The Ominous Elvis Presley Song That Might Have Inspired David Bowie’s Last Album

Elvis Presley inspired countless musicians as the King of Rock and Roll, and David Bowie is no exception. Bowie often spoke of his admiration and reverence for Presley, citing their shared birthdays as another reason Bowie always felt connected to the King. “I was probably stupid enough to believe that having the same birthday as him actually meant something,” the “Golden Years” singer once said.

Videos by American Songwriter

Presley and Bowie share a birthday of January 8, the same day the latter musical icon released what would be his last album before his death days later: Blackstar. The album served as Bowie’s swan song, his final message to the world, and his last chance to pay homage to his childhood hero.

The Elvis Presley Song That Might Have Inspired David Bowie Album

During Elvis Presley’s brief transition from the musical stage to the sound stages of Hollywood, the King of Rock and Roll starred in a 1960 Western film called Flaming Star with Barbara Eden and Steve Forrest. Clair Huffaker, who wrote the novel that served as the inspiration for the film, Flaming Lance, changed the title to Black Star to fit 20th Century Fox’s request for a title song, which Elvis was to perform. Huffaker felt that Black Star sounded better in a song than Flaming Lance, thus the rewrite.

Presley, of course, would perform the title track. Although he did manage to get a performance down on tape, the production crew ultimately scrapped the take. Fox had renamed the film Flaming Star, and Presley re-recorded the song with the new title shortly thereafter. The song describes the legend of a “black star” that serves as an omen of death to anyone who sees it. Every man has a black star, a black star over his shoulder. And when a man sees his black star, he knows his time, his time has come.

Throughout the song, the narrator implores the black star not to make itself visible for a bit longer. Black star, keep behind me, black star. There’s a lot of livin’ I gotta do. Give me time to make a few dreams come true. Many David Bowie fans have speculated that the song’s ominous message and dream-chasing narrator inspired the rock star’s final album, Blackstar, and it’s easy to see why.

From “Black Star” to ‘Blackstar’

David Bowie released his 26th studio album, Blackstar, on January 8, 2016, on his 69th birthday and what would have been Elvis Presley’s 81st birthday. Bowie died roughly 48 hours later of liver cancer, which he had kept private up until his passing. The album was not a coincidental release. Bowie wanted Blackstar to be his final message to the world. Given the album’s title, it doesn’t require too much stretching of the imagination to connect Presley’s 1960 song to Bowie’s last record.

In the same interview where Bowie called himself stupid for believing his and Elvis’ shared birthdays were a cosmic sign, the “Changes” singer called Presley “a major hero of mine.” So, it’s likely that Bowie had at least heard about (if not seen) Presley’s 1960 Western Flaming Star. And Bowie was certainly around to see the release of the film’s original title track, “Black Star,” in a compilation LP released in 1986. Moreover, the celestial imagery of a black star was the perfect conceptual fit for the man who created the extraterrestrial rock star Ziggy Stardust.

Bowie saw his black star. He knew his time had come, and his final musical contribution to the world exemplified this acceptance and closure.

Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images