
On piano was Rick Wakeman, who recorded his parts on the same piano The Beatles used to record Hey Jude. The song was recorded in August 1971, with the core musicians being future members of Bowie's famed Spiders Of Mars line-up - Mick Ronson on guitar (he also wrote the string parts), Trevor Bolder on bass, and Mick 'Woody' Woodmansey on drums.

Musically, both songs have a bass line that steps down a semi-tone through the verse, although Life On Mars? flips this idea in different ways by changing keys and going up in semi-tones in the pre-chorus.īowie even acknowledged the "revenge trip" in his own oblique way on the back of the Hunky Dory album - next to the tracklisting for Life On Mars? a handwritten scrawl reads "Inspired by Frankie".
