Do all music legends have vaults of unreleased music? A BBC4 documentary set to air in July will be unveiling unreleased music from David Bowie.
Bowie has made a number of his previously unreleased music available to fans, but The People's History of Pop is likely to be officially the first time that the alternative lyrics to the singer's 1969 no. 1 hit single, "Space Oddity," will be heard, among other songs.
Additionally, the documentary presenter Danny Baker also gained access to a version of "The Laughing Gnome," Bowie's 1967 novelty comedy, which features swearing in vocals that have been sped up. He also played a demo Bowie made for "My Way."
Before the song came out in 1969, Frank Sinatra had songwriters, including Bowie, write English lyrics for "Comme D'Habitude" (which translates to "As Usual), an original song by Claude Francois, a French songwriter. Bowie's lyrics for "My Way" lost to Paul Anka's, but he said that the Sinatra classic helped influence a hit of his own, "Life On Mars," which came out in 1971.
Baker was able to access unreleased music from Bowie through the collector and biographer Kevin Cann. A lot of music from Bowie have been uploaded online, but BBC has confirmed that rare and special material and never-before-heard songs will be included in the program.
The People's History of Pop is actually a four-part series focused on covering music from 1905s to 2000s based on recollections from fans. More than 3,400 audio and video recordings and photos have been uploaded since producers appealed to music fans to share their music memorabilia.
The documentary's first episode aired back in April and highlighted music from The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. The episode in July will be its second and will cover music from the mid-1960s to the early days of the 1970s, spotlighting Bowie, Pink Floyd, Marc Bolan, Bob Marley and Northern Soul.
