“The Width Of A Circle” by David Bowie

"The Width of a Circle" kicks open The Man Who Sold the World, the album David Bowie recorded in the spring of 1970. Mercury put it out in America that November, and Britain had to wait until April 1971. Bowie wrote it in 1969 and road-tested a shorter version on stage for months first.

On record it swells into an 8-minute, two-part beast with hard rock and heavy metal in its bones, Mick Ronson's lead guitar out front and the band chiming in with the odd choral effect. Bowie sings and plays 12-string, Tony Visconti produces and plays bass, and Mick Woodmansey handles drums and timbales. Then the second half drops into a heavy R&B groove as the narrator winds up in the pit of Hell, locked in a carnal clinch with God, the Devil or some other supernatural presence, depending on whose reading you trust.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.