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YOU CAN PLAY ALONG WITH THE VIDEOS! Thanks to Chris Hill and Heather Bromberg for bringing the song to BUG.
The octave leap in the chorus of ‘Starman’ bears a distinct similarity to ‘Over The Rainbow’, sung by Judy Garland in The Wizard Of Oz. According to drummer Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey, Bowie intentionally based his song on the 1939 classic. On July 5, 1972, Bowie, the Spiders and Graham recorded a performance of "Starman" for Top of the Pops, which was broadcast on BBC One the next night. The group mimed to a pre-recorded backing track, four takes of which were recorded on 29 June, and sang live as per Musicians Union rules. Bowie appeared in a brightly-coloured rainbow jumpsuit, "shocking" red hair and astronaut boots while the Spiders wore blue, pink, scarlet and gold velvet attire. Following Bowie's performance of the song on the BBC television programme Top of the Pops, the song launched to number 10 on the UK Singles Chart and helped propel the album to number five. It was his first major hit since "Space Oddity" three years earlier. The performance made Bowie a star and was watched by a large audience, including many future musicians, who were all impacted by it; these included Boy George and Bono. Retrospectively, the song is considered by music critics as one of Bowie's finest.