The Laptop Sessions Cover Songs & Original Music Video Blog » David Bowie Songs

“Hang On To Yourself” by David Bowie – Chords, Tabs, and How to Play

Chris Moore — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 08:00:07 +0000

Originally posted 2009-03-09 19:10:59.

“Hang On To Yourself”
(David Bowie)

F#m
Well, she’s a tongue twisting storm,
A
Come to the show tonight,
Bm
Praying to the light machine.

She wants my honey not my money;
She’s a funky thigh collector,
Laying on electric dreams.

CHORUS:
C                     D                        C                                  D
So, come on, come on… We’ve really got a good thing going.
C                                D                          C
Well, come on. Well, come on — if you think we’re gonna make it,
A                                      D – C – D – C
You better hang on to yourself…

We can’t dance; we don’t talk much. We just ball and play.
But then we move like tigers on Vaseline.

Well, the bitter comes out better on a stolen guitar.
You’re the blessed; we’re the spiders from Mars.

CHORUS

SOLO (over A – D – A – D)

CHORUS (repeat)

A D
Come on, come on…

** These chords and lyrics are interpretations and transcriptions, respectively, and are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). They are posted on this website free of charge for no profit for the purpose of study and commentary, as allowed for under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law, and should only be used for such personal and/or academic work. **

“Seven” (David Bowie acoustic cover song) – The Guest Sessions

Chris Moore — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 02:00:11 +0000

Originally posted 2010-04-23 18:30:33.

By Federico Borluzzi:

Acoustic cover of “Seven”, a song included in David Bowie’s “Hours” album (1999). Played with acoustic guitar and harmonica.

** EDITOR’S NOTE: **

I love how the Guest Sessions Fridays have become days to feature songs by performers around the globe, most notably Jeremy Hammond and today’s featured performer, Federico Borluzzi. Even though we may be in different countries with different native languages, there are still certain artists and songs who transcend such boundaries.

We hope you’ll enjoy today’s Guest Session — a fairly recent David Bowie song, one which was originally used for a video game before it was re-recorded and featured as Bowie’s second single of the new millennium. As usual, Federico has done a nice job translating this track into a simple acoustic arrangement, adding harmonica — all played live in one take!

Happy Friday!

“Ziggy Stardust” (David Bowie electric cover) – The Guest Sessions

Chris Moore — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:16:39 +0000

By Federico Borluzzi:

This isn’t an acoustic cover as the previous ones that I used to submit here…

I played this song with my electric guitar with a light distorsion and I hope it does sound good! This is a great song from The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars by David Bowie (1972).

** EDITOR’S NOTE: **

I have a reason to be personally excited about this song — a while back, I recorded my first David Bowie cover, of “Hang on to Yourself.” That song is the one that precedes “Ziggy Stardust” on the aforementioned 1972 album.

Now, thanks to Federico, we’re happy to present the title track of the album, a song that ranked in the middle of Rolling Stone‘s 500 Best Rock Songs list recently. As usual, Federico has done an excellent job of stripping a song down to its basic elements, and electric guitar was a great choice for this one.

As a final note, I’m very happy to be able to promise you some great Federico Borluzzi sessions in the coming weeks and months, as I’ve recently built up several songs in reserve.

So, without further ado, enjoy this one and be sure to hurry back for more!

“Hang On To Yourself” (David Bowie Acoustic Rock Cover Song) – The Laptop Sessions

Chris Moore — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:28:50 +0000

For David Bowie chords and lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to a brand-new week and a brand-new set of sessions here at the best acoustic cover song music video blog in the universe! Monday is my day, and as usual, I dug through the new release news to see what I could find to play. I found a couple of options, but this one stood out to me the most…

David Bowie’s “Hang On To Yourself” was originally released on the 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Now, that’s an album title if I’ve ever heard one! It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, as I know admittedly little about David Bowie. But from a quick online search, I learned some interesting facts. For instance, D.A. Pennebaker (better known for his documentary on Bob Dylan Don’t Look Back) recorded a concert film and titled it the same as the aforementioned album. Also, “Hang On To Yourself” was apparently originally released (as “Hang Onto Yourself”) by David Bowie’s band called “Arnold Corns.” He got the idea for the band name from the Pink Floyd song “Arnold Layne.”

So, amidst all this David Bowie trivia, you may be wondering what any of this has to do with new music Tuesday…

Well, it appears that David Bowie is releasing an official version of a live concert titled Santa Monica ’72. For years, this was only available as a bootleg. Then, in the mid-90′s, a former management company released it without Bowie’s authorization. So, this has become one of those records that circulates through the underground, perpetually spreading from one fan to the next. As of tomorrow, the official release will be on the shelves.

“Hang On To Yourself” is the first song on this live Santa Monica ’72 album, and I can see why! It’s a peppy, rocking number with rapid-fire lyrics and a very brief running time. What better way to kick off a concert? While I haven’t heard the live version from 1972, I can only imagine what it would sound like…

That’s pretty much it for me tonight. I had a very enjoyable weekend on all fronts…

…which means that I have lots of work to catch up on this week! I’ll be working on entering grades by Wednesday morning, speaking to a group of sophomores at a CCSU “college to career” seminar Wednesday evening, and starting to work on my BEST portfolio after about a week and a half on hold for other stuff. I know, I lead an exciting life!

I hope you enjoy my video, and I hope to continue to post new “extras” in the near future — I already have inspiration for new “Deep Racks Reports,” music reviews (check out my one-sentence reviews posted yesterday!), and other articles. I also have to get cracking on some site work I signed up for a couple weeks ago and haven’t gotten to (sorry webmaster!).

Don’t forget to hurry back tomorrow for an all-new Jim Fusco Tuesday. It’s certain to be “we-should-name-a-day-of-the-week-for-it” good…

See you next session!

“The Man Who Sold The World” (David Bowie Acoustic Cover Video) – The Laptop Sessions

Jeff Copperthite — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:11:24 +0000

By Jeff Copperthite:

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. It’s that time…that’s right…Thumpin’ Thursday! Who doesn’t enjoy a great dose of their Laptop Sessions on the second best day of the week – and it’s right after the best day of the week!

This next song is sort of by request – Jim mentioned it in recent correspondence that this song was covered by Nirvana, and we have not done either Nirvana, or the guy who wrote the song David Bowie.

What better day than Thumpin’ Thursday to fix both of those things in one session?

Therefore, here comes Jeff Copperthite with the “cover of a cover” version of David Bowie’s classic “The Man Who Sold The World” from his album of the same name. The cover version was featured on the widely played Nirvana edition of the show “MTV Unplugged”. I thoroughly enjoyed that series when it was on the air, and some of my favorite bands were lucky enough to be featured on that show while it lasted.

I recorded this in the same session as my previous U2 video, and again, I look tired. I feel a lot better today than how I look in this video. I couldn’t get a solid take where I played the riff cleanly, and eventually cut out some parts with the riff. I also came in just a bit too early on one part. Nobody has pointed it out in my recent video (what I did wrong), but I am very pleased on the positive feedback I have gotten from that video.

But now, you get to enjoy this version on a great Thursday. I hope you enjoy it, and return for Jim’s fantastic Friday edition tomorrow!