The Man Who Sold the World

David Bowie recorded “The Man Who Sold the World” during the April–May 1970 sessions for the album of the same name at Trident Studios and Advision Studios in London. Tony Visconti produced and played bass, with Mick Ronson on guitar, Mick Woodmansey on drums, Ralph Mace on synthesizer and Ken Scott engineering. Released by Mercury in 1970 on The Man Who Sold the World, the track became one of the album’s most enduring songs despite not being issued as a single at the time. Its eerie lyric, circular guitar figure and heavier band sound marked Bowie’s move away from the folk-pop of Space Oddity toward the darker rock language that preceded Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust. The song became one of Bowie’s most widely recognised early compositions after later versions by Lulu and Nirvana brought it to new audiences. The 1997 remaster preserved its place in the album catalogue while the song’s cover history made it a central example of Bowie’s long afterlife as a songwriter.