Bowie Cover 'Slip Away'

https://holycontour.bandcamp.com/track/slip-away-bowie

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[contribution to Bowie songs blog/forum]

Some Riffs on the Uncle Floyd-Slip Away Diffs:

So I entered the world of this stellar tune pretty distractedly, last summer downloading an unknown-about Toy from a forum for free and alliteratively, and what hit me most on premiere listen was that accelerating snare fill at 5 min. mark, and not the many other facets subtly screaming at me: “Masterpiece here, bud!!”
Then on Toy the hook of his updated ‘Baby Loves that Way’ & life distractions crowded out memory of ‘UF’ many weeks…when, post-passing, the Heathen ‘Slip Away’ version became known and captivated me to the point of covering it [which can oft result in a sick-of-it saturation diminishing all the magic/attraction one feels for a song, but not this baby yet] and actually had me timewarpedly buying a physical CD!–surprise used copy found at local shop [naturally cut 3 skipped into cut 4, so returned dang thing]…and now I’m happily exploring the POVs of the perceptive contribbers here and comparing for pleasure the 2 versions for their distinct alchemies!
Must I choose? but I refuse!
The classical appreciator [which DB was also it seems] in me admires the structural niftiness of holding back the ‘twinkle’ chorus til so late as in ‘UF’, making it a little like ‘Hey Jude’ where having the ”Naaa-na-na’s” as long coda –not a repeated chorus– has a sublime symphonic logic [there are ways one could make it a chorus repeating, but such not its fate–a genius-stroke just as it is].
Yet as Chris pointed out ‘SA’ brings that moving chorus in twice as early which creates its own structural strength, and plants seeds of hope for its inev. return–from a competing popsong-craftedness POV. [sacrificing the quirky left-field Cpart quality for more trad. hooky repeating chorus sense.]
‘UF’ thus also appeals to the eccentricity & weirdness-lover/commerciality-hater within,
with its musty attic-conjuring toy keyboard intro-outro and honkytonk old piano and lofi vocal beginning. The understated guitar break-breather on the F-E7-Gsus-F chords gets chopped for ‘SA’—-perhaps a necessary sacrifice IF trim one must, & Levin’s heartwrenching fretless bass filigrees added in ‘SA’ once heard will become integral. But the also integral spoken characters intro [bemoaned aptly above] kind of infuriate when repeating ‘UF’ but one should hear it a few times that way, whilst tripping it is hoped. The backwards-sounding blips and whooshes at fin make for nice touches in ‘SA’ …
So,
For quirks, a touch more cinematicity, originality-experimentalism, symphonic vs pop dynamics…mundane-as-cosmic, trifle-as-treasure objet trouve meets studio balls: UF
-but for anthemic, songcrafted perfection, fitting swan-song status, studio production magic, fewer chances/more labor-of-loved into existence: SA
,,,,,
coda
[it’s a candy mint AND a breath mint]
In all, what a swell double-headed achievement! -as a tribute to this obscure lo-budget quint-american fanboy [‘get home in time to watch and turn on!’–or viceversa] nostalgia trifle/treasure immortalized, mingled with its Lennon-fellow-expat-new dad in Gotham echo, and a busted-up nursery rhyme to make it half-familiar to most all ears from 1st listen…tis quite the wondrous toon.

'…what would YOU do?…'
-Oogie