"Drive-In Saturday" is a song by the English musician

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

from his 1973 album ''

Aladdin Sane ''Aladdin Sane'' is the sixth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released in the United Kingdom on 19April 1973 through RCA Records. The follow-up to his breakthrough '' The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from M ...

''. It was released as a single a week before the album and, like its predecessor "

The Jean Genie "The Jean Genie" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie, originally released in November 1972 as the lead single to his 1973 album '' Aladdin Sane''. Co-produced by Ken Scott, Bowie recorded it with his backing band the Spider ...

", became a Top 3 UK hit.

Music and lyrics

Heavily influenced by 1950s

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

, "Drive-In Saturday" describes how the inhabitants of a post-apocalyptic world in the future (Bowie once said the year was 2033) have forgotten how to make love, and need to watch old films to see how it is done. The narrative has been cited as an example of Bowie's "futuristic nostalgia",David Buckley (1999). ''Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story'': pp.175-185 where the story is told from the perspective of an inhabitant of the future looking back in time. Its composition was inspired by strange lights amidst the barren landscape between

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, and

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, as seen from a train at night on Bowie's 1972 US tour. The music featured Bowie's synthesizer and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, while the lyrics name-checked

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

("When people stared in Jagger's eyes and scored"), the model

Twiggy Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949), widely known by the nickname Twiggy, is an English model, actress, and singer. She was a Culture of the United Kingdom, British cultural icon and a prominent teenage model during th ...

("She'd sigh like Twig the wonder kid"), and

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of Carl Jung publications, over 20 books, illustrator, and corr ...

("Jung the foreman prayed at work"). The reference to Jung is significant according to artist Tanja Stark, and heralds the pivotal influence of Jungian

depth psychology Depth psychology (from the German term ''Tiefenpsychologie'') refers to the practice and research of the science of the unconscious, covering both psychoanalysis and psychology. It is also defined as the psychological theory that explores the rel ...

frameworks upon his career. She suggests the lyric "crashing out with sylvian" is a cryptic reference to the

Sylvian fissure The lateral sulcus (or lateral fissure, also called Sylvian fissure, after Franciscus Sylvius) is the most prominent sulcus (neuroanatomy), sulcus of each cerebral hemisphere in the human brain. The lateral sulcus (neuroanatomy), sulcus is a deep ...

in the brain associated with visionary and hallucinatory experiences.

Recording and release

Bowie premiered the song live in November 1972—initially at either Pirate's World,

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

, or Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix—well before committing it to tape. He offered it for recording to Mott the Hoople but they turned it down, Bowie later saying that he did not know why they refused it.

Kurt Loder Kurt Loder (born May 5, 1945) is an American entertainment critic, author, columnist and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at ''Rolling Stone'', during a tenure that ''Reason'' later called "legendary". He has contributed ...

(1989). '' Sound + Vision'': CD liner notes However, in his 1972 tour narrative, ''Diary of a Rock 'n' Roll Star'', Mott leader Ian Hunter appears utterly perplexed by the song's pop complexity when Bowie plays it to him, writing that it has "a hell of a chord rundown". Bowie claimed on VH1's ''Storytellers'' that his frustration with Mott the Hoople's rejection of the song led to him shaving off his eyebrows during the Ziggy Stardust tour, an alteration that remained evident in photographs as late as 1974. Bowie's studio version, recorded in New York on 9 December 1972, was released as a single on 6 April 1973, one week ahead of the album, and remained in the charts for 10 weeks, reaching No. 3 in the UK. The B-side, " Round and Round", was a cover of

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

's track "Around and Around", a leftover from the '' Ziggy Stardust'' sessions. Bowie encyclopedist

Nicholas Pegg Nicholas Pegg is a British actor, director and writer. Education Educated at Nottingham High School and graduating with a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Exeter, Pegg subsequently trained at the Guildford School of ...

describes "Drive-In Saturday" as "arguably the finest track on ''Aladdin Sane''", as well as "the great forgotten Bowie single", which he attributed to the fact that it was not issued on a greatest hits album until almost 20 years after its release. Biographer David Buckley has called "Drive-In Saturday" and " Rebel Rebel" Bowie's "finest glam-era singles". Some commentators have ranked the song among Bowie's finest. In ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'',

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis (born 13 September 1971) is an English journalist. He is the head Rock music, rock and pop music critic for ''The Guardian'', and a regular contributor for ''GQ''. In addition to his music journalism for the paper, he has written ...

voted it in number 10 in his list of Bowie's 50 greatest songs in 2020, calling it a one of Bowie's best singles. In other lists, the song has ranked at number 26, 24 and 79 in ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'', '' Uncut'' and ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

'', respectively. In a 2016 list ranking every Bowie single from worst to best, ''

Ultimate Classic Rock Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

'' placed "Drive-In Saturday" at number 49.

Charts

Personnel

According to Chris O'Leary: *

– lead and harmony vocal, 12-string acoustic guitar, tenor saxophone, ARP synthesiser, handclaps, finger clicks *

Mick Ronson Michael Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session musici ...

– electric guitar, harmony vocal, handclaps *

Trevor Bolder Trevor Bolder (9 June 1950 – 21 May 2013) was an English rock musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his long association with Uriah Heep and his tenure with the Spiders from Mars, the backing band for David Bowie, ...

– bass *

Mick Woodmansey Michael "Woody" Woodmansey (born 4 February 1950) is an English rock music, rock drummer best known for his work in the early 1970s as a member of David Bowie's core backing ensemble that became known as the Spiders from Mars in conjuncti ...

– drums, tambourine *

Mike Garson Michael David Garson (born July 29, 1945) is an American pianist, who has worked with David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, St. Vincent, Duran Duran, Free Flight, The Smashing Pumpkins, Melissa Auf der Maur, CSS and The Pretty Reckless. Early caree ...

– piano Production * David Bowie – producer * Ken Scott – producer

Live versions

* A live audience recording from The Public Hall,

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, on 25 November 1972 was released on the bonus disc of the ''

– 30th Anniversary Edition'' in 2003. Not included in that release was Bowie's introduction to the song, as follows: : * Bowie performed the song on ''

Russell Harty Frederic Russell Harty (5 September 1934 – 8 June 1988) was an English television presenter of arts programmes and chat show host. Early life Harty was born in Blackburn, Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremon ...

Plus'', a UK television show, on 17 January 1973. This performance is included on the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

version of ''

Best of Bowie ''Best of Bowie'' is a greatest hits album by English recording artist David Bowie. Released in October 2002, four months after the critical and commercial success of the '' Heathen'' album, the songs range from his second album, ''David Bowi ...

''. * In addition to live performances in 1972–1974, the song was performed by Bowie on his 1999 tour and is included on '' VH1 Storytellers (David Bowie album)''.

Other releases

*It appears (in its album version) on several compilations: ** '' Sound + Vision'' (1989) ** '' The Singles Collection'' (1993) ** '' The Best of David Bowie 1969/1974'' (1997) ** ''

'' (2002) ** '' The Platinum Collection'' (2006) ** ''

Nothing Has Changed ''Nothing Has Changed'' (stylised as ''Nothing has changed.'') is a compilation album by English musician David Bowie. It was released on 18 November 2014 through Parlophone in the United Kingdom, and Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings in t ...

'' (2014) * On 20 April 2013, a 40th Anniversary 7" picture disc of "Drive-in Saturday" was released as an exclusive for the Record Store Day. "Drive-In Saturday" was backed up with the "Russell Harty Plus Pop version" of the track.

References

Sources

* * * * {{David Bowie singles 1973 singles David Bowie songs Songs written by David Bowie Song recordings produced by Ken Scott Song recordings produced by David Bowie RCA Records singles