YouTube has a pretty good algorithm. It knows what I like (Netflix should have a conversation with it). That’s how I found (actually, was delivered), this entertaining remix of one of Bowie’s most accessible songs, “Golden Years.” It’s different enough from the more familiar version that it’s worth hearing.

Bowie said that he originally wrote this song for Elvis Presley, who rejected it. Be that as it may have been, it became a hit for Bowie himself. Its an odd addition to the album Station to Station but is a good example of how a current Bowie album would often have a foot in the past and a foot in the future. His previous album was Young Americans, where “Golden Years” would have fit nicely. Apparently, Bowie either didn’t perform the song live on tour or performed it very infrequently until his Serious Moonlight tour, promoting Let’s Dance. This makes sense stylistically because once again “Golden Years” seems like a better fit with Bowie’s 80s work than what he was doing in the late 70s. I saw him perform it live on the Glass Spider tour, and it also made appearances on his Sound and Vision greatest hits tour in 1990.

I like what TokiMonsta did with the song. I don’t know much about her, but she’s apparently a big DJ in Los Angeles known for remixes. She was actually nominated for a Grammy for her album, Lune Rouge and was the first Asian-American producer to recieve a nomination in this category, at least according to Wikipedia!