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Previously unreleased David Bowie music will be featured in a new BBC4 documentary entitled The People’s History Of Pop.
A demo of The Thin White Duke singing ‘Space Oddity’ with alternative lyrics is amongst the songs that will be heard for the first time in the documentary.
Presented by Danny Baker, the documentary will also feature a version of Bowie’s 1967 novelty comedy single ‘The Laughing Gnome’ featuring explicit lyrics in its sped-up vocals.
Bowie’s version of Frank Sinatra’s classic ‘My Way’ was also played to Baker. Before Sinatra released the song in 1969, Bowie and other songwriters were invited to write English lyrics for the original song ‘Comme D’Habitude’ (which translates as ‘As Usual’) by French songwriter Claude Francois. Bowie later admitted that ‘Life On Mars’ was influenced by the Sinatra classic, which featured Paul Anka’s lyrics.
A BBC spokeswoman told NME: "The programme is still being made, but we can confirm that there will be some rare and special Bowie material in it."
The BBC4 documentary is a four-part series that covers music fans’ recollection of music between 1956-1996. The first episode, which showcased the formation of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, was aired in April.
The second episode, which will feature Bowie as well as Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, Marc Bolan and Northern Soul, will air in July. The episode covers the mid 1960s to early 1970s.
A statement was released saying, "the show meets music fans, including some who fell in love with the psychedelic sounds of Sgt Pepper, hippies who discovered peace and love at the Isle of Wight Festival, and Black Sabbath fans who turned to the new sounds of heavy metal.
"The producers have previously appealed to music fans around the UK to upload details about their most precious music memorabilia to the series website at www.bbc.co.uk/mygeneration. Currently over 3,400 items - including photos, videos and audio of their musical treasures - have been uploaded. Episodes three and four will focus on the two decades from mid 70s to mid 90s, so the programme-makers would love to hear from people around the country who have treasured mementos from that time. Visit the website to find out more."
Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, recently shared his touching memories about his late father’s relationship with him. In other news, it has been revealed that Bowie was supposed to revive his iconic role from Twin Peaks before his death.
