This week, there have been many repeats of Wogan's pop debut, his version of the Cornish folk favourite, The Floral Dance. Less well remembered is that he was up against David Bowie's new single, Beauty And The Beast. Wogan's effort was just a bit of fun. Appearing on Top Of The Pops — a symphony in beige — there were moments when he had to avoid the giggles.
Beauty And The Beast, however, was the opposite. A cursory glance at the cover — a moody black and white shot of a pouting Bowie making robotic hand gestures — shows that this is not a song to be trifled with. 'Bowie establishes a basic feeling of evil in the air through his impressionistic and non-linear lyrics,' prattled one rock critic.
The British public made it abundantly clear which song they preferred. While Terry Wogan spent three weeks in the charts, peaking at Number 21, Bowie scraped just inside the Top 40 at Number 39, and then disappeared.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4fFL4uU_RE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3Y4HufJ1oE
Poll Results
| Option | Votes |
| Beauty And The Beast | 6 |
| The Floral Dance | 2 |
― PaulTMA, Tuesday, 2 February 2016 13:18 (eight years ago) link