Gnome What I'm Sayin?

David Bowie "Rubber Band" single version

David Bowie "The London Boys"

David Bowie "The Laughing Gnome"

David Bowie "The Gospel According To Tony Day"

[right click to download, ctrl or option click if yr a mac!]

When David Bowie first started his musical career, he cut his first few singles on London's Deram label, a short lived offshoot of the famous Decca. Here was a Bowie who was unkown to the public as of yet, but the results of his sessions were just as innovative as anything else around at the time.

Being a big fan of Syd Barret's Pink Floyd, Bowie recorded songs like "The Laughing Gnome" in response to Syd's "The Gnome", "Scarecrow" and "Bike", songs that featured sped up laughs and sound effect collages. These songs were considered quite silly at the time, but they would end up being precursors to the big "concept" records of the 1970s, like Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon and Bowie's own Diamond Dogs.

Other tracks from Bowie's eponymous 1967 record include "Rubber Band", although I've put up the single version here. Another song considered quite "off the wall" by Bowie's colleagues and peers. What they all would later realize was that Bowie would soon build a career out of being off the wall and unique.