Brother’s back at home…* 10 Bowie covers of songs you might hear on a classic rock station
Many Bowie songs are staples on classic rock radio, but he also covered a significant number of classic rock songs by other artists. It’s not unusual for musicians to record songs written by others, but Bowie was especially unafraid to tackle both obscure and widely known tracks.
This has always struck me as brave—it’s one thing for an artist to reinterpret a lesser-known song and make it their own, but quite another to invite direct comparison to a contemporary.
This list is far from exhaustive—you’ll likely think of examples I’ve left out—but here’s a playlist of classic rock songs Bowie covered. Click on the song titles to hear them:
1. The Who, “Pictures of Lily” (2001). The Who was hugely influential on Bowie, who recorded both “I Can’t Explain” and “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere” for his cover album Pinups. My selection here is a lesser-known cover, originally recorded for a Who tribute album called Substitute.
2. Pink Floyd, “See Emily Play” (1973). This is the one song from Pinups I’m including on the list. Bowie’s cover comes from the band’s Syd Barrett era and might be the one example here where Bowie’s version is actually better known.
3. The Beatles, “Across the Universe” (1975). Bowie would go on to cover John Lennon and George Harrison songs, but this is the only time he recorded an actual Beatles song, which appears on Young Americans. Bowie had, of course, been hanging out with Lennon at the time—who gets a co-writing credit on one of the album’s other songs, “Fame.”
4. The Rolling Stones, “Let’s Spend the Night Together” (1973). Like the Beatles, Bowie would name-check the Stones, as well as Mick Jagger, in some of his own songs, including “Drive-In Saturday,” which appeared on the same album, Aladdin Sane, as this cover.
5. Neil Young, “I’ve Been Waiting for You” (2002). Tin Machine performed this song live years before Bowie recorded it for Heathen… with Dave Grohl on guitar (admit it—you forgot that detail!).
6. The Kinks, “Waterloo Sunset” (2003). Recorded during the Reality sessions, this cover was sadly omitted from the main album (but it isn’t too difficult to track down).
7. Cream, “I Feel Free” (1993). Another song Bowie performed live with Tin Machine, he saved it for Black Tie White Noise before finally including it on an album (featuring both Mick Ronson and Reeves Gabrels on guitar—again, admit it once again—you forgot that, too!).
8. Bob Dylan, “Trying to Get to Heaven” (2021). In addition to his early “Song for Bob Dylan,” Bowie recorded “Maggie’s Farm” with Tin Machine and “Like a Rolling Stone” for Mick Ronson’s album Heaven and Hull. Bowie’s version of “Trying to Get to Heaven” was released posthumously.
9. Bruce Springsteen, “It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City” (1973?). Bowie (apparently) recorded this song twice, in 1973 and again in 1974, but neither version made it onto a Bowie album until one was included in the sprawling 1989 box set Sound + Vision. Bowie also covered Springsteen’s “Growin’ Up” and produced “Spirit in the Night” for the Astronettes.
10. Simon & Garfunkel, “America” (2001). This is actually my favorite Bowie cover, which, to my knowledge, he only performed once—at the post-9/11 Concert for New York City. Though not a studio recording, the album commemorating that event includes this, as well as a live version of “Heroes.”
Like I said, this is just a sample. What are some of your favorite Bowie covers of classic rock songs?
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Lyrics from “All the Young Dudes”— “my brother’s back at home with his Beatles and his Stones; We never got it off on that revolution stuff.” Through, apparently, Bowie did!