Rocktrospectiva: The Brilliant "Absolute Beginners" Turns 40

Released on 3 March 1986 "Absolute Beginners" was a song written and performed by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. Recorded in August of 1985, and released on 3 March 1986, it was the theme song to the 1986 film of the same name and itself an adaptation of the book Absolute Beginners. Although the film was not a commercial success, the song was a big hit, reaching No. 2 on the UK singles chart. It also reached the top 10 on the main singles charts in ten other countries. In the US, it peaked at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Bowie performed "Absolute Beginners" live on his 1987 Glass Spider Tour, his 2000 "Mini" Tour, and his 2002 Heathen Tour. Since then, the song has been included on a number of Bowie's compilation and "Best-of" releases, and was included as a bonus track on the 1995 re-release of Tonight (1984).

Back in 1984, director Julien Temple who was a Bowie friend and who worked first for him in the Jazzin' For Blue Jean" short film, agreed to Temple's request to write music for the film if he could also play the part of Vendice Partners.

The song was recorded at Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley's Westside Studios in Shepherd's Bush, London, in the summer of 1985. One of the musicians, Kevin Armstrong, said that after only twenty minutes of trying various things, they had a structure and shape that seemed to please Bowie. He took a pen and paper and started jotting down lyrics.

The sessions were completed rapidly, but the song was delayed due to the problems with completing the film. Virgin wanted the release to tie in with the film's opening. The song featured Rick Wakeman on piano, who had previously performed on Bowie's "Space Oddity" single and Hunky Dory studio album. Shortly after the sessions wrapped, Mick Jagger flew in to record the charity cover of "Dancing in the Street" with Bowie, which used many of the same musicians. Bowie recorded the lead vocal of "Absolute Beginners" at Westside Studios in August.

 

Julien Temple shot the music video, which echoed the 1950s style of the film. The video was a homage to an old British advert for Strand cigarettes. The ill-fated advertising tagline "You're never alone with a Strand" is quoted by Partners in the film. The video also uses footage from the film.

Back in 2016, Entertainment Weekly chose it as one of Bowie's 20 best music videos. They stated the video "does a far better job of expressing the noirish romanticism" of MacInnes' novel than the film did and also praised the "great dance-fighting scene at the end".

Critics described "Absolute Beginners" as "the gem of his post-Let's Dance '80s output, a big, breathtaking ballad allowing him to indulge the [Frank] Sinatra croon that's driven many of his best performances". It was also considered as "Bowie's last great composition of the 1980s", while rock critic Chris O'Leary described it as "gorgeous and valedictory," with "one of the great Bowie melodies" in its refrain. Don Weller's saxophone solo has been described as perhaps the best saxophone solo in a Bowie song. They characterised it as "the sound of one man trying to violently expel his innards through the bell of his instrument" and "one of the most heartbreaking things put to record". 

Absolute Beginners Track List  

 

3-inch CD: Virgin CDT 20 (UK): 

 

1. Absolute Beginners

2. Absolute Beginners (dub mix) 

 

Virgin CDF 20 (UK)

 

1. Absolute Beginners

2. Absolute Beginners (dub mix) 

7-inch Virgin VS 8383 (UK)

 

1. Absolute Beginners

2. Absolute Beginners (dub mix)

 

12-inch Virgin VSG 838-12 (UK)

 

1. Absolute Beginners (full lenght version)

2. Absolute Beginners (dub mix) 

12-inch: EMI America SPRO 9623 (US)

1. Absolute Beginners (edited version)

2. Absolute Beginners (full length version)