All the Young Dudes

Writer - David Bowie
Unreleased (2024)

Back in 1972, during the height of glam rock, David Bowie offered this song, which he hadn't yet recorded (or at least released) himself, to the band Mott the Hoople, whom he was producing at the time. (He had originally offered them "Suffragette City," also unreleased at the time, only for them to reject it.) It became Mott's biggest hit, reaching #3 in the U.K. and #37 in the United States as well as the Top 40 charts in various other countries. What's more, as I wrote in my 1994 book Rock on the Wild Side, it quickly "became a virtual anthem for the glitter rock movement as well as for certain segments of the early-seventies gay community." Today it's recognized as a bona fide classic of rock/pop music in general. Bowie himself would often perform the song live and recorded it in the studio later in 1972, though he wouldn't release his studio recording until 1995.

Neil and Chris decided to cover "All the Young Dudes" live with the BBC Concert Orchestra (conducted by Anne Dudley) during their February 23, 2024 appearance on BBC Radio Two's Piano Room, preceded by renditions of "Left to My Own Devices" and their new single at the time, "Loneliness." (They had previously teased fans with their advance announcement that they would be covering a Bowie song made famous by someone else.) Neil repeats the original lyrics quite faithfully, making only a few very minor deviations. He also camps his vocals up considerably more than he's in the habit of doing, thereby following the lead of its original vocalist, Mott's Ian Hunter. He does, however, interpolate some new "extra" lines of his own during repetitions of the chorus toward the end: "Have you heard the latest news? Everybody's got the right to choose! You can be a dude, Dad!… I've seen you on the street, the sort of guy I'd like to meet." In this way the Boys make "Dudes" an even gayer song than it had been before—which, to be sure, was already pretty darn "gay" to begin with. And by mentioning "the right to choose," they add a much more blatantly political dimension to the song that was barely hinted at in Mott's and Bowie's previous renditions.

There's no word yet as to whether the Boys will be officially releasing their cover of "All the Young Dudes," either this live performance or a studio recording, perhaps as a future b-side. It's a terrific version, however, so I for one—and I'm sure I'm not the only one—hope they do!

Annotations

The lyrics of "All the Young Dudes" is packed references of varying degrees of obscurity. Among them:
- "How he'd kick it in the head when he was twenty-five" – A slang reference to the suicide referred to in the preceding line, this is a rather extreme expression of the "I hope I die before I get old" sentiment infamously shared by The Who in their 1965 classic "My Generation."
- "Speed jive" – Most likely meaning flippant "jive speech" coming from someone high on amphetamines ("speed").
- "Wendy's stealing clothes from Marks & Sparks" – "Marks & Sparks" is familiar British slang, dating back at least to the mid-1960s, for the U.K. retail chain Marks & Spencer. Founded in the 1880s, it grew steadily, eventually branching out internationally, and reached its peak of popularity in the 1990s. It then entered a period of decline common to "brick and mortar" stores in the wake of the internet. Nevertheless, as of the early 2020s, it still had more than a thousand retail locations worldwide. No one knows for sure precisely when or why "Marks & Sparks" entered common parlance, though undoubtedly the penchant for rhyming slang in the U.K. had much to do with it. Interestingly, when Mott the Hoople released "All the Young Dudes" as a single in 1972, the BBC initially balked at playing the song on account of the reference, so Ian Hunter had to re-record a replacement line, "Wendy's stealing clothes from unlocked cars," for the U.K. single.
- "Freddy's got spots from ripping off the stars from his face" – In the glam subculture of the early 'seventies, it wasn't unusual for its adherents to apply "stick-ons" and other types of makeup.
- "Funky little boat race" – According to the BBC, "boat race" is Cockney rhyming slang for "face," so this more or less reinterates the previous line about the scars on Freddy's face. It's worth noting that many fans listening to this song have misheard Neil singing "fucking" here, and I'll be the first to admit that it does sound a lot like that. But I'm sure he actually sticks with Bowie's original word "funky."
- "Oh, man, I need TV when I've got T.Rex" – T.Rex (originally Tyrannosaurus Rex), led by singer-songwriter-guitarist Marc Bolan, was a wildly popular U.K. band during the height of glam rock in the early 1970s. In a song full of clever lines, this one is particularly sharp, sarcastically rejecting television because a broadcast commentator (as described in the preceding line) describes the narrator's subculture as juvenile delinquents.
- "Lucy looks sweet cause (s)he dresses like a queen" – In the original, the pronoun "he" refers to Lucy, whereas Neil sings "she." This doesn't, however, necessarily transform Lucy into a biological female; the LGBT community has had a very long tradition of gender-flipping pronouns.
- "But (s)he can kick like a mule" – Lucy may dress like a queen, but (s)he can still put up a good fight.
- "It's a real mean team" – A somewhat obscure line, but probably an assertion that Lucy's "femininity" and his/her ability to fight is a surprisingly powerful combination. But it could also refer to Lucy's "team" or "crew" of friends that s/he hangs around with and who suppport him/her.
- "My brother's back at home with his Beatles and his Stones / We never got it off on that revolution stuff" – A notoriously, comically dismissive line about the musical tastes and political inclinations of the slightly older cohort of Baby Boomers when compared to the glam-rocking sub-generation (younger Boomers) whom Bowie is writing about.
- "What a drag, too many snags" – Another comically dismissive line, very pointedly employing the word "drag" with dual connotations: something that's dull and boring is a "drag," but it also playfully contrasts with Lucy's aforementioned choice of apparel, "dressing like a queen"—that is, drag.
- "Got to race some cat to bed" – The word "cat" could refer either to a male or female, although it's certainly more commonly associated with males, and that's how I've always interpreted it myself. The narrator is either gay or bisexual.
- "Is that concrete all around or is it in my head?" – One of the most brilliant lines in the song, an observation about both the narrator's urban environment and the social oppression and limitations he feels around him. It may also comically allude to his personal sense of confusion and/or even a defiantly prideful "thick-headedness."
I'm indebted to the Lyrics Genius website for contributing to my interpretations of some of the preceding lines.
"Boogaloo, dudes " – The word "boogaloo" (alternatively bugalú) originated in reference to a style of dance music that originated in the Latin communities of New York City during the 1960s. It quickly became associated with a particular style of dancing itself, especially popular in the young U.S. African-American community. By the time Bowie wrote this song, the word had taken on an even wider meaning to refer casually to "freestyle" dancing in general, which is almost certainly how it's meant here. It's also probably worth noting that Marc Bolan, leader of the band T.Rex, which is mentioned in the song's lyrics, was notorious for often using the word "boogaloo" in everyday conversation. (As a result, there were rumors in the early seventies that Bolan had ghost-written Ringo Starr's 1972 solo hit "Back Off Boogaloo," though it was actually written by Ringo himself with the substantial but uncredited help of George Harrison. But Ringo has noted that Bolan inspired his song through his frequent use of the word.) In recent years, the word "boogaloo" has been appropriated by far-right anti-government extremists in the United States who advocate a Second Civil War. It's quite likely that Neil and Chris were totally unaware of this usage; otherwise they might have had second thoughts about performing "All the Young Dudes," or at least about retaining the word "boogaloo." On the other hand, we shouldn't consign great song lyrics—and I do believe "All the Young Dudes" has great lyrics—to the cultural garbage heap simply because of latter-day actions and beliefs that have nothing whatsoever to do with the song itself.
When I first listened to this recording, I was sure that the opening melodic line (which had been played on guitar in the Mott original) was being played on a synth. But upon watching the video released of the performance, I didn't see a synthesizer on stage. Chris is playing piano, and no other keyboard players are anywhere in sight. Now, perhaps they were "hidden." Or, then again, maybe the synth part had been pre-recorded. Whatever the case, it looks as though it's the orchestra playing that distinctly synth-like "sound." While it's not unusual for keyboards to replicate the sound of an orchestra, this would be the first time I've ever heard an orchestra replicate the sound of a synth! Considering, however, that the performances in the same session shortly before of "Left to My Own Devices" and "Loneliness" very obviously and unmistakably featured synthesizers, then I'm inclined to believe that the synth lines in this recording were indeed pre-recorded (and/or programmed) and then played back during the performance. As I've been told, Pete Gleadall was apparently present at the BBC Piano Room session with a Macintosh computer running Logic Pro, which could well have produced the programmed synth part as well as percussion sounds.

Speaking of that synth, one of my site visitors commented on how its "squeaky" sound reminded him of the analogue synthesizers used by bands like Emerson, Lake & Palmer in the early 1970s. Considering when "All the Young Dudes" was written and originally recorded—yes, the early 'seventies—it's possible that the Boys purposefully chose that particular synth timbre for that very reason.

List cross-references

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