Day 333 | Across the Universe

Yesterday, on the anniversary of John Lennon’s assassination I posted Bowie’s recording of the Lennon song, “Mother,” which he did for an unreleased tribute album. This is another John Lennon (actually a Beatles) song, which Bowie included on the Young Americans album. He recorded this when Lennon started hanging around the studio (and as a result made some contribution to “Fame”). That’s not my favorite album, but I always liked this largely because it is familiar. It is also worth noting that Bowie would write, “Sound and Vision” not too much later. This song is about a writer, maybe a poet or musician who is spewing words almost uncontrollably, while the later song is about writer’s block. I don’t know if Bowie was thinking about that when he wrote “Sound and Vision,” but the two songs ultimately serve as bookends. Album: Young Americans.