Episode 5 – Stealing Ideas from David Bowie – Part Two

Posted on August 21, 2007 by Tom

Following on from the post about Bowie’s use of randomised lyrics, here’s part two.

This episode of the podcast looks at two ideas Bowie has used in writing chord progressions:

Related chromatic chords

Chords that are a fifth apart

The episode begins and ends with music from Stryngs who describe themselves as ‘Almost entirely, but not quite unlike folk’. I like their music a lot and you will too!

Listen to Stryngs!

And here’s Episode 5 of the Podcast:

[audio http://www.wellwrite.co.uk/songwright/songwrightep5.mp3]
Right click to Download Episode 5

Here are videos of Space Oddity, which uses the progress C E7 F Fm C F Fm C And Word on A Wing which uses B Abm Eb G Cm D Bb Cm C/E.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhSYbRiYwTY]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc0FuPp79zg]

Categories: Chords and harmony, Stealing ideas

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3 Responses to “Episode 5 – Stealing Ideas from David Bowie – Part Two”

Stealing Ideas from Radiohead’s Creep « Songwright says:

February 18, 2008 at 1:43 pm

[...] are chromatic. If you turn it into a C major version you also get the first chords to the verse of Space Oddity C E F Fm. Isn’t that [...]
Songwright » Blog Archive » Chromatic chords - A few options says:

November 1, 2008 at 6:18 pm

[...] use it. The first two chords of the verse Bowie’s Space Oddity is one example (which I’ve talked about before) [...]
Songwright » Blog Archive » Stealing Ideas from Radiohead’s Creep says:

November 1, 2008 at 6:27 pm

[...] are chromatic. If you turn it into a C major version you also get the first chords to the verse of Space Oddity C E F Fm. Isn’t that [...]