Ziggy Stardust is a character created by David Bowie in 1971, and first featured on the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, released on 16 June 1972. The character was retired on 3 July 1973, at a performance at the Hammersmith Odeon, which was filmed and released on Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture. After retiring the Ziggy Stardust character, David Bowie began portraying Aladdin Sane, who appeared on the album Aladdin Sane (1973).
Lyrics
Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilly,
And the spiders from Mars. He played it left hand
But made it too far
Became the special man, then we were Ziggy's band
Now Ziggy really sang, screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdo
Like some cat from Japan, he could lick 'em by smiling
He could leave 'em to hang
'Came on so loaded man, well hung and snow white tan.
So where were the spiders, while the fly tried to break our balls
With just the beer light to guide us,
So we bitched about his fans and should we crush his sweet hands?
Ziggy played for time, jiving us that we were voodoo
The kid was just crass, he was the nazz
With God given ass
He took it all too far but boy could he play guitar
Making love with his ego Ziggy sucked up into his mind
Like a leper messiah
When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band.
Ziggy played guitar
Songwriters: David Bowie
Ziggy Stardust lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG Rights Management
