3 Early Folk Gems by David Bowie You Might Have Missed

We remember David Bowie for a multitude of reinventions, personas, and musical styles. Whether playing funk, soul, electronic, art pop, or alien glam rock, Bowie’s voice remains unmistakable—regardless of the changing fashions. But some might have missed Bowie, the folk singer. So let’s explore three early gems from his 1969 self-titled album that you absolutely must know.

Videos by American Songwriter

“Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed”

David Bowie’s first two albums are both self-titled, yet very different musically. While the debut blends baroque pop with peppy music hall theatrics, Bowie’s follow-up finds the singer in a psychedelic folk mood. You likely know the cosmic opening track, “Space Oddity”, in which Bowie describes the lonely plight of a fictional astronaut. (It later became the title track when the album was reissued in 1972.)

However, the second track here began an important new chapter for him. It’s one of Bowie’s first with his longtime producer Tony Visconti, who was behind the recording console for many of Bowie’s most iconic works, including his jazz-minded and final LP, Blackstar.

“Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud”

Speaking of firsts, “Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud” features Mick Ronson’s recording debut with Bowie. As the album version takes on a Beatles-like orchestral lurch, Ronson enters with an uncredited guitar part and handclaps, foreshadowing his time in The Spiders From Mars. (He made his official debut on Bowie’s harder-edged third LP, The Man Who Sold The World.)

This “Space Oddity” B-side is about an outsider boy from a mountain called Freecloud who is condemned to death. With a rope around his neck, the mountain attempts to protect him by destroying the village. “Stop, Freecloud, they won’t think to cut me down!” the boy cries. Bowie then sings, “But the cottages fell, like a playing card hell / And the tears on the face of the wise boy came trembling down to the rumbling ground.”

“Memory Of A Free Festival”

The final song on David Bowie is a hazy recollection of a 1969 festival in Beckenham, London. Foreshadowing the surrealism of The Flaming Lips, Bowie plays the organ and sings over hymn chords, “The sun machine is coming down, and we’re gonna have a party.” A band slowly creeps in from an earlier bed of dissonance, like an ensemble slowly finding its footing.

You can imagine a late 60s brigade of concert goers stumbling over a hill as the sun comes up. Bleary-eyed and led by a young Bowie, conducting a kind of bohemian jamboree. It echoes Sgt. Pepper’s Band, if it hadn’t been a lonely one.

Photo by Mark Hayward/Getty Images