Kooks (song)

"Kooks"
Song by David Bowie from the album Hunky Dory
Released	17 December 1971
Recorded	Trident Studios, London June 1971
Genre	Pop rock, Glam rock
Length	2:53
Label	RCA Records
Writer	David Bowie
Producer	Ken Scott, David Bowie
Hunky Dory track listing
"Life on Mars?" (4) "Kooks" (5) "Quicksand" (6)

"Kooks" is a song written by David Bowie from 1971 on the album Hunky Dory. Bowie wrote this song to his newborn son Duncan Jones. The song was a pastiche of early 1970s Neil Young. Bowie was listening to a Neil Young record at home as he got the news of the arrival of his son. British indie band The Kooks named themselves after the song. Duncan Jones became a successful film and advertising director.

Live versions

• It was recorded for the BBC In Concert radio show with John Peel 3 June 1971 and broadcast 20 June 1971. In 2000 this was released on the Bowie at the Beeb album.
• It was recorded again for the BBC "Sounds of the Seventies" radio show with Bob Harris 21 Sept 1971 and broadcast 4 Oct 1971. This version, featuring the duo of Bowie & Mick Ronson (who contributes a picture perfect harmony), remains unreleased.

Cover versions

• Robbie Williams - Bonus track on "Old Before I Die" single
• Smashing Pumpkins - Parsian Black Session
• Danny Wilson - Single/David
• Tindersticks - Bowie Songbook
• Andrea Perry - Spiders from Venus: Indie Women Artists and Female-Fronted Bands Cover David Bowie (2003)
• The Abbreviations BP - Hero: The Main Man Records Tribute to David Bowie (2007)
• Kim Wilde - Snapshots (Kim Wilde album), 2011

References

• Pegg, Nicholas, The Complete David Bowie, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-14-5