Memory_of_a_Free_Festival
Memory of a Free Festival
1969 song by David Bowie
"Memory of a Free Festival" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. Originally recorded in September 1969[2] as a seven-minute opus for Bowie's second self-titled album, it was reworked in March–April 1970[3] at the behest of Mercury Records, the label believing that the track had a better chance of success as a single than "The Prettiest Star", released earlier in the year. Bowie and Tony Visconti roughly split the track in half, re-recording it so both halves could function as individual songs. A more rock-oriented version than the earlier album cut,[4] this rendition featured guitarist Mick Ronson.
Biographer David Buckley described "Memory of a Free Festival" as "a sort of trippy retake of the Stones' 'Sympathy for the Devil' but with a smiley lyric".[5] The track was written as a homage to the Free Festival, organised by the Beckenham Arts Lab, which was held at Croydon Road Recreation Ground in Beckenham on 16 August 1969.[6]
Released in America in June 1970, the single was commercially unsuccessful; only a few hundred copies sold. It was also issued in the UK, but was similarly unsuccessful there.
The two-part single version was subsequently released on CD on the EMI/Rykodisc reissue of Bowie's 1969 self-titled album (in 1990), on a 2-CD special edition of that album (in 2009), and on Re:Call 1, part of the Five Years (1969–1973) compilation (in 2015).