We’re posting lyrics of hit songs so that our songwriters can study them to see how winning songs are constructed. Of course a lot depends on the melody, the rhythm and the artist as to whether or not the song will sell… and whether or not it is in the right place at the right time!
So this week’s featured Lyrics are from David Bowie’s “Fame”, co-written with John Lennon and Carlos Alomar My favorite lines are, “Fame, it’s not your brain, it’s just the flame
That burns your change to keep you insane (sane).”
“Fame” is a song recorded by David Bowie, initially released in 1975. Written by Bowie, Carlos Alomar and John Lennon, it reached Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the week of 20 September 1975. The song is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
With the Young Americans sessions mostly concluded by late 1974, the material was delayed while Bowie extricated himself from his contract with manager Tony Defries. During this time, he was staying in New York, where he met John Lennon. The pair jammed together, leading to a one-day session at Electric Lady Studios in January 1975. There, Carlos Alomar had developed a guitar riff for Bowie’s cover of “Footstompin'” by The Flairs, which Bowie thought was “a waste” to give to a cover. Lennon, who was in the studio with them, sang “aim” over the riff, which Bowie turned into “Fame” and he thereafter wrote the rest of the lyrics to the song.
Bowie would later describe the song as “nasty, angry”, and fully admitted that the song was written “with a degree of malice” aimed at the Mainman management group with whom he had been working at the time. In 1990, Bowie reflected: “I’d had very upsetting management problems and a lot of that was built into the song. I’ve left that all that behind me, now… I think fame itself is not a rewarding thing. The most you can say is that it gets you a seat in restaurants.”
“Fame” became Bowie’s biggest hit to that point in the U.S. It was his first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as his first to break the top 10, but would only reach number 17 in the UK.
Bowie would later claim that he had “absolutely no idea” that the song would do so well as a single, saying “I wouldn’t know how to pick a single if it hit me in the face.”
Fame
David Bowie – lead vocals, guitar
John Lennon – backing vocals, guitar, production, tape loops
Carlos Alomar – guitar
Dennis Davis – drums
Emir Ksasan – bass
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fame_(David_Bowie_song)
FAME
Fame, (fame) makes a man take things over
Fame, (fame) lets him loose, hard to swallow
Fame, (fame) puts you there where things are hollow
Fame (fame)
Fame, it’s not your brain, it’s just the flame
That burns your change to keep you insane (sane)
Fame (fame)
Fame, (fame) what you like is in the limo
Fame, (fame) what you get is no tomorrow
Fame, (fame) what you need you have to borrow
Fame (fame)
Fame, “nien! it’s mine!” is just his line
To bind your time, it drives you to, crime
Fame (fame)
Could it be the best, could it be?
Really be, really, babe?
Could it be, my babe, could it, babe?
Could it, babe?, could it, babe?
Is it any wonder I reject you first?
Fame, fame, fame, fame
Is it any wonder you are too cool to fool
Fame (fame)
Fame, bully for you, chilly for me
Got to get a rain check on pain (pain)
(Fame)
Fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame,
Fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame,
Fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame
Fame
What’s your name?
Songwriters: David Bowie, Carlos Alomar, John Winston Lennon
Published by
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group