China Girl: Bowie v Pop

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The Bowie version was the only one I knew and loved in my youth, but I've been huffing Iggy's lately and I can't deny its power. I struggle to hold them both in my head at the same time, every time I go back to Bowie it pushes Iggy's version out, and vice versa, which I think is testament to the strength of both of them and their different approaches.

Poll Results

Option	Votes
Iggy	27
Bowie	8

― ledge, Tuesday, 10 January 2012 14:23 (thirteen years ago)

Iggy by light years

― Tom D (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 14:27 (thirteen years ago)

Iggy, although there are times when I think that Bowie's interpretation of the "I stumble into town" bit it better.

― insert 2012 appropriate display name here (snoball), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 14:45 (thirteen years ago)

is better

― insert 2012 appropriate display name here (snoball), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 14:45 (thirteen years ago)

yeah that's definitely the highlight of bowie's version.

― ledge, Tuesday, 10 January 2012 14:48 (thirteen years ago)

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgcwonqGht1qbl0b4o1_400.gif

― Tom D (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 14:48 (thirteen years ago)

It must be comedy 80s racism week.

Pop version starts off remarkably upbeat considering its lack of comedy racist stereotype oriental riff.

― ledge, Tuesday, 10 January 2012 15:09 (thirteen years ago)

I like'em both.

― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 15:41 (thirteen years ago)

i like the one without the comedy chinese voice better

― Poppy Newgod and the Phantom Banned (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 15:42 (thirteen years ago)

iggy. but i like both

― bluelips, Tuesday, 10 January 2012 15:43 (thirteen years ago)

don't you mean the comedy Bowie voice.

― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 15:56 (thirteen years ago)

Pop version starts off remarkably upbeat considering its lack of comedy racist stereotype oriental riff.

The Musical Cliché Figure Signifying The Far East: Whence, Wherefore, Whither?

― Schleimpilz im Labyrinth (a passing spacecadet), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 16:02 (thirteen years ago)

oh my god that is fascinating

― Bam! Orgasm explosion in your facehole. (DJP), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 16:03 (thirteen years ago)

Yes, there was a thread on here about that once

― Tom D (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 16:04 (thirteen years ago)

RFI: The origin of that stereotypical "oriental" song that plays in movies and is also featured in "China Girl"

Bowie one doesn't really fit that pattern though, I think its oriental vibe comes more from the instrumentation.

― ledge, Tuesday, 10 January 2012 16:06 (thirteen years ago)

No there's a stupid "Oriental" tune stuck in the there which isn't in the Iggy version

― Tom D (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 16:08 (thirteen years ago)

? i know but it doesn't really fit the classic "chinese riff" pattern...

― ledge, Tuesday, 10 January 2012 16:10 (thirteen years ago)

Yeah, it's not quite the same, I just wanted an excuse to paste that link. Which it looks like I stole from Tom D on the previous ILX thread in the first place, heh.

― Schleimpilz im Labyrinth (a passing spacecadet), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 16:12 (thirteen years ago)

I wish it had been me but it wasn't

― Tom D (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 16:14 (thirteen years ago)

sort of regretting that I let my daughter repeatedly listen to this song

― The Silent Extreme (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 17:09 (thirteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Sunday, 15 January 2012 00:01 (thirteen years ago)

Also: http://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/china-girl/

― Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Sunday, 15 January 2012 00:09 (thirteen years ago)

Three little words for you: James Newell Osterberg

― Fotheringeir (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 15 January 2012 00:16 (thirteen years ago)

Iggy, there's so much less drama in the bowie version

― river, Sunday, 15 January 2012 02:13 (thirteen years ago)

Iggy

― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 15 January 2012 03:29 (thirteen years ago)

I like Iggy's because by the end of the song, you're not even sure if there really is a China Girl.

― pplains, Sunday, 15 January 2012 04:51 (thirteen years ago)

...or if there is, Iggy's probably cut her into six or seven pieces currently residing in the trunk of his Mustang II.

― Lady Writer, Male Seether (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 15 January 2012 04:56 (thirteen years ago)

Iggy version is peak Iggy, just so crazy & strange & self-contained. Bowie version has no reason to exist

― unlistenable in philly (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Sunday, 15 January 2012 05:00 (thirteen years ago)

Iggy

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 15 January 2012 05:26 (thirteen years ago)

The Iggy version is poorly sung and hilarious and bizarre and terrifying at once. Songwriting and performance-wise, it's more Bowie than Iggy, so why is Bowie's own version so flat?

― Melle Mel and the Coconuts (thewufs), Sunday, 15 January 2012 05:36 (thirteen years ago)

just so crazy & strange & self-contained

poorly sung and hilarious and bizarre and terrifying at once

A++ descriptions of Iggy at his best! that said I've never ever liked this song and I'm a big fan of both singers

― demolition with discretion (m coleman), Sunday, 15 January 2012 13:06 (thirteen years ago)

Haha yes.

― Mayne ... Or Astro-Mayne? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 15 January 2012 14:27 (thirteen years ago)

Is there any major music figure that's benefitted directly as much from the assistance of another major music figure than Iggy? I mean, Bowie produces (OK, muffs) "Raw Power." But then he cleans Iggy up, co-writes and produces "The Idiot" and tours in the band. Then he cleans Iggy up again. Then he cowrites and produces "Lust For Life" (with "The Idiot" and "Lust for Life" still being the only two solo Iggys I've ever liked). And then, as if Bowie's support wasn't great enough already, he covers "Tonight" and "China Girl" on those otherwise middling '80s albums, no doubt earning Iggy some bonus royalties. Iggy owes the guy his livelihood, his not his life.

― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 15 January 2012 16:34 (thirteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

― System, Monday, 16 January 2012 00:01 (thirteen years ago)

seven years pass...

https://i.imgur.com/4dNaq04.gif

― Hans Holbein (Chinchilla Volapük), Wednesday, 5 June 2019 05:25 (six years ago)

three years pass...

lol look what the old link upthread currently links to if you click on it (http://chinoiserie.atspace.com/)

― Qeq-hauau-ent-pehui (Neanderthal), Friday, 12 May 2023 17:03 (two years ago)

I prefer Iggy's, but honestly I love them both. They both work towards different ends and do it really well. (If you wanted to make an engaging Top 40 hit out of "China Girl," Bowie's is definitely the way to go, just as Bowie's would sound way too slick and conventional if you were to use the same backing track for Iggy's album.)

― birdistheword, Friday, 12 May 2023 17:24 (two years ago)

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