Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

will remain the stuff of best-of lists and subpar
covers. “Kooks,” a kind of realistic lullaby to Zowie,
warning him, essentially, “we are weirdoes, and
you’re gonna get picked on,” captures the spirit of
Haddon Hall in the imagination of a Bowie fan.
Sonically, it introduces the loudly amplified acoustic
strum that is a hallmark of the Hunky Dory sound,
also heard on “Andy Warhol,” “Quicksand” and the
record’s closing track, “The Bewlay Brothers.”
Sequentially, “Kooks” is the light to “Life on Mars?”’s
pathos. “Fill Your Heart,” a song made famous by
American freak folkie Tiny Tim, and the bemused
“Andy Warhol,” on which Bowie instructs the proper
pronunciation (“War-hole, as in holes”) of the Pop
artist’s name, provide the comic relief to
“Quicksand,” a track so bleak (“Can’t take my eyes
from the great salvation of bullshit faith”) that the
chorus is actually “Don’t believe in yourself. …”
Somehow “Quicksand” skirts self-pity. I think it must
be the sheer complexity of the lyrics that give it a
fleet rather than a wallowing quality (shout-outs to
Heinrich Himmler, Aleister Crowley, Greta Garbo
and Winston Churchill included). “Queen Bitch” was
Bowie’s most convincing rocker to date and, along
with the Arnold Corns tracks, points toward not only
Ziggy but the kind of English punk rock that would
distill New York City street jive for English school kid
consumption (and has anyone bettered that title?).
On “Song for Bob Dylan,” Bowie expertly imitates
Dylan’s tough, adenoidal “awww” (which ups the
cosmic nastiness factor of “The Ballad of a Thin