'Starman' by David Bowie: The making of the song that changed everything

18 June 2025, 12:51

When David Bowie broke through for real with some hazy cosmic jive.

David Bowie was more than one of the great popstars of the 20th Century (and beyond).

More than perhaps anyone in music, he was renowned for his ability to effortlessly shift from one style to another: folk, hard rock, soul, motorik, mainstream pop, drum and bass, jazz and beyond.

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For all of his legend as comedian, chameleon, Corinthian, and caricature, to many he'll always be Ziggy Stardust.

That makes sense. While he had his first real breakthrough in 1969 with 'Space Oddity', it was The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars album that he was really established as a superstar.

There's a fair argument that it was trailing single 'Starman' (and that immortal Top of the Pops performance) that changed everything for David Bowie. Below we take a closer look.

Who wrote 'Starman'?

David Bowie - Starman (Official Video)

As his stunning back catalogue of duets will attest, David Bowie was never afraid of a healthy collaboration.

Towards the end of the 1970s and especially in the 1980s and beyond, Bowie would frequently co-write songs with the likes of Brian Eno, Carlos Alomar, Reeves Gabrels and others.

But in the early and mid-1970s, aside from a sprinkling of covers, Bowie was usually credited as the sole songwriter on most of his material.

So it was with 'Starman', which just has Bowie's name as the writer on the label.

As well as singing lead vocals, Bowie played acoustic guitar on the song. Mick Ronson was a key collaborator, serving up electric guitar, Mellotron and string arrangements, as well as backing vocals.

The sound was rounded out by Spiders from Mars Trevor Bolder on bass guitar and Mick Woodmansey on drums.

So many of Bowie's biggest albums across his career would be produced by Tony Visconti, but he actually stepped away after David Bowie and The Man Who Sold The World.

He returned for Young Americans, but for the massive Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and Aladdin Sane (and covers album Pin-Ups), it was Ken Scott who co-produced the album with Bowie.

Round And Round (2024 Remaster)

Bowie had actually already recorded much of the ... Ziggy Stardust album, which was due to include a couple of covers: Ron Davies' 'It Ain't Easy' and Chuck Berry's 'Round and Round'.

Head of RCA Dennis Katz insisted that the album needed a big single. Bowie's manager Tony Defries agreed.

David Bowie obliged with 'Starman', bumping 'Round and Round' from the running order.

"It would have been the kind of number that Ziggy would have done onstage," Bowie said of the Chuck Berry cover.

"He jammed it for old times' sake in the studio, and our enthusiasm for it probably waned after we heard it a few times. We replaced it with a thing called 'Starman'. I don't think it's any great loss, really."

Does 'Starman' borrow from 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'?

Somewhere Over the Rainbow - The Wizard of Oz (1/8) Movie CLIP (1939) HD

Well spotted.

"There's a Starrrrr-man.... over the rainbow waiting in the sky." You can even sing it along to Harold Arlen/Yip Harburg's classic from The Wizard of Oz.

Acknowledging the debt, Bowie actually sung the lyric as "There's a Starman, over the rainbow... way up high..." when he played the song at London's Rainbow Theatre (RIP) in August 1972.

David Bowie Starman (Somewhere over the rainbow) Rainbow magic theatre

Musically, you can also hear the Motown vibes of the staccato guitar from the intro/chorus of The Supremes' 'You Keep Me Hangin' On' in that guitar break before Bowie's chorus.

There's also the glam influence of T. Rex hits 'Hot Love' and Telegram Sam ("Let all the children boogie").

What are the lyrics of 'Starman' about?

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars is a concept album, right? One of the most famous (and very best).

Well, sure. It's all got the same glam feel, there's a sort-of story weaving through about the rise (and fall) of (an alien?) rockstar Ziggy and his band.

But truthfully, the story – such as it exists – really doesn't knit itself together well. It's a pretty loose concept, truth be told.

As for 'Starman' Itself, the title has a couple of obvious sci-fi inspirations. There's Robert A. Heinlein's 1953 novel Starman Jones and David Rome's 1965 short story There's a Starman in Ward 7.

"Ziggy is advised in a dream by the infinites to write the coming of a starman, so he writes 'Starman', which is the first news of hope that the people have heard," Bowie himself told William Burroughs in 1973 for a Rolling Stone article.

"So they latch onto it immediately. The starmen that he is talking about are called the infinites, and they are black-hole jumpers.

"Ziggy has been talking about this amazing spaceman who will be coming down to save the earth. They arrive somewhere in Greenwich Village.

"They don’t have a care in the world and are of no possible use to us. They just happened to stumble into our universe by black-hole jumping."

David Bowie - Starman [Official Lyric Video]

Its lyrics tell the story of a teenager listening to some rock 'n' roll on the radio late at night, when the music fades out and Ziggy Stardust hits them with some "hazy cosmic jive" about a Starman (waiting in the sky), urging the children to boogie.

They call a friend who heard it too (ooh ooh), and they crack a plan to get that Starman to fall to Earth ("If we can sparkle he may land tonight") and save them.

Is there a deeper meaning? Is the Starman some sort of Messiah (the Ziggy album is dripping with that sort of imagery), or maybe the salvation offered by music?

In fact, the opening verse of The Velvet Underground's 'Rock and Roll' is five-year-old girl (is Ziggy's 'Five Years' a subliminal nod?) who puts on the radio and whose life is saved by rock 'n' roll.

When was 'Starman' released and where did it get in the charts?

'Starman' was recorded on February 4, 1972, right at the end of the Ziggy sessions, along with 'Rock 'n' Roll Suicide' and 'Suffragette City'.

It was released as a single less than three months later, on April 28, 1972, with 'Suffragette City' on the B-side.

The song entered the charts in June in the lowly place of number 49, but steadily climbed to a peak of number 10 at the end of July.

It's worth pointing out that prior to 'Starman', the likes of 'Changes' failed to chart altogether. Bowie didn't even bother to release 'Life on Mars?' as a single at the time.

'Space Oddity' felt like a false dawn. A novelty. 'Starman' was Bowie's first hit single since 1969, and was his real breakthrough.

It was track four on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (released on June 1972 and charting at number 6 in the UK), and has since been included on pretty much every one of the squillion best-of, singles collections and other David Bowie compilations that have been released since.

It's gone double Platinum in the UK, with over 1,200,000 sold.

When did David Bowie play 'Starman' on Top of the Pops and why was it so important?

David Bowie - Starman, Live at Glastonbury 2000 (Video Clip)

From to The 1984 Show to Glastonbury 2000, David Bowie was well known for stunning live performances captured by the TV cameras, but nothing could come close to the performance of 'Starman'.

A little-known fact is that the song's TV debut actually came on Granada kids music show Lift Off With Ayesha. Bowie had taped the performance on June 15 and it was broadcast on June 21.

The performance was sadly wiped and no copy of the video is known to exist anywhere in the world in any quality.

Thousands saw it at the time though, and it probably helped the song rise to number 41 on the singles chart and earn an invitation to the bigger stage of Top of the Pops.

As with the Lift Off With Ayesha performances, Bowie was joined by the Spiders (Ronson, Bolder, Woodmansey) plus keyboard player Nicky Graham.

On July 5, Bowie sang live as the band mimed along to a new backing track they had recorded six days earlier. The performance was broadcast on July 6, 1972.

David Bowie - Starman (Top Of The Pops, 1972)

You could hear the sound of open mouths, dropped teacups, shock and awe across the nation. Bowie's incredible performance, his androgynous vibe, his dyed red hair, his pure star charisma shone through.

Bowie even gave a quick shoutout to friend Marc Bolan ("Some cat was laying down some get-it-on rock 'n' roll", he tweaked the lyric) in the performance.

You could fill a book with quotes from stars-to-be revealing how much this one performance changed their lives forever.

Everyone from Robert Smith ("Everyone of my age remembers the time he played 'Starman' on Top of the Pops"), Gary Numan ("One of the pivotal moments of modern music"), Ian McCulloch ("I was hooked"). Bono ("It was like a creature falling from the sky"). Elton John ("No one had ever seen anything like that before"). Everyone.

Beyond those names and many others (Boy George, Adam Ant, Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Noel Gallagher, Mick Jones, Siouxsie Sioux, Dave Gahan...), there was the impact of every single normal boy and girl watching their telly at the time.

Acknowledgement of the impact was a while coming... helped along by David Buckley's 1999 biography of David Bowie that interviewed many of the above names.

But even before it was widely hailed in Bowie lore, it's fair to say the influence of performance seemed to instantly mirror that of the fictional Ziggy heard via the radio on 'Starman' itself.

Who has covered 'Starman'?

Starman (2002 Digital Remaster)

For such an absolutely massive song, it's perhaps surprising how few major artist have covered 'Starman'.

Perhaps it's just too big a song, or one too associated with either the Ziggy character or Bowie himself.

Still, there have been a few decent attempts over the years.

Garbage - Starman (Official Audio)

Among those giving it a shot are 10,000 Maniacs, The Glitterband, Culture Club, Nena, John C. Reilly and Garbage.

It's also been performed by Bowie-associate-tribute-group Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey's Holy Holy with Glenn Gregory and Steve Norman.