Over 50 Years Ago, David Bowie and John Lennon Teamed Up to Write a No.1 Hit Song by Accident

1975 was the year one of the greatest collaborations in the history of music happened. David Bowie was at the peak of his career. He'd had his commercial breakthrough in 1972 with the release of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and had previously enjoyed great success with his legendary single, "Space Oddity." But he had yet to conquer the American charts. That didn't happen until 1975, and in a way that surprised even Bowie himself. In 1974, he got to meet one of his greatest heroes, and thanks to that meeting, a number-one single was born.  David Bowie Was Terrified to Meet John Lennon

"I think we were polite with each other, in that kind of older-younger way," Bowie explained. Apparently, he didn't have to introduce himself, since Lennon knew who he was, and treated him like an up-and-coming artist, which intimidated Bowie. "I was sort of, ‘It’s John Lennon!’ I don’t know what to say. ‘Don’t mention The Beatles, you’ll look really stupid.’”

Visconti explained that, despite the awkward first meeting, Lennon took a liking to Bowie. The pair became friends, and months later, when Lennon invited him to hang out in his hotel room, Bowie once again asked his producer to join, since he was nervous about being alone with the Beatle. The two musicians spent hours in silence, just drawing caricatures of each other with charcoal. It was a confusing but clearly intimate friendship. The next year, Lennon visited his friend when he was recording his album Young Americans in New York City, and that meeting sparked a collaboration that changed Bowie's career forever. 

That day changed Bowie's life forever, not just because of the incredible success of the song, but because Lennon shared some great songwriting advice, which paved the way for his '80s transformation. In the '80s, especially in 1983 with Let's Dance, he switched from avant-garde to dance music, and it was Lennon's advice that made that possible.

Source: Val Barone/collider.com

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