The Legendary Stardust Cowboy covers “Space Oddity” (2003?)

Filling out what’s turned into a Legendary Strardust Cowboy series, this is his cover of Bowie’s first hit. Bowie’s original version is trippy— this makes it seem like something Mr. Rogers would sing, which is to say, “the Ledge” (as those more familiar with him than I call him, rather than, “the Cowboy”) has something to teach Bowie about what constitutes trippy. To my ears, this sounds like a mix of punk, psychedelia and country— not normally a combination that goes together. And does it go together? Well, no, not really. I’m not going to be in a big rush to add this version of one of Bowie’s most covered songs onto a playlist anytime soon. I think it serves more as a way for the Cowboy to close the circle. It seems that the Cowboy was aware that Bowie appropriated his name from early on and that Bowie was actually a fan of the more obscure musician, so all that is to say that there was a circle to be closed, especially after Bowie covered “I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spaceship” (see yesterday’s post).