Image Source: Healing Ana.
And now for a space first. Someone had to do it: half the world has probably seen Commander Chris Hadfield doing a cover of the 1969 hit Space Oddity by David Bowie on 12 May on the International Space Station. For those of you who haven't seen him, the video is below the jump. My earlier post on Peter Schilling's related 1983 hit, Major Tom is here.
Unlike David Bowie's famous fictional astronaut, Hadfield landed safely in his Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan on 14 May 2013; from the LA Times: "During his sojourn on the station, Hadfield effectively reset the bar for social media with his tweets from space, including the video he posted Sunday. He is the first Canadian to command the station, heading the six-man Expedition 35 crew."
Video Source: Youtube.
For all the alterations he made to the lyrics to make them more appropriate to his situation, you'd think he would have changed "...and the papers want to know whose shirts you wear." to "...and the networks want to know...". There aren't nearly as many papers today as there were in 1969 and many (if not most) don't even have field reporters asking anyone anything these days. They just parrot the same national feeds.
ReplyDeleteThe pianist, Emm Gryner, performed live with Bowie regularly c.1999-2000 (supporting the album "...hours..." usually), so it has a bit of a pedigree.
Interesting detail, pblfsda, thank you. It's a great song and Hadfield's cover was touching; although even with the lyrics changed, it was a curious choice, given that he had to return to earth in the next 48 hours. I'm really glad it all turned out well.
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