Songfacts®:

• Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement are The Flight of the Conchords, "New Zealand's fourth most popular folk parody band." They have been performing together since 1998. In 2007 they starred in a HBO sitcom that introduced the duo's blend of humor and catchy tunes to American audiences.
• This song is a take off of various David Bowie songs and musical styles that he used throughout his career. The video also parodies various promos for Bowie tracks such as "Space Oddity." It first featured in the sixth episode of the first series of Flight of the Conchords on HBO.
• McKenzie was asked during an interview with The Onion A.V. Club how they figure which songs they want to use in what styles. He replied: "Well the songs usually explain them by themselves. Like, we had a song about David Bowie that clearly had to be in some sort of fantasy world."
• Clement explained to Paramount Comedy how they write their songs: "Occasionally one of us writes the whole thing, but usually we write them together. Sometimes it comes from a tune and sometimes just from a sketch idea or a concept. There is no reliable system, or we'd have a lot more songs if we knew the system."
• The #3 placing of Flight of the Conchords in the US album chart meant that the comedy act had become the most successful New Zealand act in American chart history. (Crowded House had managed #12 with their self-titled album in 1986).