I couldn't go in a session and play like George plays, you know. I have limited vocabulary on the guitar and the piano - so what could I do going in with Cream or whatever (the other Beatles) were doing in those days? ... I never did that bit.

And suddenly I was working with Elton and then Bowie was around. We were talking and he'd say come down and I found myself doing that, you know.

So he's fiddling around. He writes them in the studio, you know. He goes in with about 4 words and a few guys and starts laying down this stuff. And he has virtually nothing - he is making it up in the studio.

So I just contributed whatever - you know like backwards piano and oooohhh [hits a high note] and the repeat of 'fame'. Then we needed a middle eight so we took some Stevie Wonder middle eight and did it backwards. [Laughs] And you know we made a record out of it.

So that was like his first number 1 and I thought that was a karmic thing. With me and Elton I got my first number 1 and I passed it on to Bowie and he got his and I like that track you know. [Makes heavy percussive sounds]. Yeah I love it.

And I must say I admire him for the vast repertoire of talent the guy has. I was never around for the Ziggy Stardust thing because I had already left England when all that was going on.

So I never really knew what he was and meeting him doesn't really give you much more of a clue! Because you don't know which one you're talking to, you know

[laughter]

We all have our little personality traits so between him and me, I don't know what was going down ... but we seemed to have some sort of communication together and I think he's great.


John Lennon, 1980, Transcribed Interview souced from MP3