The genesis (pun intended) of “73 (Starman & the Angel)” lay in a casual comment made in a conversation the summer after my book Goin’ Down De Mont: A People’s History of Rock Concerts at Leicester’s De Montfort Hall was published in November 2022. I was on a date, and the woman I was with said, “You should write a song about your book.”
I summarily dismissed the idea, feeling that distilling nearly 300 stories about rock concerts over an almost 70-year period would not a make for a fun listen, even if I were talented enough to write another “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” or “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”
But the idea lingered, and in October of the following year, as I was giving myself permission to write the songs in the Completing the Whole cycle, the phrase that introduced the first chorus of “73” popped into my head. I knew then that the song was going to be about my experiences seeing shows a the De Mont, specifically three shows I wrote about in the book: David Bowie on June 11, 1973;
Genesis on October 18 that same year;
and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band three years later, on May 22, 1976.
The first verse came quickly that November as I tried to paint the picture of what was going on in England at the time I first encountered rock music. So, too, did the song’s vibe: the chord progression immediately felt like “All the Young Dudes,” a song that was indelibly tattooed on my soul when I first heard it sometime around my twelfth birthday in 1972. I never saw Mott the Hoople, either at the De Mont or elsewhere, but I knew they had to be represented in the song somehow. This song would be my homage to them and to that whole era.
At that point, I was beginning work on Completing the Whole with Mark Chatwin, and between conversations about how many musicians we knew that had, like me, stepped away from the musical life for some time to raise families, only to come back to music after the kids had left home, and the recording of “autumnlight”, the second verse fell into place.
My only regret about this song is that it took almost another two years before Will and I could create the version that was finally released in July 2025. That’s mostly because Def Leppard kinda beat me to the punch, releasing their song “Just Like 73” in June 2024. That they, too, should wrote a song about such a pivotal year in music is not surprising: Joe Elliott was born about 10 months before me, and we share many musical touchpoints from the glam rock era. But the similarities between our songs really end with the titles.
(In my opinion, the Leps did a much better job telling a similar tale to mine in the song “Rocket” from the Hysteria album in 1987, though that, too, is different as well. But I digress.)
In the end, I had fun with “73 (Starman & the Angel), channeling my inner Ziggy, paying tribute to my musical roots, and adding lots of references to songs that still mean so much to me 50-odd years on.
If anything shines through with this song, I hope it’s that.
Do you remember seventy-three
VAT, the EEC,
striking miners, the Three-Day Week,
Mr. Wilson, Mr. Heath?
I was just a City Boy
raised on The Beano and beans on toast
Then a spotlight
pierced the dark …
I saw a Starman waiting in the sky
I saw an Angel standing in the sun
rescued by Vambo Marble Eye
hanging on to Lady Stardust’s song
208 on a wave of phase
carrying the news to dudes like me
fingertips of holy fire
touched my soul and set my spirit free.
Do you remember twenty-three?
All the lives we did not lead?
Wife and mortgage, nine-to-five
saucepan lids but I’m still alive
The closet claimed the old guitar
amp in the attic with the leather jeans
spotlight shining in my dreams …
Then the Starman broke up Ziggy’s band
the Angel walked right out of the machine
Time takes your soul, a suicide to rock and roll
chains you to that suburban dream
Behind these shades the vision fades
teenage idols’ faces forming lines
And on the mantelpiece the clock (tick tock)
still counting out the time
NOTES:
The song references 17 different songs — some several times — mostly from the UK glam rock era (approximately 1972-1975) with a couple of outliers. See if you can find all the references before clicking on the links in the lyrics above (links go to the Musixmatch site). For fun, I also created a Spotify playlist featuring all the tracks.
Below are some explanations of lyrics for generationally challenged and/or non UK listeners.
VAT, the EEC: Edward Heath’s Conservative UK government introduced VAT (Value Added Tax), a tax on so-called luxury goods, on 1 April 1973. On 1 January that same year, the UK also joined the EEC (European Economic Community).
striking miners, the Three-Day Week: The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) went out on strike across the UK in January and February 1972 and again in February 1974. As a result of the first strike, Heath’s Conservative government introduced the Three-Day Week on January 1, 1974, an attempt to conserve power across the UK due to the severe disruptions caused by the first miner’s strike. The policy, along with the strike, helped to topple Heath’s government shortly after. While neither of these things technically occurred in 1973, they help form a frame around those turbulent times.
Mr. Wilson, Mr. Heath: Harold Wilson was the Labour UK Prime Minister between October 1964 and June 1970 and again from 4 March 1974 to 5 April 1976. Edward Heath was the Conservative UK prime minister from 19 June 1970 to 4 March 1974. Their political opposition defined British politics from the mid sixties to the mid seventies.
I was just a City Boy: I attended the City of Leicester Boys School from 1971-1978. We were known locally as the City Boys. City Boy is also the name of my record label.
raised on The Beano and beans on toast: The Beano was, and still is, a popular children’s comic in the UK. Beans on toast is a favorite UK dish that I particularly enjoyed as a teenager.
208 on a wave of phase: 208 on the medium waveband was the frequency of Radio Luxemburg. The combination of its powerful transmitter and English language broadcasting in the evenings made it a significant alternative to the bland, conservative BBC radio of the day. Radio Luxemburg was usually the first to break the cool songs; the vivid memory of hearing “All the Young Dudes” for the first time under my bed covers one night in 1972 still gives me goosebumps. As it was an AM station, the signal often went out of phase, making it disappear completely then reappear as if by magic.
saucepan lids: “Saucepan lids” is Cockney rhyming slang for “kids.” Another little homage to “All the Young Dudes,” in which Bowie used the phrase “boat race,” cockney rhyming slang for “face.”
DOWNLOAD:
Bandcamp: https://brucepegg.bandcamp.com/track/73-starman-the-angel
iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/73-starman-the-angel-single/1824115636
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/music/player/albums/B0FG6BQ873
STREAM:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0EKwebB3dgYA6bIvgWskWA
Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/artist/bruce-pegg/73-starman-and-the-angel/73-starman-and-the-angel/TRmwcxkdmwcqcJq
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bruce-pegg/73a1
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/73-starman-the-angel-single/1824115636
YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mMmF64udSkL0KQso3x6qhKX8485GZFqrQ
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/us/album/780867191
iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/artist/bruce-pegg-42576563/albums/73-starman-the-angel-336584832/
Written in Cazenovia NY October-November 2023; recorded February-April 2025.
Released July 3, 2025.
Bruce Pegg (vocals, acoustic guitar)
Will Pegg (electric guitar, organ, piano)
Brandon James (bass guitar)
Mike Santiago (percussion)
Produced by Will Pegg
Co-produced by Bruce Pegg
Mixed and mastered by Ethan Weissman
Art by Ann Stevens
Bruce Pegg 