Space Oddity / Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud

by David Bowie

Space Oddity / Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud cover art
  • Type: Single
  • Released: 11 July 1969
  • Label: Philips
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Length: 46:19
  • Community rating: 4.67/5 from 6 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Timed closely with the Apollo 11 moon landing, this acoustic-driven track introduced Bowie's recurring character Major Tom. The song utilizes a heavily orchestrated arrangement, complete with Mellotron lines and Stylophone instrumentation, to depict an astronaut cutting communications with Earth to drift into the void. It provided Bowie with his first commercial breakthrough, establishing his penchant for cinematic, sci-fi theatricality.

Genres

Descriptors: space, progressive, atmospheric, folk, orchestral

Tracklist

  1. Space Oddity
  2. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud

Credits

  • David Bowie - primary artist, arranged by, written-by
  • Paul Buckmaster - arranged by, cello

More from David Bowie: full discography