random friday, 1976 edition: david bowie, “stay”

Last week I spent a lot of time quoting and analyzing lyrics, while gushing over one of my favorites, Patti Smith. That’s not happening this week. First off, while I am a fan of David Bowie, my fandom is minor … I’m not a super fan, and I don’t intend to come across as more knowledgeable than I am. Second, this week’s song, “Stay,” which is perhaps my favorite of all Bowie songs, includes lyrics that I find inscrutable. Third, I don’t care about that, because I don’t love the songs for the lyrics. I love it for the guitars.

When I saw that “Stay” had been coughed up by shuffle play, I was happy, because of those guitars, but then I realized I don’t know a whole lot about the part I love. On the Station to Station recording, and in many of the subsequent live performances, Earl Slick shreds his way through some mighty solos. But the opening riff, which is just as crucial to the song’s success? Hopefully someone will read this and clarify things for me, but to the best of my knowledge, it’s Carlos Alomar who came up with that irresistible beginning.

This post will be fairly unenlightening, because I don’t have anything brilliant to say about Bowie, and while I know what kind of guitar I like, I am no music theorist, so I don’t really know how to put into words what these guys are doing. So I’ll just note that apparently Bowie was so fucked up on drugs that he barely remembers making the album, and it doesn’t matter.

And I realize it’s a bit silly going on about guitar players when the topic is David Bowie … his career encompasses much more than what I’m talking about here. It’s as if I said Mick Ronson is what made Aladdin Sane great. That might be true for gee-tar freaks like me, but Bowie’s the artist here. But shuffle play gave us “Stay,” not something from Hunky Dory.

First, the original, for those who haven’t heard it or don’t remember it. You’ll hear that great opening (let’s just give credit to Alomar until someone tells us different), you’ll hear the booming bass at the bottom, you’ll hear the funky drumming … and yes, it’s kinda weird hearing the Thin White Duke performing funk, but hey, it works. Eventually, you’ll hear Earl Slick’s soloing.

Next, a 1976 TV appearance on … the Dinah Shore show!

From 1978 … Adrian Belew takes both guitar parts, is quite impressive, but somehow less interesting than Alomar/Slick:

In 2000, Slick is back:

Comments

[scott]

As someone who considers seventies Bowie godhead, I don't feel it is a backhanded compliment to say that one of the things that makes seventies Bowie so great is his choice of collaborators, particularly guitarists Ronson and Alomar (not to mention Eno and Tony Visconti). (By the same token, I don't feel it is a backhanded compliment to say that one the things that makes early Madonna so great is her choice of producer-collaborators, though I recall that the correct thing to do back then was to denigrate her talent precisely for that reason.) In other words, there's nothing "silly" going on about Ronson if you're talking about Aladdin Sane or Alomar if you're talking Station to Station... both guys are absolutely central to what makes those such great records. Indeed, I've often wondered if all those songs being credited entirely to Bowie is really accurate; did he "write" the riffs for "Suffragette City," "Panic in Detroit," "Stay," "Golden Years," etc.?

I can't answer your query about who played that specific riff, though, and I'm under the impression that none of those guys can either.

[Steven Rubio]

That last sentence made me laugh ... first laugh of the day, since I just woke up. I imagine you're right about that!