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Rick Wakeman reveals he played piano on David Bowie’s “Oh! You Pretty Things”

The part was believed to have been performed by Bowie himself

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Rick Wakeman has claimed that he played some of the piano on David Bowie‘s “Oh! You Pretty Things”.

Although it’s known that the keyboardist played on other Hunky Dory cuts such as “Life On Mars”, “Quicksand” and “Changes”, it was always believed that Bowie himself played on the album’s second track.

Speaking to Danny Baker on BBC Radio 5 Live, Wakeman said: “That is me [playing]. David wanted it to be very simple but, if I remember rightly, he kept cocking up the little riff. He did a few bits of it and I did the rest. He did the beginning.”

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Hunky Dory, Bowie’s fourth album, was released in December 1971, and featured the singles “Changes” and “Life On Mars”. “Oh! You Pretty Things” was written by Bowie, but originally performed by Peter Noone, whose version charted in the UK Top 20 in mid-1971.

The February 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Leonard Cohen. Elsewhere in the issue, we look at the 50 Great Modern Protest Songs and our free CD collects 15 of the very best, featuring Ry Cooder, Jarvis Cocker, Roy Harper, Father John Misty, Hurray For The Riff Raff and Richard Thompson. The issue also features our essential preview of the key albums for 2017, including Roger Waters, Fleet Foxes, Paul Weller, The Jesus And Mary Chain, the Waterboys and more. Plus Leon Russell, Mike Oldfield, Ty Segall, Tift Merritt, David Bowie, Japandroids, The Doors, Flaming Lips, Wilco, The XX, Grateful Dead, Mark Eitzel and more plus 139 reviews

 

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