David Bowie: Changes

It’s TV Thursday and this week I noticed a new BMW commercial that utilizes David Bowie’s “Changes” as a theme. I realize that the commercial has been out since January, but I really hadn't paid any attention to it.

I heard this song so much in 1972 and thereafter and I even played it on the radio. Tonight, I discovered that the song performed less than adequate on the Hot 100 charts. It only peaked at #41. One would have thought it had done better especially since it was utilized as part of the name of his greatest hits LP “CHANGESONEBOWIE.”

“Changes” originally appeared on Bowie’s first RCA album “Hunky Dory.” He wrote the song in a pseudo lounge genre. The musical theme features Bowie’s saxophone and Rick Wakeman’s piano. Bowie also adds guitar, Mellotron, and vocals of course. Longtime Bowie sideman Mick Ronson also plays guitar and arranged the string parts. The stuttering of “Changes” reminds me of two other songs that use that effect: “My Generation” by the Who and “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” by BTO.

“Time may change me, but I can’t trace time.”

BMW Commercial