20 May 1979

Star Special broadcast on BBC Radio One featuring Bowie playing a selection of his favourite records.

He managed to squeeze in 27 songs, explaining his choice between tracks.

'Love Street' by The Doors

'Lovely, I remembered seeing him [Jim Morrison], at the Roundhouse, one of their early shows there.'

'TV Eye' by Iggy Pop

'That brings back fond memories of the tour playing piano with him.'

'Remember' by John Lennon

'Rivettingly depressing, lovely piano, I think it's Billy Preston.'

'96 Tears' by ? and The Mysterians

'Growing up and being angry, that's what this one is all about.'

'A Wagon – The Nursery Suite' by Edward Elgar

'This is a punk thing that I was incredibly impressed with when I first heard it. It's classical music but it's very good.'

'Inchworm' by Danny Kaye

'I thought that this was an extraordinary thing to use numbers as backing vocals.'

'Trial Prison' by Phillip Glass

'Now a modern use of number - Phillip Glass from an opera that he wrote which was about fifteen-and-a-half years long, from the LP 'Einstein on the Beach' "

'Sweet Jane' by The Velvet Underground

'The first single that I heard when I first went to America, on the first day that I got there and in New York. I was taken over to a writer's apartment somewhere, probably on 8th Avenue, and he played me a new album that had just come out and he was very excited about this track and so was I …

'Helen Fordsdale' by Mars

'From the sublime to the ridiculous, from a compilation LP by Brian Eno of New York bands. The voice reminds me of 'Min' from the Goon Show!

'He's a Star' by Little Richard

'This is quite absurd as well. I couldn't believe this when I first heard it, how he changed his voice so much I'll never know.'

'21st-Century Schizoid Man' by King Crimson

'One from young Robert Fripp. If you sort of fancy yourself as a schizophrenic, this becomes your theme song, I used to love this.'

'Warning Sign' by Talking Heads

'Here's a band that I admire very much. This song took me back to the old days of The Yardbirds, I don't know why.'

'Beck's Bolero' by Jeff Beck

'I think they must have done this in about four-and-a-half minutes, it really sounds as if it's been thrown together but like all classics, it still shoots out of the speakers.'

'Try Some, Buy Some' by Ronnie Spector

'Here's a song that made me fall in love with the singer. Absolutely incredible. My heart went straight out to her.'

'20th-Century Boy' by Marc Bolan

'Here's a guy that probably did as much for the early seventies sound in England as Spector did to the sound in America. He single-handedly changed a lot, sound-wise, of what was happening in England, it's my old buddy, Marc Bolan.'

'Where Were You' by The Mekons

'Here are some guys who are following, I suppose, in some of the tradition laid down by Marc Bolan… '

'Big City Cat' by Steve Forbert

'Here's a singer, well he's new to me anyway, his name's Steve Forbert. I like it particularly because one of my old band is on it, Dave Sanborn playing saxophone.'

'We Love You' by The Rolling Stones

'I'm running out of things to play you. This is called 'We Love You', and I'm sure they mean it!'

'2 HB' by Roxy Music

'This is a very deserving band. This song is very good if you like Humphrey Bogart, it's called '2 HB', a very good pun.'

'Saint in the City' by Bruce Springsteen

'Here's a great writer, I don't like very much what he is doing now. After I heard this track, I never rode the subway again.'

'Fingertips' by Stevie Wonder

'Here's one that also scared me because it was so incredibly adventurous when it was released.'

'Rip Her to Shreds' by Blondie

'Let's bring back the good weather again. Let's leave it to Blondie…

'Beautiful Loser' by Bob Seger

'Now, I'm not sure about this one, I think it's quite nice. I only played it because it's got the word lodger in it and that's the name of my new album. Talking about my new album, this is a track from it called Boys.'

'Boys Keep Swinging'

'Now that song really does have a problem!'

'Yassassin'

'Here's a song that I started to write in Berlin and ended up in New York. It's got a sort of Turkish quality to it, it's one of my favourite tracks on the album. "Yassassin" means "long life" in Turkish, I didn't know that, I read it on a wall.'

'The Books I Read' by Talking Heads

'They're different from me, they actually go and read books, they don't read walls… '

'For Your Pleasure' by Roxy Music

'I think the ta-ra at the end is a wonderful gesture… I saw them in concert the other week in New York, very good.

'Something on Your Mind' by King Curtis

'This is um… this is a mess, not really!'

'Lies' by The Staple Singers

'Here are three girls that have a very musical dad and one of the girls is very sexy and I keep playing her records over and over again when I'm on my own.

I'm afraid I can't find any more records to play. I brought three of my records along myself you know, I knew they wouldn't have them here, it's not their fault, the shops were closed.

I brought The Mekons, "Where Were You", Phillip Glass, "Einstein on the Beach", that's mine as well and the "No New York" album.

I'm going out to write my name on a wall now… OK, ta-ra.'