In a two-part interview recorded over different days during Bowie’s 1983 Serious Moonlight Tour, Lisa Robinson covers a lot of ground. The first part of the interview takes place in New York City, with the two discussing Bowie’s new Let’s Dance album and what it was like working with Nile Rodgers and touring with new musicians. However, the true gems of this first half are Bowie’s more personal reflections on overcoming his shy personality on his way to becoming a rock star, the personas he had to create in order to reach that goal, and the demons he had to shed along the way.

Part 2 of the interview contains a series of snippets recorded while Lisa Robinson was following Bowie around on tour. Focusing more on the logistics of the tour and David’s experiences of it, this section acts as a wonderful companion to the performances recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour from around this time.

Part 1 00:08 – Discomfort with being labeled a rock star 01:25 – Living the Ziggy Stardust role 02:04 – Hiding behind the Ziggy Stardust role 03:14 – Pre-Ziggy looks/characters/phases 03:42 – Post-Ziggy looks/characters/phases 04:05 – Combining theater with rock and roll 05:45 – Thoughts on “the rock and roll club” (dependency on drugs and people) 06:52 – Friendships with Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger 07:20 – Reputation as a thief / a synthetic rock star 08:40 – Coming to terms with the real David Bowie 09:37 – Fleeing the U.S. (L.A. in particular) in order to save himself 10:28 – Getting through rough times in the late ‘70’s 11:09 – Leaving MainMan Productions / the irony of “Fame” 12:05 – Working with Nile Rodgers / old R&B influences 13:25 – Let’s Dance: The simplest album he’s ever done and why 14:17 – Being more romantic than people think 15:11 – His past as one large experiment 16:21 – Relationship with Angela Bowie 16:55 – Having room in his life for new relationships 17:42 – Response to his statement that “being in love is a disease” 18:48 – Recollections of an evening with Bob Dylan 20:16 – Enjoying touring once again 21:13 – Recollections of touring with Iggy Pop / implications for his new tour 22:04 – Trying to re-enter society / thoughts on synthesizers 23:44 – Choosing musicians for the current tour / timidity with new musicians 25:23 – A number of wonderful retirements 26:35 – Contentment as a phase? 27:35 – Reflections on earlier albums

Part 2 00:00 – Hopes for the ‘80’s 00:15 – Conceptualizing the tour 00:27 – Theatrical ideas for the tour 01:12 – Unknown tour dates, musicians, and venues 02:06 – A movie of the Spiders from Mars / recollections of that time 03:46 – Aims for Let’s Dance / thoughts on synthesizers (Repeat from part 1) 05:50 – Voice changes over the years 07:06 – Experiences of maturation 08:53 – Enthusiasm over the first two weeks of the tour 09:35 – The best part of the tour so far 10:25 – Dates in America / The Us Festival 11:16 – Indoor vs. outdoor performances 11:43 – Picking material for the tour 12:42 – Anticipation for coming to America 13:10 – Acting on stage / playing smaller venues 14:30 – Changing the set list 15:45 – The outfits for the tour (many flags) 16:20 – Choreography for the tour / Lenny Pickett 17:59 – Feeling better on stage 18:31 – Theatrical presentation / being a person in the eyes of the audience 20:16 – Why his ballads are uplifting 21:00 – Being an artist in the context of rock and roll 21:40 – The most well-organized tour 22:27 – The Us Festival / breathing differently outdoors