Music

Alaska Robotics, team of musicians create David Bowie tribute video: 'Space Weird Thing'

"Ground control to top space man": The opening lyrics of a new David Bowie "Space Oddity" tribute by Alaska Robotics and a team of musicians that has already garnered tens of thousands of views and caught the eye of Bowie's official blog.

Juneau-based Alaska Robotics -- known for its political satire -- and three musicians teamed up to create the "loving tribute to David Bowie," the company writes on its Youtube page.

David Bowie's official blog took note a few days later, calling the song a "wonderful new take" on the 1969 hit.

The twist? The song lyrics were modified to include only the 1,000 most commonly used words in the English language. So, "Space Oddity" becomes "Space Weird Thing," and "Earth" becomes "Space ball," among many other changes.

The Bowie blog wrote that "the new recording works remarkably well."

Published on May 26, the video had nearly 21,000 views on Monday afternoon and was continuing to steadily rack up hits.

"Many of you will recognize moments in the video from the Flight of the Conchords excellent "Bowie's in Space," Alaska Robotics writes on its Facebook page, referencing a popular New Zealand comedy duo.

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"Molly Lewis, Marian Call, and Seth Boyer modified the lyrics and performed the song. This project was Patrick Race's idea, and he filmed it with help from Ben Soileau and Aaron Suring," Alaska Robotics writes on its Youtube page. The music video was shot during the course of an afternoon.

Watch the video below:

Laurel Andrews

Laurel Andrews was a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch News and Alaska Dispatch. She left the ADN in October 2018.

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