Golden Years (song)


"Golden Years" is a song written and recorded by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released in November 1975 as the lead single of his tenth studio album Station to Station. Co-produced by Bowie and Harry Maslin, it was recorded in September 1975 at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles. It was the first track completed during the sessions, a period when Bowie's cocaine addiction was at its peak. At one stage it was slated to be the album's title track. Musically, "Golden Years" is a funk and disco song that is more reminiscent of the music on his previous album Young Americans than the rest of its parent album. The song was a commercial success, peaking at No. 8 in the UK and No. 10 in the US. The song was played sporadically throughout Bowie's 1976 Isolar Tour but regularly on the Serious Moonlight, Sound+Vision and Mini Tours.

Lyrics

"Golden Years" was the first track recorded for Station to Station in September 1975 at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles. Regarding the recording, co-producer Harry Maslin recalled that the song was "cut and finished very fast. We knew it was absolutely right within ten days. But the rest of the album took forever." At one stage it was slated to be the album's title track.
Sources differ as to who the track was written for. According to authors Nicholas Pegg, David Buckley and Christopher Sandford, the track was supposedly written for Elvis Presley, who turned it down. Bowie recalled that Presley had heard the demos and, because both artists were signed to RCA Records at the time, Presley's manager Colonel Tom Parker thought that Bowie should write songs for Presley. Bowie stated that he had "adored" Presley and would have loved to work with him. Although the artists' office contacted each other, nothing ever came to fruition. Presley sent a note to Bowie saying, "All the best, and have a great tour"; Bowie kept the note for the rest of his life.
Bowie's first wife Angie Bowie later claimed that the song was written for her, saying that he sang the track over the telephone to her, "just the way, all those years before, he'd sung me "The Prettiest Star". It had a similar effect. I bought it." According to Sandford, Ava Cherry also claimed to have been the inspiration for the song.

Composition

Musically, "Golden Years" is a funk and disco song. As the lead single of Station to Station, the song is noted as musically different than the rest of its parent album.
Station to Station is commonly regarded as the musical bridge between the funk and soul of Young Americans and the experimental sound of his Berlin Trilogy. "Golden Years" is the only song on the album to showcase the similar funk sound of the earlierYoung Americans rather than–in Pegg's words–"the steelier musical landscape" of Station to Station. Pegg further comments that its American "soul-pop" roots are "easily discernible": he describes the main riff as "owing a debt to" the 1968 Cliff Nobles and Company song "The Horse" and the multi-tracked vocal refrain to the 1958 single "Happy Years" by the Diamonds.
The song is in the key of B major and begins with a "simple two-chord" riff, which Buckley believes hooks the listener instantly. Doggett calls the riff "reminiscent"–albeit "in very different circumstances"–to the title track of Aladdin Sane. According to Buckley, Bowie was looking to emulate something of the glitzy nostalgia of "On Broadway", which he was playing on piano in the studio when he came up with "Golden Years". Doggett writes: "The magical ingredients were percussive: the rattling of sticks against the hi-hat cymbal from the start, the startling clack of woodblocks, the sudden drum fills." These combined elements "channel" the spirit of Elvis Presley in the verses with a "haughtier, more strident tone" in the chorus.

Release and aftermath

"Golden Years" was released on 21 November 1975 as the lead single to Bowie's tenth studio album Station to Station by RCA Victor with the Young Americans track "Can You Hear Me?" as the B-side and a length of 3:27. It subsequently appeared as the second track on the album, between the title track and "Word on a Wing", with a longer length of 4:03. According to Pegg, the single version is "essentially" the album version with an earlier fade. Bowie allegedly got drunk to perform the song for the American TV show Soul Train; Bowie was the second white artist to appear on the program after Elton John did earlier in the year. The resultant video clip was used to promote the single, and assisted Bowie's continued commercial success in the US, where it charted for 16 weeks and reached No. 10 in early 1976. It achieved No. 8 in the UK, where it was "hard on the heels" of the chart-topping "Space Oddity" reissue, and No. 17 in Canada. The song was also a top ten hit in Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden. As a digital download, it reached number four in the Hungarian singles chart in 2016.
"Golden Years" was played sporadically by Bowie on his Isolar – 1976 Tour, if at all, but regularly on the Serious Moonlight, Sound+Vision and Mini Tours. Live versions from the Serious Moonlight and Mini Tours appear on 'Serious Moonlight' and Glastonbury 2000. The song was used as the theme song of Stephen King's Golden Years, and in the pilot of the CBS series Swingtown. The song was also used in the 2001 film A Knight's Tale, as well as in Hank Green's 2018 novel An Absolutely Remarkable Thing.

Track listing

All songs written by David Bowie.
  1. "Golden Years" – 3:22
  2. "Can You Hear Me?" – 5:04

    Personnel

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

David Bowie vs KCRW

An updated single of "Golden Years" was released in 2011 to coincide with the re-release of Station to Station. Four new remixes were provided by DJs from radio station KCRW in California.

Track listing

  1. "Golden Years " – 3:27
  2. "Golden Years " – 4:22
  3. "Golden Years " – 3:11
  4. "Golden Years " – 4:25
  5. "Golden Years " – 4:37