Ashes To Ashes

The release

The single contained an edited version, reducing the song’s length from 4:25 to 3:37. The b-side was the Lodger song ‘Move On’.

In the UK it entered the chart at number four, and climbed to the top spot a week later, becoming David Bowie’s fastest-selling single to date. It was his second UK chart-topper; the first had been, fittingly, a reissue of ‘Space Oddity’.

Three sleeve variants were issued for ‘Ashes To Ashes’ was released, with different border artwork and central photograph of Bowie. Additionally, the first 100,000 UK copies came with one of four sets of stamps.

In the US the single fared far less well, peaking at number 79 on the Cash Box chart and 101 on the Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart. Its highest placing was on the US Billboard Disco Top 100, where it reached number 21.

RCA sought to play up the links between ‘Space Oddity’ and ‘Ashes To Ashes’ by issuing a US promo 12″ single titled ‘The Continuing Story Of Major Tom’. The two songs were joined together on the release by means of a clumsy crossfade towards the end of ‘Space Oddity’, making a single track lasting more than eight minutes.

‘Ashes To Ashes’ was a top ten hit in Australia, Austria, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. It reached the top 20 in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

The song has been a mainstay of Bowie compilations since its release. The single version has appeared more often, and was included on Re:Call 3 in the 2017 box set A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982).

A remix of ‘Ashes To Ashes’ was included on the soundtrack of Brett Morgen’s 2022 film Moonage Daydream.

Promotional appearances

David Bowie only gave one live performance in 1980, on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. It was recorded at NBC Studios in Burbank, Los Angeles, on 3 September, and first broadcast two days later.

Bowie performed ‘Life On Mars?’ and ‘Ashes To Ashes’ on the show. A small segment of Bowie and his band rehearsing ‘Ashes To Ashes’ was also included in a 1981 edition of The 20-20 Show in the US.

The band was unique to The Tonight Show. Carlos Alomar, Bowie’s long-term guitarist, was joined by GE Smith on lead guitar, Gordon Grody on keyboards, John Kumnick on bass guitar, and Steve Goulding on drums.

In concert

Bowie performed ‘Ashes To Ashes’ on the Serious Moonlight, Sound + Vision, ‘hours…’, Heathen, and Reality tours.

A performance recorded for the BBC on 27 June 2000 was included on the bonus disc available with initial copies of Bowie At The Beeb. Other live performances can be heard on the albums Serious Moonlight (Live ’83), Glastonbury 2000, and A Reality Tour.

We were playing “Ashes to Ashes” one day, and I was playing a synth solo. He says, “Ah, that sounded too much like Herbie Hancock. Why don’t you switch to piano and play like a piano solo, more like ‘Aladdin Sane’ kind of stuff?” So now I do that at the end of the song. Now, that’s not on the original record, and that’s not recorded anywhere, so I’ll get to stretch out on that tonight, if we play that song, and that’s very unusual for me because it’s a three-bar phrase, and it’s a G-minor, an F-major and a C-minor chord, and it revolves in three bar phrases, and it’s not easy to improvise on. Especially since I’m improvising in an avant-garde way, so it’s a challenge for me every night.