Awards

Too tired (and busy) for a long analytical post today.  Another day I will do a post about my perspective on Bowie covers, but for now I just wanted to share my latest Bowie find - a cover of T. Rex's "20th Century Boy" with Placebo at the 1999 Brit Awards!

It's been playing on a non-stop loop since I discovered it a few days ago, despite the fact that the cover is inferior to the original.  As O'Leary wrote about the performance:

The Bowie/Placebo cover is a bit shambling (“We weren’t too bad, we were in key at least,” Molko told Melody Maker. “But we could never really get the lyrics right. We were doing ’20th Century Boy’. We had a fucking laugh.”) Molko was being diplomatic: he was letter-perfect, where Bowie cheerfully bungled his way through one of his verses. It’s in part due to the imbalanced sound mix, but Molko’s the dominant figure in this performance. Bowie, playing his Tin Machine-era “headless” Steinberger, seems happy to be on stage as his guest.

However, Bowie's inability to "get the words right" is no surprise.  Anyone who's ever listened to him performs live knows that he doesn't know the words to even his own music.  In 2002 on A&E's "Live By Request", he shows off a binder on stage with him that contains all the lyrics to his songs.  As Bowie put it, "It's lyric upon lyric - I've been using this for years.  If I don't bring it on stage, I forget everything.  And if I do bring it on stage, I don't forget much. [laughs]", and he isn't afraid to admit that his audiences know his own lyrics better than him.

Bowie and Bolan on the Marc Show in 1977

However, lyrical stumbling and imbalanced sound mix aside, in this cover, like all the others he does, Bowie imbues the song with an unprecedented level of sensuality and charisma.  This is particularly impressive, considering that fellow mesmerising glam rocker Marc Bolan did the original version.  I also love how free and playful Bowie is with the song.  He's clearly enjoying himself on stage while at the same time having a good laugh.  He knows he's the best - a seasoned performer to say the least - so there's no artifice or pressure attached to his excellent showmanship.  It's reminiscent of when Bowie appeared on the Marc Show in 1977 - this version is clearly a great, light-hearted tribute to his long gone friend-and-sometimes-rival.  And it is this happy, carefree David combined with the oozingly seductive Bowie that endears this version of "20th Century Boy" to me.