Drive-In Saturday Explained

Drive-In Saturday
Cover:Bowie_DriveInSaturday.jpg
Type:single
Artist:David Bowie
Album:Aladdin Sane
B-Side:"Round and Round"
Recorded:9 December 1972
Studio:RCA, New York City
Genre:
  • Glam rock[1]
  • doo-wop
Label:RCA
Producer:Ken Scott, David Bowie
Chronology:David Bowie singles
Prev Title:The Jean Genie
Prev Year:1972
Drive-In Saturday
Year:1973
Next Title:Time
Next Year:1973

"Drive-In Saturday" is a song by the English musician David Bowie from his 1973 album Aladdin Sane. It was released as a single a week before the album and, like its predecessor "The Jean Genie", became a Top 3 UK hit.

Music and lyrics

Heavily influenced by 1950s doo-wop, "Drive-In Saturday" describes how the inhabitants of a post-apocalyptic world in the future (Bowie once said the year was 2033)[2] have forgotten how to make love, and need to watch old films to see how it is done. The narrative has been cited as an example of Bowie's "futuristic nostalgia",[3] where the story is told from the perspective of an inhabitant of the future looking back in time.

Its composition was inspired by strange lights amidst the barren landscape between Seattle, Washington, and Phoenix, Arizona, as seen from a train at night on Bowie's 1972 US tour. The music featured Bowie's synthesizer and saxophone, while the lyrics name-checked Mick Jagger ("When people stared in Jagger's eyes and scored"), the model Twiggy ("She'd sigh like Twig the wonder kid"), and Carl Jung ("Jung the foreman prayed at work"). The reference to Jung is significant according to artist Tanja Stark, and heralds the pivotal influence of Jungian depth psychology frameworks upon his career. She suggests the lyric "crashing out with sylvian" is a cryptic reference to the Sylvian fissure in the brain associated with visionary and hallucinatory experiences.[4]

Recording and release

Bowie premiered the song live in November 1972—initially at either Pirate's World, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, or Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix[3] —well before committing it to tape. He offered it for recording to Mott the Hoople but they turned it down, Bowie later saying that he did not know why they refused it.[5] However, in his 1972 tour narrative, Diary of a Rock 'n' Roll Star, Mott leader Ian Hunter appears utterly perplexed by the song's pop complexity when Bowie plays it to him, writing that it has "a hell of a chord rundown". Bowie claimed on VH1's Storytellers that his frustration with Mott the Hoople's rejection of the song led to him shaving off his eyebrows during the Ziggy Stardust tour, an alteration that remained evident in photographs as late as 1974.

Bowie's studio version, recorded in New York on 9 December 1972, was released as a single on 6 April 1973, one week ahead of the album, and remained in the charts for 10 weeks, reaching No. 3 in the UK. The B-side, "Round and Round", was a cover of Chuck Berry's track "Around and Around", a leftover from the Ziggy Stardust sessions. Bowie encyclopedist Nicholas Pegg describes "Drive-In Saturday" as "arguably the finest track on Aladdin Sane", as well as "the great forgotten Bowie single", which he attributed to the fact that it was not issued on a greatest hits album until almost 20 years after its release. Biographer David Buckley has called "Drive-In Saturday" and "Rebel Rebel" Bowie's "finest glam-era singles".[3]

Some commentators have ranked the song among Bowie's finest. In The Guardian, Alexis Petridis voted it in number 10 in his list of Bowie's 50 greatest songs in 2020, calling it a one of Bowie's best singles.[6] In other lists, the song has ranked at number 26, 24 and 79 in NME, Uncut and Mojo, respectively.[7] [8] [9] In a 2016 list ranking every Bowie single from worst to best, Ultimate Classic Rock placed "Drive-In Saturday" at number 49.[10]

Charts

Chart (1973)Peak
position
Denmark (Årets Singlehitliste)[11] 1
Finnish (Suomen virallinen lista)[12] 30

Personnel

According to Chris O'Leary:

Production

Live versions

Other releases

References

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Gold Dust: Glam rock's top 10 singles. Pepinster. Catherine. 16 August 1998. The Independent. 4 December 2019.
  2. Web site: Thompson . Dave . 'Drive-In Saturday' – David Bowie . . 14 April 2022.
  3. David Buckley (1999). Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story: pp.175-185
  4. Stark, Tanja, (2015) “Crashing Out with Sylvian: David Bowie, Carl Jung and the Unconscious” in Deveroux, E., M.Power and A. Dillane (eds) David Bowie: Critical Perspectives: Routledge Press Contemporary Music Series. (chapter 5)
  5. [Kurt Loder]
  6. Web site: Petridis . Alexis . Alexis Petridis. David Bowie's 50 greatest songs – ranked! . . 23 March 2020 . 19 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200322224635/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/mar/19/david-bowie-50-greatest-songs-ranked . 22 March 2020 . live .
  7. Web site: Barker . Emily . David Bowie's 40 greatest songs – as decided by NME and friends . . 16 February 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191103063248/https://www.nme.com/photos/david-bowie-s-40-greatest-songs-as-decided-by-nme-and-friends-1418012 . 3 November 2019 . 8 January 2018.
  8. David Bowie's 30 best songs . . March 2008 . 19 February 2015 . 133 . 26 September 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210422035230/https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/david-bowies-30-best-songs-66458/ . 22 April 2021 . live.
  9. David Bowie – The 100 Greatest Songs. Mojo. February 2015. 255. 26 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210909224148/https://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/mojo.html. 9 September 2021. live. rocklist.net.
  10. Web site: Every David Bowie Single Ranked . Ultimate Classic Rock . 19 September 2021 . 14 January 2016 . 24 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210724234336/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/david-bowie-singles-ranked/ . live .
  11. Web site: Danske Hitlister . Danskehitlister.dk . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160411230535/http://danskehitlister.dk/?artist_id=726 . 11 Apr 2016.
  12. Book: Pennanen, Timo. Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021. 2021. David Bowie. 36–37. Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. Helsinki. fi.
  13. Web site: Sound + Vision boxset repack press release . David Bowie Official Website . 29 April 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210429231936/https://www.davidbowie.com/2014/2014/07/27/sound-vision-boxset-repack-press-release . 29 April 2021 . 26 July 2014.
  14. Web site: Erlewine . Stephen Thomas . The Singles: 1969–1993 – David Bowie . AllMusic . 7 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210501155129/https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-singles-1969-1993-mw0000526484 . 1 May 2021.
  15. Web site: Erlewine . Stephen Thomas . The Best of David Bowie 1969/1974 – David Bowie . AllMusic . 15 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190508195206/https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-best-of-david-bowie-1969-1974-mw0000600345 . 8 May 2019 . live .
  16. Web site: Erlewine . Stephen Thomas . Best of Bowie – David Bowie . AllMusic . 15 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190401192732/https://www.allmusic.com/album/best-of-bowie-mw0000694821 . 1 April 2019 . live .
  17. Web site: Monger . James Christopher . The Platinum Collection – David Bowie. AllMusic . 28 August 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190508195203/https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-platinum-collection-mw0001022492 . 8 May 2019.
  18. Web site: David Bowie: Nothing Has Changed . Evan . Sawdey . . 10 November 2017 . 11 August 2017 . 14 July 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170714155355/http://www.popmatters.com/review/188662-david-bowie-nothing-has-changed/ . live .
  19. Web site: Drive-In Saturday is next RSD Bowie exclusive . Davidbowie.com . 16 February 2013.

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