Rebel Rebel (4:30)
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“Rebel Rebel” is a song by David Bowie, released in 1974 as a single and on the album Diamond Dogs. Cited as his most-covered track, it was effectively Bowie’s farewell to the glam movement that had made him a star.
Music and lyrics
Originally written for a mooted Ziggy Stardust musical in late 1973, “Rebel Rebel” was Bowie’s last single in the glam rock style that had been his trademark. It was also his first hit since 1969 not to feature lead guitarist Mick Ronson; Bowie himself played guitar on this and almost all other tracks from Diamond Dogs, producing what NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray called “a rocking dirty noise that owed as much to Keith Richards as it did to the departed Ronno”.
The song is notable for its gender-bending lyrics (“You got your mother in a whirl / She’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl”) as well as its distinctive riff, which rock journalist Kris Needs has described as “a classic stick-in-the-head like the Stones’ ‘
Satisfaction’”. Bowie himself later said, “It’s a fabulous riff! Just fabulous! When I stumbled onto it, it was ‘Oh, thank you!’”
Transsexual rock artist and former Bowie associate Jayne County claims that “Rebel Rebel” was based in part on County’s own song “Queenage Baby”, which was recorded in January of 1974 by Bowie’s Mainman Records, but not released at the time. The song later surfaced on the independent 2006 release Wayne County at the Trucks, and some critics, upon hearing the track, echoed County’s claims.
Music and lyrics
Originally written for a mooted Ziggy Stardust musical in late 1973, “Rebel Rebel” was Bowie’s last single in the glam rock style that had been his trademark. It was also his first hit since 1969 not to feature lead guitarist Mick Ronson; Bowie himself played guitar on this and almost all other tracks from Diamond Dogs, producing what NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray called “a rocking dirty noise that owed as much to Keith Richards as it did to the departed Ronno”.
The song is notable for its gender-bending lyrics (“You got your mother in a whirl / She’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl”) as well as its distinctive riff, which rock journalist Kris Needs has described as “a classic stick-in-the-head like the Stones’ ‘
Satisfaction’”. Bowie himself later said, “It’s a fabulous riff! Just fabulous! When I stumbled onto it, it was ‘Oh, thank you!’”Transsexual rock artist and former Bowie associate Jayne County claims that “Rebel Rebel” was based in part on County’s own song “Queenage Baby”, which was recorded in January of 1974 by Bowie’s Mainman Records, but not released at the time. The song later surfaced on the independent 2006 release Wayne County at the Trucks, and some critics, upon hearing the track, echoed County’s claims.
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Albums featuring this track
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Diamond Dogs (30th Anniversary Edition)
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Shouts
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eymensg wrote:
knallerintro for ever simple & gut
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r3n4to wrote:
Rebel Revolution ...
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Marjo47 wrote:
Isent it good?
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ABM1708 wrote:
The Thin White Duke takes me back to my youth!
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bojay wrote:
One of mine too madzag... and their are lot's of tracks to choose from...
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madzag wrote:
:-) one of my absolute favorite bowie tracks
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dzemor wrote:
just Dawid....
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pihpuh wrote:
you like me, and i like it all. we like dancing and we look divine.
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sterlingcastle wrote:
play sparkle by aretha franklin
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brianm2 wrote:
bliss
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riosapolinar wrote:
great!!
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Lipton454 wrote:
Absolute BRILLIANT!!
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Zombie_Goldblum wrote:
my most played song. love it!
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Frenchtoast1814 wrote:
You got your mother in a whirl! She don't know if your a boy or a girl! :-P
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lastfmted2009 wrote:
In the Theory that LastFm like us hearing different versions of these hits.................FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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tantan_tron wrote:
: D
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cragadon wrote:
rebel, rebel they stay out all night!!!!!!
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Marjo47 wrote:
good track!
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davidbowiegirl wrote:
Great song, but to be honest I got bored of if it very quicky as happened to Jean Genie.
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belaferreira wrote:
i'm a rebel, no doubt!
David Bowie
Rebel Rebel
full track
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