Revolutionary Song / Just A Gigolo

This is a Record Store Day 2019 item. It will be available to purchase from our stores from 8am 13th April. Remaining stock will be available to purchase from this page at 00.01 20th April.

David Bowie was invited to be in the film Just A Gigolo as he was a friend of David Hemmings (the director) at the time. Bowie’s main (only?) motivation in agreeing to do the film was because Hemmings said he would appear with Marlene Dietrich, an icon of Bowie's who for many years had retired from making films. Dietrich in turn, agreed to do it because she was fascinated by Bowie. Actually, the two stars never met. Dietrich played her brief part in Paris, where she lived, with the result simply being cut into Bowie's scenes that were shot, along with the rest of the film, in Berlin. Unlike his work on The Man Who Fell to Earth, Bowie did contribute a piece of music to the film; his so-called Revolutionary Song was co-written with musical director Jack Fishman and played by a band called The Rebels, featuring Bowie’s ‘la la la’ vocal lines. It was released in Japan as a single, which later became something of a collectors' item. Marlene Dietrich was tempted out of retirement for this, her last ever performance and the song Just a Gigolo was the last music she recorded before her death shortly afterwards. As for the Just A Gigolo song – Jack Fishman, with pianist and arranger Frank Barber went to Paris to record Deitrich and this was her last ever recorded performance prior to her death shortly afterwards. Just a Gigolo was not the original B side of the Japanese 45, so this single finally unites David Bowie and Marlene Dietrich as they had originally intended. We trust they would approve!

7" - Limited to 7000 Numbered Copies on Blue Vinyl.