occasional dream, eleven

All the Young Dudes is one of the two or three greatest songs David Bowie ever wrote. It comes at the peak of Bowie’s first creative explosion between late ’71 and mid ’73. That he gave the song to Mott the Hoople, perhaps recognizing that Ian Hunter would lend it just the right combination of defiance and world weary vulnerability, says so much about Bowie’s self assurance and burgeoning capabilities at the time.  Here’s a man who knew that there would be plenty more where this came from, enough to share with worthy beneficiaries of his artistic largesse.  There are hundreds of songs that move me. Rarer are the ones that transport me, and rarer still are the ones that transport me and get me to feeling like I imagine it must’ve felt at the time they appeared on the scene.  All the Young Dudes is one of those super-rare songs.  The melody is perfect, especially in the chorus.  I love the signature David Bowie/Ronno hand claps and tambourine.  And the lyrics have a beatnik scat quality about them. Boogaloo dudes… He dresses like a queen, but he can kick like a mule, it’s a real mean team… Speed jive, don’t wanna stay alive, when you’re twenty-five...  But despite this nod to the past, the song is undeniably in and of the early 70s, another instance where Bowie transforms the failed promises of the 60s into something distinct and path breaking. It’s amazing to think that at this point he’s still one of the young dudes and only just getting started…