Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

often dialogue-free images meant: “Okay, the tapirs
are living among the monkeys until the monolith
appears. That’s when mankind becomes violent!
And the monkeys are no longer vegetarian and …
whoa! Pass the liquid cannabis tincture, Bud.”
It’s most likely the early scene in which an
astronaut communicates with his daughter on her
birthday that inspired “Space Oddity” more than the
film’s iconic opening and paranoid ending. “Tell
mama that I telephoned,” he says before ingesting a
“stress pill.” The notion of space exploration
compromising concrete familial affection or unity
appealed to the newly single David, someone who
had grown up with a short supply of the security and
attention any child requires.
Calvin Mark Lee knew that “Space Oddity”
marked his chance to get Bowie signed to Mercury,
so undeniable was its hit potential given the strength
of the melody and the “space fever” that had taken
over popular culture in the months leading up to the
July Apollo 11 mission. At the start of ’69, defying
Lou Reizner’s anti-Bowie sentiment, he financed the
recording of a demo using Mercury equipment and
studio time. “We had to do it all behind Lou’s back,”
he tells me, his voice swelling with excitement nearly
forty years later. “But it was such a good record.”
When Pitt heard the recording he was also
excited. He knew that this was something that he
could use to secure a new record deal, although he
was suspicious about Calvin Lee and Mercury,
largely because it was not an English institution but