BBC Radio 6 has used newly discovered documents found in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s David Bowie Centre to reconstruct a radio show that Bowie had been planning.
The program imagines Bowie himself as host, guiding listeners through the music that inspired him by using archival recordings and is available now to mark the tenth anniversary of his death. Bowie passed away on 10th January 2016.
Bowie left a handwritten note titled Memo for radio show — list of favourite records, containing 15 songs and artists that influenced him.
Some of the artists have long been known as Bowie influences including The Beatles, Ronnie Spector, Roxy Music, Scott Walker, and The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, an eccentric ’60s performer who was a huge influence on the creation of Ziggy Stardust.
Bowie’s love of jazz is also represented in the memo by Miles Davis and Charles Mingus as well as classical pieces by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Richard Strauss.
The one hour radio show brings Bowie’s memo to life by combining the songs with his voice from old BBC interviews. The show also includes reflections recorded for the BBC across the years.
The fifteen songs are:
Ralph Vaughan Williams – “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis”
Richard Strauss – “Four Last Songs”
Alan Freed and His Rock ’N’ Roll Band – “Right Now Right Now”
Little Richard – “True Fine Mama”
The Hollywood Argyles – “Sho Know a Lot About Love”
Miles Davis – “Some Day My Prince Will Come”
Charles Mingus – “Ecclusiastics”
Jeff Beck – “Beck’s Bolero”
Legendary Stardust Cowboy – “I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship”
The Beatles – “Across the Universe”
Ronnie Spector – “Try Some, Buy Some”
Roxy Music – “Mother of Pearl”
Edgar Froese – “Epsilon in Malaysian Pale”
The Walker Brothers – “The Electrician”
Sonic Youth – “Tom Violence”
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