🚀 About the Song
Released just days before the Apollo 11 moon landing, Space Oddity cemented Bowie as rock’s resident alien. It tells the story of Major Tom — an astronaut who leaves Earth, loses contact, and drifts off into the great unknown. It’s equal parts science fiction and spiritual metaphor — isolation, fame, and the quiet terror of being weightless.
Bowie’s voice shifts from calm command to cosmic loneliness, and the arrangement builds like a rocket launch: acoustic guitar, Mellotron strings, and that eerie countdown. It became his first big hit in 1969, returned to the charts when he died in 2016, and remains one of the most perfect “sad but beautiful” songs ever recorded.
Play it on uke and it becomes intimate — like hearing Major Tom’s final transmission whispered through the static.
🎸 Ukulele Playing Tips
- Chords:
C – Em – F – G – Am – D7 – E7 – A7 – Fmaj7- Verses: C – Em – F – G – C – Am – D7 – C
- “This is Ground Control to Major Tom…”: F – G – C – Am – F – G – D7
- “Here am I sitting in a tin can…”: C – E7 – F – G – A7 – D7 – C.
- Strumming pattern: Slow, steady Down–Down–Up–Up–Down-Up around 80 bpm; keep the wrist loose.
- Tone: Strum softly near the neck for verses, shift slightly toward the bridge and add volume on the countdown.
- Dynamics: Build tension through “Commencing countdown, engines on,” then float for “Planet Earth is blue…” — let those chords ring like radio static.
- Optional trick: Add a soft tap on the uke body every fourth beat during the countdown — instant “space pulse.”
- Pro move: Finish on Cmaj7 (0002) instead of C — gives that drifting, unresolved fade-out.
🧠 Trivia You Can Drop Casually
- The BBC actually used Space Oddity during live coverage of the Apollo 11 landing — Bowie joked they “played it at the worst possible time.”
- The character Major Tom reappears in later Bowie songs: Ashes to Ashes (1980) and Blackstar (2016).
- Producer Tony Visconti refused to record it at first, thinking it was “too gimmicky.” He was wrong.
- Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first ever music video from space — his cover of Space Oddity aboard the ISS. Bowie loved it.
🌈 Final Word
Play Space Oddity like you’re sending a message from somewhere no one can reach. Keep your tempo calm, your dynamics cinematic, and let silence hang like zero gravity.
If your uke sounds lonely by the end, you’ve nailed it — Major Tom would approve.
