David Bowie- The Man Who Sold The World (Live 6-22-96)

[easy2120]

That's a damn good song, I like this version from Bowie.

[seintzeit]

@easy2120 it's bowie's song...nirvana covered it...

[KINGMJ1990]

Why is he performing it like this..He should perform it like the original..There are very few performances may be 1 where he is performing it with the background music of the original 1970 version...this background music sux

[Reytec0]

Puta el concierto pa bueno...

[riverdeceits]

If possible my respect for Bowie just got even bigger

[psyoptica]

Love this song. Don't like this arrangement, though I suppose it fit in very well with his sound at the time.

[ChrisRey3156]

Why doesn't the beat stay on Bowie?

[MrBazboro]

fkin shite



[GoonNiggaz123]

I LOVE THIS ONE.

[bollhane]

lovely version!!!!

[edwigederer]

love love super version

[katrin99verified]

stay David, stay

[Hacker73]

The song's title is similar to that of Robert A. Heinlein's 1949 science fiction novella "The Man Who Sold the Moon", with which Bowie was familiar. However, the song has no similarities with the story of the book. The persona in the song has an encounter with a kind of doppelgänger, as is suggested in the second chorus where "I never lost control" is replaced with "We never lost control".

[rrreckless]

You should listen to David Bowie's original composition (not this strange version which sounds nothing like his original track) before you say "Nirvana did it better". Nirvana's cover version on the unplugged album uses EXACTLY the same riffs etc as Bowies original... They are very similar, just the voice of Kurt Cobain instead. You should check it out RLfeye.

[RLfeye]

Nirvana did it better.

[rrreckless]

@RLfeye You should listen to David Bowie's original composition (not this strange version which sounds nothing like his original track) before you say "Nirvana did it better". Nirvana's cover version on the unplugged album uses EXACTLY the same riffs etc as Bowies original... They are very similar, just the voice of Kurt Cobain instead. You should check it out RLfeye.

[Hacker73]

Beyond this, the episode is unexplained: as James E. Perone wrote,

Bowie encounters the title character, but it is not clear just what the phrase means, or exactly who this man is. … The main thing that the song does is to paint — however elusively — the title character as another example of the societal outcasts who populate the album.

In common with a number of tracks on the album, the song's themes have been compared to the horror-fantasy works of H. P. Lovecraft.

[pedrowerberg]

Bovwie still rules

[ManBearBg]

nirvana is awsome too but not as godly as David Bowie

[ezaube1030]

I love it how he always does slight changes on the tune towards the end of the song. There are so many performances of this one song, and it never gets boring.

[rubenscarneiro]

Se hoje John Lennon estivesse vivo ele faria assim releituras de suas músicas?

[s0l0musica]

@rubenscarneiro who knows, not me :)

[exxagerator]

horrible version seriously

[s0l0musica]

@exxagerator for mi this is much better than the original vercion of DAVID BOWIE too, you must to be a nirvana`s fan

[exxagerator]

@s0l0musica I dont like nirvana.

[littlewonder18]

God he is gorgeous.

[desertrun]

quit all the verbalizations...its music...stop ranking it, comparing, assigning scores...appreciate it, don't commetate it.

[vendelayindustries]

This is such a cool version of the song!

[Segafridus]

love the alien sounding guitar, such a good version

[yangalemoto]

Great voice....great song....

[lazkoyen]

Y esta version? Muy buena. Excelent!

[PremaritalSex1]

Oh, you think he killed himself? Well I KNOW you're ignorant about this one thing, so chances are, you are about another. Dead men don't pull triggers, numb nuts.

The only thing I give Bowie credit for is not getting aids when he was banging the likes of Freddy Mercury. The song "Under Pressure" was about his t-cells exploding.

[jonesy643]

much as i love grunge, it destroyed music... singers no longer have to be able to sing well, guitarists dont have to play their instruments well (and forget about solos), songwriters use the "verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus" technique to death. everyone wants to be special so bad that theyre now elevating mundane artists to the top so average joes can feel special too. but thats the american dream; if you cant reach the bar, just lower it. yay, everybody wins! but we all lose, too.

[hlamorama]

I' think what bothers him more is people's lack of knowledge. majority of people (mostly young) think he covers a Nirvana song. Of course it bothers him, especially since Nirvana didn't change a thing and performs it exactly the same. That speaks of BOWIE. A visionary whose song is still covered 30 + years later. The above is not a "laughable attempt" it's artistry. Those who know Bowie see that. The younger don't-probably cause the height of their musical education is Nirvana.

[frogyrvd]

@hlamorama ok, I agree that Bowies changing is a good thing. Nirvana used their own method of keeping their cover the same, and let people know that the version they played, the only version they play, is their version of Bowies song.

To say that the youths extent of musical knowledge is that of Nirvana, I would call false. Many don't even know of Nirvana. Put any radio station on playing "main stream" music. No songs will be around a year, or even less from being released.

[YossGold]

@hlamorama The funny thing is that most of those youngsters know it from Nirvana's MTV unplugged performance in which Cobain specifically says "This is a David Bowie song" ... Show how much they actually listen to the prople they idolize :))

[ZombieSlaver]

@YossGold

Wow, wasn't aware you had such knowledge of these "youngtsers" and which version they've heard!

I think it's funny how many people comment about how it's a shame that all the young kids thing this is a Nirvana song, and yet, I rarely see comments saying that it is. Huh. Fancy that.

[intheend253]

@YossGold does he really say ? listen to the video from vevo of the song and you'll see that he don't say that -.-

[YossGold]

@intheend253 Kurt Cobain says it on the album and DVD just before the intro ... VEVO video is cut so that it starts just after he says it ...

[Hacker73]

The lyrics are also cited as reflecting Bowie's concerns with splintered or multiple personalities, and are believed to have been partially inspired by the poem "Antigonish" by William Hughes Mearns:

“ Last night I saw upon the stair

A little man who wasn’t there

He wasn’t there again today

Oh, how I wish he’d go away…”

[Hacker73]

The lyrics are also cited as reflecting Bowie's concerns with splintered or multiple personalities, and are believed to have been partially inspired by the poem "Antigonish" by William Hughes Mearns:

“ Last night I saw upon the stair

A little man who wasn’t there

He wasn’t there again today

Oh, how I wish he’d go away…”

[OrkForester]

@YossGold Touché

[Droyd21]

@hlamorama, from what I've heard Bowie sees the Nirvana cover as yet another decent artistic impression of the song so I suppose it does not sounds "exactly the same" to him. But yeah, it would suprise me that he's not bothered at all about another band being credited for his work.

[charliehenryrufus]

@hlamorama with all due respect fuck off. im part of "the younger" and enjoy both versions equally. indeed although i love kurt and nirvana, i acknowledge it was bowie who wrote this song. bowie too is a great and talanted musician ...so please don't patronise those who enjoy nirvana :)

[ivankaramasov]

@hlamorama Well written indeed. In fact, I think the main problem with Nirvana's cover is that it is so straightforward. They really don't bring anything significantly new to the song. When Bowie covers a song he really changes it and makes it his own.

[Alvareted]

@hlamorama who cares?...

[shadetheman117]

@Alvareted people who appreciate real music and the artist who work their ass off to write and create the songs. That's who

[MoParbeast65]

@hlamorama hey dude personally i think nirvana did a better version and bowie liked nirvanas version

[seintzeit]

@MoParbeast65 bowie has done so many versions of this song, and they are all really different...its his song.

[JuliaaHearts]

@hlamorama

I am one 'of the younger people'(15) and I think the original is so much better. It's not because it's the original but because the sound of David Bowie. That is what makes this song so good. Kurt has his own sound, but that makes the song different. I thought the version of Nirvana was better, but afther I listened a few time to Bowie, I was convinced that this was better. Still, both versions are different and very good.

[PremaritalSex1]

I love.... love love LOVE how every performance of this song subsequent to nirvana's performance, bowie and the video's poster tries hard to make it clear that he made it in 1971 and has had many covers. Every song of his isn't prefaced like that. ;)

It buggers him and all his fans that kurt did it better, huh? This version is a laughable attempt at him trying to take back his song.

epic fail.... as it sounds like those techno remakes so many thousands of euro-dipshits have done before.

[wargasmnz]

@PremaritalSex1 Thousands have done it before today, but bowie was experimenting with it in the 80s. I like the Nirvana version of this song, its great and I think its a testiment to how awesome the original was that Nirvana didnt change it much at all. I dont think the nirvana version is better or worse than bowies original or this one.

[davidbdesign]

.... you mean thousands have done after him? right?

attempt to take back the song? what a non-sense.

adaptation to earthling techno sound would be right,

as he've done with pop and soul before in every phase

of is ''always ahead of the times'' career... you know nothing more

than your opinion about Bowie, that's all.

[Cyndizdayswar]

@PremaritalSex1 I think he can do as he pleases to with his frekin' songs! The result will always be great!!!

[nataliabowie]

such a touching song-DAVID IS THE MAN!

[tomlind68]

no one covers bowie like bowie... great version of a genius song

[SELFproclaimedVIRGIN]

I AM A VIRGIN

[tramac]

ti si brezvezn - to je legenda in to je svetovna izvedba te pesmi...

Bowie is the best performer

[Earthling86]

Why should he stay on beat?

[alma1980sommerregen]

@akonisteznali:

Jedino sto je ovdje bezveze je tvoj komentar.

[abimnazar]

I love this way to revisit these creations ... I'm fascinated by this version very sensitive. harmonic additions are sumptuous and his voice ... incredible david's voice

[lesassassins]

I like this version a lot more than the original.

[girlofthebutterflies]

I love David Bowie!! It's from 1970 though, not 71.

[MAnuciao79]

Charming, strange-capturing voice.

[webnut2000]

wow.... magic!!! wonderful !

[adraak3]

great song, Bowie has very mysterious eyes.....!!

[Zagulach]

this version is strange ...but kinda cool

[marilenasonia]

MERAVIGLIOSOOO!!!!