Def Leppard News - JOE ELLIOTT Discusses DOWN 'N' OUTZ DAVID BOWIE Tribute Goodnight Mr. Jones

Thursday, 10th October 2019

JOE ELLIOTT Discusses DOWN 'N' OUTZ DAVID BOWIE Tribute Goodnight Mr. Jones

Down 'n' Outz 2019

Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott has talked about his new Down 'n' Outz David Bowie tribute song Goodnight Mr. Jones with video available.

The third album by the band titled 'This Is How We Roll' will be released on Friday 11th October.

The first album to feature all new original material written by Joe and one cover version was announced on 15th August.

Joe has discussed the song 'Goodbye Mr. Jones' in a new video along with other albums tracks 'This Is How We Roll', 'Creatures', 'Another Man's War' and 'Last man Standing'.

Watch all video via the playlist including a new lyric video for the title track.

As the title suggests it is a tribute to the late great David Bowie whose real name was David Jones.

Joe references hearing the news of Bowie's death in January 2016 and the impact it had on him as noted in his initial tribute posted online at the time.

A Stripped Down version of this song is due to be released as the traditional bonus track on the Japanese SHM-CD edition of the album.

Listen to 30 second previews of all album tracks at the bottom of this page.

Joe w/ David Bowie 1999

Down 'n' Outz - Joe Elliott Interview Quotes

Goodnight Mr. Jones

"Goodnight Mr. Jones obviously from its title probably hints at the fact that I've written this like tribute to David Bowie. You know I think Elton John wrote one about John Lennon and lots of people have written tributes about lost musicians and for me Bowie was like the king of them all. You know he was as a solo artist, he was the guy that he set the trends. He was an enormous part of what I was listening to as a child. I followed his career from the first time I heard him and right up until his death."

"And I thought that the album Blackstar was a very poignant album. When you write an album and you know you're dying all the rules are off. You know you can do anything you want. You know you just say what you think. You're not trying to impress people. You're just putting across how you are at that moment in time. And he was dying and you can hear it in the song writing."

"And I wanted to do something that wasn't sappy, but paid tribute to how much he meant to me. So I kind of. it's a pastiche to be quite honest really. There's a lot musically. I wanted to try and rewrite... or at least have it, the flavour of it lean towards something like Life On Mars."

"Lyrically I was just gonna name check, you know, name drop a few song titles and little situations throughout his career into the lyric. But you know the chorus really had to. It had to stand up 'cause I didn't want to take it all the way to the chorus with these like references to songs like Space Oddity or Station To Station and things like that. And then get to the chorus and it not go anywhere."

"And once I had Goodnight Mr. Jones it just hit me one day. And I just thought you know the stars have your spirit, the earth has your flesh and your bones. I went Oh thank god Jones rhymes with bones you know. And it worked really well. It's in a nice low key so you can really emote. It's not all about trying to hit these high notes. It's just about singing them really well."

"And Paul Guerin god bless him pulled out one of the best guitar solos on that song that I've ever heard. And when I said to him you know what I want Paul you've got to channel Mick Ronson here. And he said you don't even have to ask. So you know the whole band pulled it off on every song but on that one specifically I think they all got the vision. So it just became very easy and natural for all of them."

Creatures

"The song Creatures is probably the most bubbly thing on the album. I was a big fan of the Bowie/Queen vaudeville type stuff. You know Queen would have songs like Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon or Bring Back Leroy Brown. And Bowie used to do it a little bit. I mean apart from the laughing gnome period of his career he also had this great song which was recorded during the Ziggy sessions but ultimately left off the album called Velvet Goldmine. But it has this very kind of oompa chorus. And I wanted to do something that really separated me from Def Leppard song writing."

"And it's a real simplistic two chord. Very kind of funfair piano part. And lyrically it's just completely mad. It makes no sense. But at the same time it does. So to understand what I've just aid you really need to hear it. But I think what sums the whole thing up is when I was piecing it together I had this great melody. Or I thought was a great melody for where the guitar solo would go. And instead of grabbing a guitar I just whistled it just so I wouldn't forget what it was. And then I said to Ronan who was the producer let's double track it just so it sounds better. And we kept doing it and it's very difficult to whistle when you're laughing and I was laughing. It's that kind of song. It's kind of comical. ."

"And we did this whistling solo just as a marker but the longer we lived with the song the longer it's like that's not going anywhere. So we left it in you know."

"So Paul gets to do a great ride out solo. But there's this huge big whistling solo thing in the middle which is just very British. And the whole song is very British vaudeville. it;s almost like it sounds like it's been recorded now. It sounds like it could have been written in 1972. But it sounds like it was influenced by 1940s. It's a very bizarre song and I think it's probably my favourite because of the reaction it gets when play it to people. They just look at me going where di you get that from?. Because it's so very different to anything I've ever written."

Down n Outz 2019.

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Down 'n' Outz - This Is How We Roll - CD

01 - Another Man’s War - 4:17
02 - This Is How We Roll - 3:06
03 - Goodnight Mr. Jones - 5:08
04 - Creatures - 4:37
05 - Last Man Standing - 4:29
06 - Music Box - 1:07
07 - Boys Don’t Cry - 3:55
08 - Walking to Babylon - 5:42
09 - Let It Shine - 6:03
10 - Music Box Reprise/Griff’s Lament - 0:46
11 - White Punks on Dope (The Tubes cover) - 6:22
12 - The Destruction of Hideous Objects Part 3 - 1:00
13 - Goodnight Mr. Jones (Stripped Down Version) - 5:10 - (Japanese Bonus Track)
Total Time - 46 Minutes