I’ve talked about this before, but, when I was a teenager, I didn’t want to like David Bowie. In my mind, he was the obvious glam rock choice. I was just a little dweeb. Over time, I heard more David Bowie songs and had to concede that he definitely had some good songs. Eventually, I fully accepted defeat.

“Golden Years” was one of my first favourite Bowie songs. I hate to admit it, but I think I heard the Marilyn Manson version first. I think that’s the only way anyone could ever think the Manson version was any good. It’s a very poor imitation of the original and Manson is literally just doing a David Bowie impersonation instead of actually singing in his own voice.

“Golden Years” starts off strong. The riff is the most obvious part and it’s a belter. Just grooving away. There’s also a lovely bit of finger snapping with tonnes of echo. That then reoccurs periodically throughout the song. Apparently it was written for Elvis. I love the idea of an Elvis version. It kinda makes sense. It’s a funk/disco song, but it’s an Elvis disco song. There’s a country twang to the guitar at times and there’s a bit of a croon to the way Bowie is singing at times. It’s a cool track because there’s a definite dancability to it, but it’s quite meandering at the same time. It’s a slow wiggling song. And I think that’s my favourite Bowie, slow wiggling Bowie.

You can listen to “Golden Years” by David Bowie here.