Queen Bitch
| Queen Bitch | |
|---|---|
| David Bowie | |
| publication | 17th December 1971 |
| length | 3:18 |
| Genre (s) | Folk rock , glam rock |
| Author (s) | David Bowie |
| Publisher (s) | Rykodisc |
| album | Hunky Dory |
Queen Bitch is a song written by David Bowie that appeared on the 1971 album Hunky Dory .
The song stems from Bowie's admiration for the experimental style of the American rock band The Velvet Underground . He wrote it in honor of Lou Reed and his choice of subject. On Hunky Dory also exists an homage to Andy Warhol , the u. a. Produced the album The Velvet Underground & Nico , also known as the "Banana Record".
Text and musical conception
In 1967, Bowie recorded an unreleased cover version of Reeds I'm Waiting for the Man in the studio and played the song alongside at live sessions ( Bowie at the Beeb and Live Nassau Coliseum '76 / Station to Station special , 2010). Queen Bitch ties in with this song and portrays a man whose male roommate, possibly a lover , sets off after rejecting advances to “fish” a drag queen on the street. Bowie, as the remaining figure, observes the action from the window of his apartment (“I'm up on the eleventh floor, and I'm watching the cruisers below”). In doing so, he realizes that the chosen drag queen behaves in an extraordinarily artificial manner, which is why he believes that dealing with her must be a pure waste of time ("She's so swishy in her satin and tat; In her frock coat and bipperty-bopperty hat; Oh God "I could do better than that"). On the other hand, this song is not the only time in his artistic work that it becomes clear that his characters flirt with the themes of homo- and bisexuality in a rather diffuse way . This also applies to the singer's viewing angle. The affected and voyeuristic sounding voice of Bowie suggests that the observer regrets not being the object of desire himself. For the pioneering of glam rock, Queen Bitch is considered the most influential and lasting title of the hunky dory .
Musically, Queen Bitch starts - after a Bolanesque intro of disjointed syllables - with Bowie's acoustic guitar , before Mick Ronson soon opens with fat electric guitar riffs . The overall arrangement of the song comes up with a melodic bass line, condensed drum scheme and jumpy, distorted guitar chords. In addition, Bowie sings in an extremely subtle, shiny manner, hinting at the opulent arc of tension that he will formulate a little later with The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars . Although the main riff is reminiscent of Sweet Jane from The Velvet Undergrounds Loaded , Eddie Cochran's rockabilly piece Three Steps to Heaven penetrates clearly .
Live versions
- Bowie played the song on January 18, 1972 on the BBC radio show Sounds of the 70s . This radio recording was released on February 7, 1972 and 2000 on the album Bowie at the Beeb .
- Bowie played the song on the BBC entertainment show The Old Gray Whistle Test on February 8, 1972. The song can be found on the compilation , Best of Bowie .
- Another version from the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium is found on October 20, 1972 on Santa Monica '72 and Live Santa Monica '72 .
- A version of the song was created in the "Nassau Coliseum", Uniondale on March 23, 1976. This was published on RarestOneBowie and in 2010 on a special edition of Station to Station .
- Lou Reed played the song with Bowie on his 50th birthday in January 1997 in New York .
- Arcade Fire played the song with Bowie, also in New York City.
more publishments
- The song is a musical component of the film The Deep Sea Divers by producer Wes Anderson from 2004 about the bizarre expedition of a marine research team.
- The song is part of the US-American biopic Milk from 2008 , directed by Gus Van Sant , based on the script by Dustin Lance Black .
- The song is part of the 2011 film Young Adult , which was directed by Jason Reitman based on the script by Diablo Cody .
- The song appears on the Rock Band video game series . The song is in a pack of three together with Moonage Daydream and Heroes .
- The song appears on the computer game Skate .
- The song is part of the off-road racing game MotorStorm: Pacific Rift .
- The song is in the British comedy Run Fatboy Run of the American director David Schwimmer from the year 2007 included.
Cover versions
The song was covered by numerous artists. Among others were the post-grunge band Birdbrain , the punk band Eater , Green River (band) , The Hotrats (named after Frank Zappa 's album of the same name ), The Tragically Hip . The song also appears in the 32-minute documentary Spiral Jetty , which focuses on a natural work of art created by Robert Smithson in the Utah desert in 1970 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Dane, The Man Who Sold The World: David Bowie And The 1970s , page 118 f.
- ↑ Pushing Ahead of the Dame / David Bowie, Song by Song
- ↑ James E. Perone: The Words and Music of David Bowie. 2007, page 24
- ↑ James E. Perone: The Words and Music of David Bowie. Page 25
- ↑ Queen Bitch at Songfacts.com (English), accessed August 24, 2019.
- ↑ Bowie Joins Arcade Fire In Central Park ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
