1969 Iconic Folk Rock Song Was Inspired by One of the Greatest Films of All Time

"Space Oddity" was an iconic David Bowie song from 1969 inspired by the science fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film is considered one of the greatest of all time, winning an Academy Award and getting preserved in the National Film Registry.

In a 2003 interview, Bowie spoke about the Stanley Kubrick film that inspired the hit song. "It was the sense of isolation I related to," he said. "I found the whole thing amazing. I was out of my gourd, very stoned when I went to see it, several times, and it was really a revelation to me. It got the song flowing."

"Space Oddity" was rush-released as a single on July 11, only nine days before the Apollo 11 moon landing, in order to capitalize on the historic event, which occurred on July 20.

"It was picked up by British television and used as the background music for the landing itself in Britain," the singer said. "Though I'm sure they really weren't listening to the lyric at all. It wasn't a pleasant thing to juxtapose against a moon landing. Of course, I was overjoyed that they did. Obviously, some BBC official said, ‘Oh, right then, that space song, Major Tom, blah blah blah, that'll be great.' Nobody had the heart to tell the producer, ‘Um, but he gets stranded in space, sir!'"

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Bowie continued, "When I originally wrote about Major Tom, I thought I knew all about the great American dream and where it started and where it should stop. Here was the great blast of American technological know-how shoving this guy up into space, but once he gets there, he's not quite sure why he's there. And that's where I left him."

56 years ago today, on May 10, the song landed Bowie an Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Song. He also sang the song at the award show while his performance was transmitted to venues in America, France, Holland, Australia, Spain, and Venezuela.

Bowie, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, released several more iconic songs throughout his career. They included "Heroes," "Ziggy Stardust," and "Life on Mars?" He was also an actor who appeared in hit films like Labyrinth and The Prestige. He died in 2016 at the age of 69 after a battle with liver cancer.

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This story was originally published May 10, 2026 at 5:43 AM.