fame

David Bowie's first US number one single was recorded in January of 1975 at Electric Lady Studios with John Lennon singing "fame" over Carlos Alomar's slinky guitar riff. The three of them share songwriting credits.   "Fame" hit the top of the charts on September 20, 1975, and again on October 4 after lending the top spot to John Denver for a week.

Bowie would reveal the genesis of the song :    "[John and I had] been talking about management, and it kind of came out of that. He was telling me, 'You're being shafted by your present manager' (laughs). That was basically the line. And John was the guy who opened me up to the idea that all management is crap. That there's no such thing as good management in rock 'n' roll, and you should try to do it without it. It was at John's instigation that I really did without managers, and started getting people in to do specific jobs for me, rather than signing myself away to one guy forever and have him take a piece of everything that I earn. Usually, quite a large piece, and have him really not do very much. So, if I needed a certain publishing thing done, I'd bring in a person who specialized in that area, and they would, on a one-job basis, work for me and we'd reach the agreed fee. And I started to realize that if you're bright, you kind of know you're worth, and if you're creative, you know what you want to do and where you want to go in that way. What extra thing is this manager supposed to do for you? I suppose in the old days, it was [in a hokey New York voice] 'Get you breaks!' (laughs). I don't quite know what managers are supposed to do, even. I think if you have even just a modicum of intelligence, you're going to know what it is you are and where you want to go. Once you know that, you just bring in specific people for specialist jobs. You don't have to end up signing your life away to some fool who's just there kind of grabbing hold of the coat tails..."Fame itself, of course, doesn't really afford you anything more than a good seat in a restaurant. That must be pretty well known by now. I'm just amazed how fame is being posited as the be all and end all, and how many of these young kids who are being foisted on the public have been talked into this idea that anything necessary to be famous is all right. It's a sad state of affairs. However arrogant and ambitious I think we were in my generation, I think the idea was that if you do something really good, you'll become famous. The emphasis on fame itself is something new. Now it's, to be famous you should do what it takes, which is not the same thing at all. And it will leave many of them with this empty feeling. Then again, I don't know if it will, because I think a lot of them are genuinely quite satisfied. I know a couple of personalities over in England who are famous for being famous, basically. They sort of initially came out of the pop world, but they're quite happy being photographed going everywhere and showing their kids off and this is a career to them. A career of like being there and turning up and saying, 'Yes it's me, the famous girl or guy' (laughs). It's like, 'What do you want?' It's so Warhol. It's as vacuous as that. And that to me, is a big worry. I think it's done dreadful things to the music industry. There's such a lot of rubbish, drivel out there."

http://davidbowie.com/

fame, makes a man take things over
fame, lets him loose, hard to swallow
fame, puts you there where things are hollow
fame fame, it's not your brain, it's just the flame that burns your change to keep you insane
fame fame, what you like is in the limo
fame, what you get is no tomorrow
fame, what you need you have to borrow
fame fame, "nien! It's mine!" is just his line to bind your time, it drives you to, crime
fame could it be the best, could it be? really be, really, babe? could it be, my babe, could it, babe? really, really?
is it any wonder i reject you first? fame, fame, fame, fame
is it any wonder you are too cool to fool fame fame,
bully for you, chilly for me got to get a rain check on pain
fame fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame fame, fame, fame fame what's your name?
(whispered) feeling so gay, feeling gay? brings so much pain?

david says that he was inspired by the jackson five's version of 'walk on'.

james brown borrowed (giving himself songwriting credit with the note "unidentified accompaniment directed by dave matthews") the same riff later that same year for his single 'hot (i need to be loved, loved, loved, loved)' and the lyric mimics the "fame, fame, fame, fame, fame" we love, love, love, love, love so well.