International Space Station commander Chris Hadfield has uploaded a poignant video of his cover of David Bowie‘s ‘Space Oddity‘ – check it out below.
The video shows Hadfield performing the track in the ISS before he handed over command to Russia’s Pavel Vinogradov after being in charge since March.
Emm Gryner, who worked with Bowie a decade ago, played a major part in the song’s construction and has described its genesis in detail on her personal blog.
“When Chris brought up collaborating while he was on this current mission I of course said YES with a capital Y E S and we went back and forth for a while figuring out what our collaboration might entail,” she explains. “When he told me he wanted to cover Space Oddity I was over the moon – pardon the pun.”
“About 10 years ago, I had sung with David Bowie in his band. I was so young David used to say i was “pure as the driven snow” and he’d have to explain song lyrics to me very patiently like a Dad. He’d put up with me roller-sneakering all over the place and I’d adoringly listen to him tell wacky stories about the 70’s. Mick Jagger would come to our shows and dance like a crazy drunk relative. Pete Townsend would pop into rehearsal. It was a magic time but we never did play “Space Oddity”. It has always been one of my all-time favourite songs.”
“The task was in front of me. I came up with a piano part. i then enlisted my friend, producer and fellow Canadian Joe Corcoran to take my piano idea and Chris’ vocal and blow it up into a fully produced song. Drums! mellotrons! fuzz bass! We also incorporated into the track ambient space station noises which Chris had put on his Soundcloud. I was mostly blown away by how pure and earnest Chris’ singing is on this track. Like weightlessness and his voice agreed to agree. And voila! An astronaut sings Space Oddity in space!”