Space Oddity
"Space Oddity" is a song written and recorded by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was first released as a 7-inch single on 11 July 1969 before appearing as the opening track of his second studio album, "David Bowie". It became one of Bowie's signature songs and one of four of his songs to be included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

Inspired by Stanley Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968), with a title that plays on the film's title, the song is about the launch into space of Major Tom, a fictional astronaut, and was released during a period of great interest in space flight. The United States' Apollo 11 mission would launch five days later and would become the first manned Moon landing another five days after that. The lyrics have also been seen to lampoon the British space programme, which was, and still is, an unmanned project. Bowie revisited his Major Tom character in the 1980 lead-single "Ashes to Ashes" from "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" and the 1995 single "Hallo Spaceboy" from "Outside", the third and final single released from that album. In addition, Major Tom possibly influenced the music video for "Blackstar", released in 2015 off of Bowie's final album of the same name.

Written in the key of C major, "Space Oddity" was Bowie's first single to chart in the UK. It reached the top five on its initial release and received the 1970 Ivor Novello Special Award for Originality. His self-titled second album was renamed after the track for its 1972 rerelease by RCA Records and became known by this name. In 1975, upon rerelease as part of a maxi-single, the song became Bowie's first UK No. 1 single.

In 2013, the song gained renewed popularity following its recording by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who performed the song (with slightly revised lyrics) while aboard the International Space Station, and therefore became the first music video shot in space. In January 2016, the song reentered singles charts around the world following Bowie's death, which included becoming Bowie's first single to top the French Singles Chart.
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