The Man Who Fell To Earth with David Bowie soundtrack (an experiment)

This is just an experiment I did to amuse myself - not to be taken too seriously.

The recent re-release of The Man Who Fell To Earth has gotten people talking again about the mythical lost Bowie soundtrack for the film. Whilst those recordings remain in the vaults, we can only speculate what it might have sounded like by listening to the instrumental tracks on 'Low'.

As an experiment, I lined up 'Weeping Wall' with the opening scene of the film, starting it at the first frame that Bowie appears. I was intrigued to find it was the exact same duration as the opening music used in the film. Next I did some 'foley' work and searched for replacement sound effects to overlay on to the music to help 'sell' it as an authentic soundtrack; for example - footsteps, a steam train, birds, a running stream, the creaking fairground ride. I must have listened to a dozen belches before settling on the perfect one : )

The result was interesting to me in how it changed the mood of the film - so I thought I would share it here for anyone who is interested.

From Hugo Wilcken's excellent book on Low:

In December 1975, shortly after he’d signed off on Station to Station, Bowie was back at work on a soundtrack for The Man Who Fell to Earth—although ultimately it wasn’t used in the film, and remains to this day unreleased. If Station to Station laid down the artistic groundwork for Low, its actual genesis came in these soundtrack sessions. Various Low tracks are reported to have been recycled from this time—Brian Eno has said that “Weeping Wall” started life there, although Bowie himself claims that “the only hold-over from the proposed soundtrack that I actually used was the reverse bass part in ‘Subterraneans.’” He is perhaps not the most reliable witness to the lost weekend of 1975 (Bowie on Station to Station: “I know it was recorded in LA because I read it was”).

Bowie worked with Paul Buckmaster (producer of his 1969 “Space Oddity” hit), who brought in a cello to accompany Bowie’s guitar,
Bowie had the soundtrack with him during the Low sessions for work on “Subterraneans,” and at one stage played it to the musicians: “It was excellent,” recalled guitarist Ricky Gardiner, “quite unlike anything else he’s done.” Months later, Bowie sent Roeg a copy of Low, with a note that said: “This is what I wanted to do for the soundtrack.”