8. david bowie, "starman"
why here? "la cienega" ends with a lengthy fade, drifting away with a lazy acoustic guitar solo. "starman" reaffirms the theme with its admittedly less lazy acoustic opening.
why this song? the 'overture' to the ziggy stardust film at the film forum was the album itself (not, that is, the film's soundtrack). i'd always had it in for "starman" because of the whole "over the rainbow" thing. but having little except to listen to it, i realize that "over the rainbow" is hardly the point, and the song doesn't really begin until the string flourish and bowie singing "let the children..." and ronson wringing the neck of his guitar, a soundtrack to a film all its own.