On the EHS On Tap podcast this week, Dr. Thomas Krause talked about how organizations can change their safety culture and the important role of leadership. With this in mind, the song of the week is David Bowie’s song “Changes.”
Featuring Rick Wakeman of Yes on piano, the song was the first single from Bowie’s fourth album Hunky Dory. The single was released in January 1972 and initially flopped, failing to chart in Bowie’s native U.K. and only hitting #66 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. But when his next album, 1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, became a big hit, radio programmers revisited Hunky Dory.
“Changes” was re-released in 1975 as the B-side to “Space Oddity,” which itself was reissued. The song became a rock radio staple along with many other Bowie songs and became popular again after his death in 2016.
The song was a good reflection of Bowie, since he was known for changing personas and images often in his career.