Talk:Rebel Rebel

Stolen from Ivor

"The first track reduced from the forthcoming Diamond Dogs album, “Rebel Rebel” was a rather unrepresentative sample of Bowie’s latest direction. " This is simply stolen from some review of rebel rebel. The whole article reads like a review. So,,, I'm culling it to NPOV (or as far as I can) and then having a waiting period for comments.

To our anonymous contributor, I suggest you cite your sources before accusing an earlier editor of stealing from a review. I happen to know that the editor who wrote that (not me in case you're wondering, but he's not been active on WP for a while) based his information on Nicholas Pegg's The Complete David Bowie, so while it may sound 'review-like' I'd be surprised if he took it from a review - unless you can prove otherwise. Certainly the wording can be improved - I will add some stuff myself shortly - but pls be prepared to back up accusations of plagiarism. Cheers, Ian Rose 05:35, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Alternate Lyrics

Instead of 'Rebel Rebel', Bowie's original lyrics were "Barney Rubble". Sing along!

Middle Eight

Is the middle eight missing? It doesn't seems to gave one. 95.147.21.42 (talk) 20:31, 6 February 2010 (UTC)

Gender Bending Lyrics?

You got your mother in a whirl / She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl". Can understand why people think it is gender bending and why it might have been coming out of the androgynous glam movement. For some of us around in the late 60s and 70s at the time "can not tell if your a boy or a girl" had a somewhat different meaning. Many boys and girls in that era had straight long hair and wore similar shirts and blue jeans so from a distance it was hard to tell if the person was a boy or a girl especially for older generations who grew up in the WWII era when men and women had vastly different clothing and hair styles. Parents would often say something like, these damm kids/hippies can't tell if they are a boy or a girl. Anyway was and is a killer song. Edkollin (talk) 19:47, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Opening riff

I'm not a musician so I hesitate to edit the article itself, but... I've been playing "Rebel Rebel" and Zappa's "Trouble Every Day" side by side, and to my ear they open with the exact same guitar riff. Not to mention: same tempo, key, everything. And Trouble Every Day was written in 1965 and released in 1966, years before Rebel Rebel. I guess it could be a coincidence but that seems unlikely. Maybe Bowie heard the Zappa song on the radio & forgot about it, thought he had made it up... --Potosino (talk) 02:23, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

Don't they diverge somewhat after two notes, and pretty completely after four notes? I'd like to see the sheet music side by side. I can see how for a moment they could sound similar, but the riff as a whole seems pretty thoroughly different. glenntwo (talk) 16:56, 14 September 2021 (UTC)

Copyedit

Twofingered Typist are you copyediting this, or can I resume? Regards, Willbb234^Talk (please {{ping}} me in replies) 20:30, 22 February 2020 (UTC)

• @Willbb234: I apologise! I thought you had forgotten it since your last edit was five days ago. I'm finished now. Please feel free to go over it yourself and make sure I haven't missed anything. You should take credit for the c/e and advise the requester when you're done. Again, I'm sorry. I should have checked with you first. Regards, Twofingered Typist (talk) 21:19, 22 February 2020 (UTC)

Twofingered Typist hi there. I have been through the article and changed what I can (very little). Please take full credit. Regards, Willbb234^Talk (please {{ping}} me in replies) 19:16, 24 February 2020 (UTC)

@Willbb234: Thanks for the update. Regards, Twofingered Typist (talk) 19:22, 24 February 2020 (UTC)

Who plays the guitar?

I don't know how to put this into the article, but....critical consensus has shifted toward the idea that Alan Parker actually plays lead guitar on "Rebel Rebel" Chris O'Leary, in his book Rebel Rebel, accepts Parker's claim that even though he was only credited with the wah-wah guitar on "1984," he played lead guitar on this track too. It's not absolutely certain, of course--how can we know? But it seems most likely...and that possibility isn't even raised here. See https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2010/09/09/rebel-rebel/. glenntwo (talk) 22:02, 29 December 2020 (UTC)

Glenntwo When expanding this one last year I started to get the same idea. Kevin Cann in Any Day Now just lists the personnel as Bowie and Parker on guitar, but doesn't say which one was lead or rhythm. Peter Doggett in The Man Who Sold the World: David Bowie and the 1970s, states this: "Its axis was a simple guitar riff around D, E, and A chords, concocted by Bowie and then augmented by session musician Alan Parker, who added the downward trail at the end of each line (The melody of the verse followed Bowie's guitar line, not Parker's)." Nicholas Pegg, author of The Complete David Bowie, seems to agree with Doggett, writing: "Bowie plays the lion's share of the lead guitar on 'Rebel Rebel', with an additional contribution from '1984' guest guitarist Alan Parker, who added the three descending notes at the end of each loop of the riff."

Since bowiesongs.wordpress.com isn't really a reliable source, based on what Doggett and Pegg say (David Buckley doesn't give input in the 2005 edition of Strange Fascination), both Bowie and Parker were responsible for the lead guitar riff on "Rebel Rebel", but most of the authorship goes to Bowie. Hope that clears things up! – zmbro _(talk) 15:24, 30 December 2020 (UTC)

Authorship certainly goes to Bowie--Parker says Bowie brought him the riff 75% completed. But while Buckley isn't specific in Strange Fascination, in his liner notes to the 30th anniversary edition he quotes both Bowie and Parker in ways that make it pretty clear, it seems to me, that Parker played the lead riff on the recorded version of "Rebel Rebel." And while bowiesongs.wordpress.com may not meet Wikipedia's standards for a reliable source, O'Leary confirms this in Rebel Rebel: All the Songs of David Bowie from '64 to '76, which Wikipedia accepts in many places as a reliable source. glenntwo (talk) 15:11, 7 May 2021 (UTC)

Glenntwo I've since acquired O'Leary's Rebel Rebel and Ashes to Ashes after making that post, but yes O'Leary is a reliable source – I don't see how he wouldn't be. We can change the personnel to match O'Leary. – zmbro _(talk) 16:42, 7 May 2021 (UTC)

Found some new info regarding this and added it to the article, per Paul Trynka in his biography Starman. – zmbro _(talk) 01:28, 1 June 2021 (UTC)