Inside David Bowie’s Scrapped ‘1984’ Musical

George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four remains one of his most famous works. And its relevance continues to resonate with readers decades after its debut. By the 1970s, plenty of musicians were referencing it in their work. It also caught the attention of David Bowie, who viewed the material as perfect fodder for a musical.

In 1973, Bowie was saying goodbye to the character of Ziggy Stardust and looking ahead to his next project. In a 1974 Rolling Stone interview with William Burroughs, Bowie indicated he was working on a musical based on the novel. Not long after, Bowie premiered his new medley “1984/Dodo” during a broadcast of The 1980 Floor Show. The two songs were just a sampling of the 20 written for the musical. Although Bowie did not have a full script.

Orwell’s Widow Wasn’t Interested

But Orwell’s widow, Sonia Brownell, was not a fan of Bowie’s vision for the material. She would not grant him the rights to the novel, bringing the project to a halt.

“My office approached Mrs. Orwell, because I said, ‘Office, I want to do Nineteen Eighty-Four as a musical, go get me the rights,’” Bowie said in 1993. “And they duly trooped off to see Mrs. Orwell, who in so many words said, ‘You’ve got to be out of your gourd, do you think I’m turning this over to that as a musical?’ So, they came back and said, ‘Sorry, David, you can’t write it.’”

Bowie didn’t abandon the idea entirely, however. Some of the songs he had written for the intended project—most notably “1984”, “Big Brother”, and “We Are The Dead”, all of which quote Orwell directly—did make it onto Diamond Dogs, his eighth studio album, released in 1974. He described those songs as being part of a “glitter apocalypse.” Although “Dodo” was not included on the album, it was part of the 1990 Rykodisc release.

While Bowie’s staging of 1984 never came to be, he did work on another musical. His final project before his death was Lazarus, a musical made up of songs spanning his career with a story about a humanoid alien stuck on Earth. So while fans never got to see his version of Nineteen Eighty-Four, they were still treated to his ideas in a musical form.

Photo by Beth Gwinn/Redferns