| "Cracked Actor" | |
|---|---|
| Song by David Bowie | |
| from the album Aladdin Sane | |
| Released | 19 April 1973[a] |
| Recorded | January 1973 |
| Studio | Trident, London |
| Genre | |
| Length | 2:56 |
| Label | RCA |
| Songwriter(s) | David Bowie |
| Producer(s) | Ken Scott, David Bowie |
"Cracked Actor" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, released on his sixth studio album Aladdin Sane (1973). The track was also issued as a single in Eastern Europe by RCA Records in June that year. The song was written during Bowie's stay in Los Angeles during the American leg of the Ziggy Stardust Tour in October 1972. Co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott, it was recorded in January 1973 at Trident Studios in London with his backing band the Spiders from Mars – comprising Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Woody Woodmansey. A hard rock song primarily led by guitar, the song describes an aging Hollywood star's encounter with a prostitute, featuring many allusions to sex and drugs.
Bowie performed the song frequently. For his 1974 Diamond Dogs Tour, he performed it wearing sunglasses and holding a skull, which he would proceed to French kiss. His biographers have compared the routine to Hamlet. Performances from this tour have appeared on the live albums David Live (1974) and Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles '74) (2017). Bowie revived the skull-and-sunglasses routine for the 1983 Serious Moonlight Tour, a performance of which appears in the concert video Serious Moonlight (1984). "Cracked Actor" provided the name for a 1975 documentary of the same name, directed by Alan Yentob. It is notable for showing Bowie's declining mental state during this period, due to his growing cocaine addiction.
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