David Bowie’s hit song Space Oddity has received a most unusual treatment: it’s been turned into an children’s book by illustrator Andrew Kolb, reports Ultimate Classic Rock.
"Have you ever listened to a song and your mind’s eye is immediately filled with visuals?" Kolb writes on his website. "David Bowie’s classic space epic is one such song for me. Every lyric paints such a vivid picture that I figured ‘Oh hey, I guess I’ll make that into a children’s book!’ Yes, I talk like this."
The 40-page illustrated book – which is available for free PDF download through the artist’s website – uses only Bowie’s lyrics, adding no additional dialogue or prose.
The story follows an astronaut named Major Tom as he leaves earth in a spacecraft, goes for a spacewalk, and then runs into some mechanical trouble and is unable to return to earth, sending back one last message of love to his wife before falling silent.
Space Oddity was released in 1969 but did not become a Bowie classic in North America until its re-release in 1972.