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Velvet Goldmine  

Bonus track on
Rykodisc/EMI releases (1990 & 1994) & EMI (2002)

Albums: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (1972) (Rykodisc bonus)

Singles:  Velvet Goldmine

Background

Velvet Goldmine was recorded in November 1971 at London's Trident Studios.  The original working title for this song was "He's a Goldmine" and under this name the song was originally scheduled to be on Side Two of the Ziggy Stardust album right up until January 1972. However, in an early 1972 radio interview, Bowie indicated that while the song was a "lovely thing" and very "David Bowie", it was eventually dropped from the Ziggy Stardust album because "the lyrics were a little bit too provocative."

"Velvet Goldmine" was eventually released, without Bowie's permission, as a single with "Space Oddity" by RCA in 1975.

"The whole thing came out without my having a chance to listen to the mix.  Somebody else had mixed it - an extraordinary move" - Bowie

It was re-released as an approved bonus track on the 1990 Rykodisc re-issue of the Ziggy Stardust album. In 1998 Todd Haynes used the song as the title for his glam movie Velvet Goldmine.

 

Velvet Goldmine (Bowie)

You got crazy legs, you got amazing head
You got rings on your fingers and your hair's hot red
You got wit from my tongue, name on the sun
I gotcha going to my breast
Cause you're the only one, who uses school to pleasure

You make me act real gone, you make me trawl along
I had to ravish your capsule, suck you dry
Feel the teeth in your bone, heal ya head with my own
Why if I don't have you home, we'll have to fight alone
Hang all together

Velvet Goldmine, you stroke me like the rain
Snake it, take it, panther princess you must stay
Velvet Goldmine, naked on your chain
I'll be your king volcano right for you again and again
My Velvet Goldmine

You're my taste, my trip, I'll be your master zip
I'll suck your hair for kicks, you'll make me jump to my feet
So you'll give me your hand, give me your sound
Let my sea wash your face, I'm falling, I can't stand
Oooh! Put your mink on

Velvet Goldmine, you stroke me like the rain
Snake it, take it, panther princess you must stay
Velvet Goldmine, naked on your chain
I'll be your king volcano right for you again and again
My Velvet Goldmine

Oh,
shoot you down, bang bang

Velvet Goldmine, you stroke me like the rain
Snake it, take it, panther princess you must stay
Velvet Goldmine, naked on your chain
I'll be your king volcano right for you again and again
My Velvet Goldmine

Velvet Goldmine, Velvet Goldmine, my Velvet Goldmine
Velvet Goldmine, Velvet Goldmine

 

---This page last modified: 12 Dec 2018---

Ziggy Stardust Scarf (1973)