Anyone who knows me knows that Bowie was (and is) a top, all time artist, second only perhaps to Kurosawa. So of course Bowie was fresh on my mind when I recently spoke with disco/electronic pioneer, Giorgio Moroder.
The interview was for an upcoming piece on Moroder’s long history and music and took place only a few days after Bowie’s passing. It was a subject that Moroder gushed about while recalling their time together– specifically when they first met and their late night studio session for the song “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)”off the Cat People soundtrack.
Below is a small excerpt taken from the interview (which will be published in full very soon for Cuepoint). RIP Bowie, hero of heroes. -DM
“I met David a long time ago when he had his first hit with “Space Oddity”. I met him in Switzerland at a TV show appearance we did together. When he walked into the room I thought ‘here’s this good-looking guy who’s also very interestingly dressed!’ I had a couple bubblegum pop records out at the time and like I said, “Space Oddity” was already out. It remains my favorite song by him.”
We kept a little bit in contact through the years but nothing major. In the mid ’70s he called me and asked if he could use one of my studios to record an upcoming project. The particular studio [Musicland] was in Munich and I told him I was really busy at the time to meet up. Plus, the studio was being used by all kinds of people, Blondie, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, so forth. So I recommended him to use a studio in Berlin I had used quite frequently in the late ’60s. He apparently did and spoke highly of it years later when we met again.”
“We’d met again in Montreux, Switzerland and I remember David walking into the room, tall and handsome like before. At the time I was doing an album, a soundtrack for a film called Cat People. This was the early ‘80s if I remember correctly and we needed the main theme. I decided then that there was only one person who could sing it and that was David.”
“The image of the film was perfect for him to be associated with and I thought the song was good for him; it had this sort of strange arrangement and backwards sounds. And all the added audio, of course, David really liked. We actually recorded it really fast, it was a late night session and only took a little over an hour.”
“The funny thing I recall is that the director of the film was also there working in the studio late. He was overseeing a bunch of stuff that day and watched as we hung out and recorded. It took us only two takes to get everything right. But the director said ‘No, no, we need to do that again!’”
“Directors, I think, are used to taking multiple takes onset, doing everything over and over. But this was the music studio. So David, I remember, was very polite and said ‘If you want another take, okay. But Giorgio and I think it’s absolutely perfect.’ David then stood up and just walked out. I knew David and presumed he went for a smoke or something. But the director didn’t say a single word after that. And that’s what you hear now, a song made in two takes.”
“Many years later when David would come to Los Angeles, we would meet. I miss him dearly.” — Giorgio Moroder
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