The crowning achievement of Morrissey’s career? Maybe not, but if anything puts you at the pinnacle of pop perfection that anything would be David Bowie covering your song and for Morrissey, called into the Imperial Studio for a listening party with Bowie, Morrissey had that moment.
David Bowie covered “I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday” off Your Arsenal for his wedding album, the sublime Black Tie White Noise, and it is a stunning version. The original is good enough but with its audio radio tracking intro -like Moz is taking you back to the early 60s, or like we are trying to tune into Radio Luxembourg or something with the sound slowly focussing and while the song, a deep album track ballad but a deep album track on a great great album, is not his best, it is plenty good. Moz gives it plenty of baritone and it works fine for me.
But Bowie’s take is better. Again, it isn’t the centrifugal force on Black Tie White Noise, an album where race riots meets marriage and everybody wins, co-produced by Niles Rodgers it is the dance album of your dreams and one of his greatest achievements, absolutely his best album in 20 years.
On “I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday”, Bowie claimed his vocal was Bowie singing Morrissey singing Bowie and while I may be alone here, it sure has the feel of a “Wild Is The Wind” type cover. Bowie’s singing is superb all the way through but so is Morrisseys. The difference is Bowie has a deeper pull to it and the guitars and beats take in away from Moz’s 1963 big ballad feel. The guitar solo by little known Tony “Wild T” Springer may well be his only claim to fame but it sure is a real claim to fame so there.
Listen to em back to back and it did happen once upon a time. I hope Moz pulls out it out of the mothballs next time he tours.
Morrissey: B+
Bowie: A-
