Thursday 16 July 2009

Maid of Bond Street

"This girl is made of lipstick, powder and paint. Sees the pictures of herself. Every magazine on every shelf. This girl is Maid of Bond Street. Hailing cabs, lunches with executives. Gleaming teeth sip aperitifs. This girl is a lonely girl ..." In Maid of Bond Street David Bowie hints at the hollowness at the heart of the swinging London scene. She's got everything and nothing. A familiar theme in films of the time. This song of course dates from from Bowie's brilliant mid '60s Newley phase. And that provides the perfect cue for this clip of the great man himself introducing Lucille Ball to the pleasures of London's vaudeville traditions. The Scala Theatre, incidentally, was on Charlotte Street, off the Tottenham Court Road, and was destroyed by fire a few years after this clip was filmed ...



2 comments:

  1. ah tony tony tony what a bloomin'wonder
    x

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  2. Bowie's 1st LP and Deram sides offers so many "scene commentaries" on an almost "outsiders" view of "Swingin' London", like this tune along w/ "Join The Gang" and "The London Boys".

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