Writer(s) David Bowie | ||
Recorded between March and December 1992
at either
Mountain Studios, Switzerland;
or at
38 Fresh Recordings, L.A.;
or at
the Hit Factory, NYC. Genre Alternative rock, blue-eyed soul, jazz Length 7:45 (album version)
6:06 (Lohner remix) Producer(s) David Bowie, Tony Visconti | ||
"Bring Me the Disco King" is a song written by David Bowie in the early 1990s. It was first recorded for Black Tie White Noise in 1993 and then for Earthling in 1997, but never made it to the final release of these albums. Nile Rodgers, who produced Black Tie White Noise with Bowie, would remember he wrote it as "a spoof on the whole disco thing from the seventies, one hundred and twenty bpm, very funny. But it just sounded too trite."
Contents
In 2003, "Bring Me the Disco King" was recorded for the third time and then released on the album Reality. For this ultimate recording, he hoped to get it right. According to Bowie himself, "I stripped it down completely and just had Mike Garson playing piano. We did it at half the tempo as the original, and now it works brilliant. This poor little orphan Annie thing seems to have a home now." The track also features Matt Chamberlain on the drums.
Rejecting the raucous guitar-led assault of Reality's title track and the other songs, "Bring Me the Disco King" has a rhythm that often resembles samba, tango and mostly jazz, and according to Nicholas Pegg, "Initially seems incongruous, but its stately presence succeeds in binding the album together". In fact, literally the song is similar to the concept of the whole album, with David Bowie reflecting on the past of his career and looking at his old age and his imminent death. As James E. Perone wrote, "The vague references suggest a look back at a lifetime of wasted moments. [...] The somewhat tired-sounding approach Bowie takes on the song works perfectly within the context of the album's focus on aging."
Remix version
The song was remixed by ex-Nine Inch Nails bass player/keyboardist Danny Lohner for the soundtrack to the 2003 film Underworld. Maynard James Keenan, Milla Jovovich, Josh Freese and John Frusciante also contributed to the remixed track.