Arnold Corns

Posted by Moonage | Filed under Sound

In 1971, Bowie was busy touring, sorta, busier chasing records companies, and writing music.  Now, this is pre-Hunky Dory we’re talking about.  Bowie wasn’t too heavy at this time.  However, he was already into his changing personnas.  And, while bored on the road, he was writing his big project.  As the story goes, RCA wasn’t too keen on his new project since basically no one knew who Bowie was, but he was wanting to do a double-lp anyway ( which was pricey in those days ).  So, Bowie decided to do a test run with his new line-up and release some of the songs RCA was bucking.  His new line-up was quite odd to say the least:

Freddi aka Rudy and Bowie

He enlisted Freddi Buretti, aka Rudy Valentino, to be his front man.  According to legend, Rudy didn’t really sing or play any instruments.  He eventually became Bowie’s designed for the Ziggy tours.  Rudy eventually became immortalized in song:

Tony went to fight in Belfast
Rudi stayed at home to starve
I could make it all worthwhile
as a rock & roll star….

That’s opening lines to “Star” on Ziggy Stardust.  Bowie also hooked with a band called “Ronno” as his backup.  Ronno consisted of Mick Ronson on guitar, Trevor Bolder on bass, and Mick Woodmansey on drums.  Originally Ronno was going to go it alone after the demos, but apparently changed their mind.  This odd lineup resulted in four songs:

  1. “Hang on to yourself”.  This became a staple opening song for Bowie on several tours.
  2. “Looking for a friend”. Pretty much disappeared after it was recorded.
  3. “Man in the middle”.  Pretty much disappeared after it was recorded, but has been a cult favorite for Bowie fans since. And last but not least:
  4. “Moonage Daydream”.  Now, to me, this is where it gets odd.  This ain’t the Moonage Daydream you’re used to.  This is something completely different.  I had it bootleg version for a long time and loved it.  However, the CD did what all CD’s eventually do and refused to play after a few years.  I went a long time without hearing it.  However, a while back, JeniQ wondered why her version of Moonage Daydream didn’t have the common opening lyrics of “I’m an alligator”……  To which I had to reply with the only idea I had, she MAY have the original Arnold Corns version.  To say the least, it’s different.  I bittorrented and found a copy of the original Arnold Corns demos.  It flooded me with memories.  And, it was exactly as I had explained.  It has almost totally different lyrics.  So, I was trying to figure some way to host the songs here when I stumbled upon a youtube edit some guy did with the original Moonage Daydream.  I was flabbergasted.  So, without further todo, here it is.  Moonage Daydream as performed by Arnold Corns:


It’s so different, yet eerily the same. I love both versions!

Needless to say, after Bowie formed the Spiders, Ronno was no more. Freddi returned to the fashion industry as far as I cantell. I can’t find anything on the guy at this time. Not sure what his contribution was to creating Moonage Daydream, if any.

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Permalink | July 16th, 2007

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    • 8 Squawks to “Arnold Corns”

    1. Cristin Squawked:
      July 17th, 2007 at 10:54 am

      I love this version. It’s on the Man Who Sold the World.

    2. Moonage Squawked:
      July 17th, 2007 at 12:49 pm

      That’s the CD I was referring to. It actually was only on one re-mastered version that I think is no longer in print.

    3. Cristin Squawked:
      July 18th, 2007 at 9:50 am

      Oooh then I’m lucky because I own it. Actually I acquired it by marriage:)

    4. Moonage Squawked:
      July 18th, 2007 at 10:18 am

      Sounds like you chose well in marriage!

      I have owned TMWSTW in various forms since shortly after it was released. After a point some of the songs got kinda old. Then Rhino ( I think it was ) re-released it with the Arnold Corns songs and it became my favorite Bowie album once again.

    5. JeniQ Squawked:
      July 24th, 2007 at 12:34 pm

      I’m glad you posted this. I’d been trying to figure out why I had a weird version of it.
      I kept looking at “Squawk like a pink monkey bird” and I could *hear* him singing it, but I couldn’t hear it when I listened to the song. I was so confused!!

    6. Luke Slater Squawked:
      August 7th, 2007 at 6:16 am

      I take it back you know, it isn’t sad. The man’s great whatever he does.

      By the way if you take another look at my blog there’s a follow up to it, stating the names of the guitars and stuff..

      Oh and thanks for including me ^-^

    7. Martink Squawked:
      August 15th, 2008 at 2:20 am

      Ive heard that “Rudi” was actually Tony Visconti. Anyone know anything about that?

    8. Moonage Squawked:
      August 15th, 2008 at 7:39 am

      Honestly I’ve heard it both ways. I’ve heard it was Tony, and I’ve heard it was Rudy ( Freddi ). So, I won’t say for certain which is 100% right. However, Tony was Tony, and Freddi was actually Rudy. So, even if Rudi was supposed to be Tony, Rudy gets immortalized simply because Bowie used that name. Rudy spelled ending with an “i” like Freddi sorta gives it away to me personally tho. Since both were very active in Bowie’s life at the time, we’d just have to ask Bowie to find out for sure.

    Squawk like a pink monkey bird!