Rebel Rebel is Bowie song-by-song, in chronological order from “I Never Dreamed” to “Station to Station,” from 1963-1976. The first edition was published in 2015; the second edition was published in July 2025. All blog entries have been revised, updated and improved (with hope), with lots of new material. Each song entry includes all of the song’s broadcast and live dates and all available session information. The book also has an extensive discography, bibliography, “studio-ography,” and endnotes.
Here is the table of contents:
Resources for book readers:
Chapter Links (playlists, etc.):
Chapters 1-3
Chapters 4-5
Chapters 6-8
Chapters 9-10
Here are ways to order it:
Paperback:
Bookshop
UK Amazon
US Amazon
Germany Amazon (book’s still in English)
France Amazon (book’s in English)
Canada Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Hudson
Indigo
Waterstones
Electronic:
Google Play
Kindle UK
Kindle US
Barnes & Noble
Apple
Kobo
If your local store is interested in carrying the book, please let me know at bowiesongs at gmail dot com and I’ll be very glad to add your site.
Pushing Ahead of the Dame 
Do you know how many books there will be in total?
just 2, I hope. the 2nd vol will be very long but making a 3rd vol of the late 90s/00s/10s doesn’t really make sense.
Nooooooo. I want a 3rd volume, because that would mean more new records.
It has to be a third. You can not leave anything aside, specially when a true masterpiece is in the end.
Outstanding. Purchase completed. I could only wish it was a hardcover to make it my permanent coffee table book lol. Thanks for your work!
Congrats! Very very excited! Gonna take it to Paris at the end of May for a meetup and brag a little with it, if I may 😀 We’re probably gonna stay up all night and discuss Bowie so this is a lot more helpful/ inspiring in this aspect than Pegg’s book!
And I am sure that I will read it to death with my habit to say “Uh let me check that!” and pull out my go-to sources. It happened to other books, it will happen to this one. On the other hand, is there anything prettier than a book that’s been read intensively?
Just received your book in the UK, 1 month early from Amazon! Impressive is the least of my words, though if any tome deserved the full illustrated, coffee table treatment, it was yours.
wow, so it’s shipping? who knew. well, glad you enjoyed.
It was probably an accident – it remains listed as a March 27th pre-order, and was dispatched on February 27th. So a glitch in the machine, not that I’m complaining.
It really is an achievment, condensing the blog without losing any appreciable depth, multimedia content aside, which itself keeps the website vital. Each are worthy companions to the other.
Amazon inform me the book is in the post!
A couple of questions come to mind.
1. Will Rebel Rebel replace The Complete David Bowie as the bible?
2. How the hell will the rest of Bowie’s songs fit into the 2nd volume??
Ordered and told it is being shipped (from Amazon UK). Moist with anticipation
“Amazon Status: Out for delivery”…Dance, Magic Dance!
An excellent review here from Digital Spy
http://m.digitalspy.com/music/review/a636327/rebel-rebel-book-review-essential-for-any-david-bowie-fan.html#~p7oiCapbmvDNkP
The book has finally arrived. And it’s a marvel!
Thank you again.
When is the Kindle edition due?
allegedly today (4/10), but so far no sign of it. An electronic version DOES exist–I’ve seen the damned thing—so hopefully my publisher will see fit to sell it fairly soon.
had to get Waterstones to order it as apparently only one branch had copies. Hope that is a sign of demand but think more likely poor ordering. Now safely arrived. Loved the first chapter and can’t wait to devour the rest… And then book 2!
Any plans for an audiobook version of Rebel Rebel? And if not reading aloud, might Mr. Bowie take a crack at it?
Wouldn’t *that* have been something …
Just finished it and loved it. Noticed just one typo with Steve Harley becoming Steve Harvey. Which actually made me smile.
rufus – who came up to see you?
Finally got a copy, roundabout. My company has a rewards program, and I received points as recognition for a trip to Jackson, TN. One of the rewards options is digital downloads. I had been searching for songs (their library is Google Play’s, I believe) but it turns out I have everything already. Today I decided to look for Rebel Rebel and voila! there it was, on OverDrive.
It really is a great book.
well, thanks.
Don’t know why I didn’t get onto your book sooner – kept meaning to! It arrived yesterday and of course I love it and should never have hesitated. Too many music books maybe? (c) The Wife. Great stuff!
I’ve bought the book (in order, I must admit, to have a song list in chonological order) and I must tell it seems an extraordinary book to me. My most sincere congratulations. And just a question:
When will I can purchase the second part?
Thank you very much indeed
thanks for buying it, Juan. I have to finish (& write) the second part, still. Hope to have it done mid-2017 so book will publish early 2018?
Oh, man! I’m madly (the whole world is) waiting for The David Bowie’s Complete Cronoligical Order List Song! Please, would you finish it a little earlier?? 😉
Thank you very much indeed for your great effort!
Juan
Hi Chris,
I’ve been postponing the purchase of the book online as the customs taxes add up a bit to the price (I’m in Portugal).
So, my question is: Is the book on sale in any bookshop in Boston or Providence, RI? My husband will be in both cities in a few days for work and would be able to buy it there.
Thanks a lot!
I’m still reading the blog/twitter everyday and, after a longish spell during which I had to work (yeah, it happens, sometimes), I’m also still going through it in chronological discography order. I’m now at Hunky Dory (probably my favourite album of all times).
As an aside, after listening to the interview you linked to a few days ago, I’m relieved to find out you, of a similar age, also didn’t pay much attention to 90’s Bowie. (I first heard DB when Let’s Dance came out. I was 13 and fell in love. Also, like you, I only saw DB live at the 1990 Sound+Vision tour)
After 83-84 I started to go backwards. So eventually I got to pre-1969 DB (and now I know so much more, thanks to you) but, in the real-timeline, while I was singing my heart out to Teenage Wildlife, I completely tuned out at the Glass Spider thing. I hated it so much!
By the late 80s/the 90s I was looking after new stuff (most of the stuff Bowie was listening to, bar drum’n’bass) and avoiding Tin Machine, BTWN and so on like the plague.
Through the blog I’m looking at it all afresh… and it feels….
so, so interesting! (Except for NLMD. I think I’ll make a point on never listening to it ever!)
I only tuned in real-time DB again in 2013.
In 2000-2012 I was having 4 kids and staying/working from home. Not really conducive to following anything new except diapered bums and shredded Maths worksheets… (Though I’m sure I’d have loved Heathen and Reality then… I love them now!)
But 64-83 DB was – is- forever in my DNA.
Even during those more than 2 decades I chose to ignore his current work, I always turned to 64-83 DB, mentally, emotionally…
After TND, from my perspective it was as if he had been reborn.
I was so happy during that weekend when Blackstar came out, looking forward to Monday when the kids would all be in school and I’d be able to listen to it nonstop and peruse the lyrics and…
Again, I cannot express in words how your blog accompanies me everyday.
(And I apologise for this little aside…)
yes, finding the book in stores has been a struggle (in part due to the initial retail price being ridiculously high; it’s thankfully been reduced a bit since). I’m not sure what to recommend but maybe the Harvard Book Store? Probably the best bet. I don’t know Providence very well.
not sure what custom tax situation is for Book Depository, but they do ship for free worldwide (not sure how this makes financial sense for them, but hey).
Thanks! I’ll instruct my husband on the Harvard Book Store and simultaneously look at the Book Depository site and see what’s the best for us.
I got my copy through UK amazon as I live in England. I think you can buy from any EU country for shipping to another EU country and not pay any extra taxes. Mine cost £20 (25euros) free postage. Not sure if you’d pay any extra postage to Portugal. Worth every penny.
Thanks Matthew. Book Depository has a fairer price than Amazon UK (which also asks for all your info, including card number, before stating the exact amount to pay: book price+postage).
I’m fascinated by Rebel Rebel and have re-read certain sections multiple times. I very eagerly await the publication of volume 2. Thank you for your brilliant insights on Bowie.
thanks!
Hi, one question. Does the book include the lyrics of the songs too?
only a few quotes here and there. no photos, either.
Pity, but thanks for your answer! I understand that putting more content would have probably made the book too long.
i also could not have printed every single lyric without obtaining a vast amount of legal permissions that the Bowie estate would likely not grant
OK. I see. Well that “solves” my issue. Thanks for letting me know.
Hey wondering if there’s still plans for a Vol 2, and wondering if there are still no plans to go beyond that. Like most readers, I would definitely vote for and buy a vol 3 as well, just to have everything
Vol 2 will come out in Feb 2019 most likely. i will have an announcement. soon. you should follow me on twitter if you’d like more day-to-day update kind of stuff. this book is the end–it goes to blackstar. thanks!
Was there a reason Bowie’s name was not included on the cover? Seems like that would hurt sales. There’s no way, other than if one were standing in a music book section, to even know this covers a musical topic.
it’s on there now. this was an earlier edition that wasn’t well-priced, either.
Will you release a french edition ?
Hi, Mr., I am new in the Bowie world so I found both books on Amazon and bought them. Wow ! Fantastic ! Books for every fan. Good ob.
Oh, I forgot, do I need the ” Deram Anthology ” CD when I got the ” Conversation Peace ” box set ?
yeah, if you don’t have Bowie’s first album already. Conversation Piece starts in 1969. thanks for getting the books!
Thanks for the fast reply. Yes, I have the deluxe edition, a 2 cd set, from his first album. Sorry for my question, I´d better had take a look before I ask someone. As I said before, I am new in the Bowie universe.
no problem! and yeah if you have that deluxe first album, no need for the Deram anthology
Is there a nice booklet with the ” Deram Antholgy ” ? So I am gonna buy it.