T. Rex

On his recent “solo tour” this summer, which also stopped in Italy (here's the report from the Rome date), Nick Cave has often been performing a poignant reinterpretation of "Cosmic Dancer" by T. Rex, written by Marc Bolan. The track, taken from “Electric Warrior” (1971), is a fragile, luminous anthem of glam rock, recently back in the spotlight thanks to its use in the soundtrack of the series “Sex Education”. In his cover, the Australian bard turns it into an intense piano ballad which, in the studio version, is underpinned by a lush orchestral arrangement. The track was also the first single released from the 2020 Bolan tribute compilation “Angelheaded Hipster”, featuring, among others, Joan Jett, Devendra Banhart, Lucinda Williams, Beth Orton, U2 feat. Elton John, Gavin Friday, Nena, Marc Almond, Todd Rundgren, Maria McKee, Perry Farrell, David Johansen, King Khan, Father John Misty. The music and arrangements were handled by such prestigious names as Bill Frisell, Mike Garson, Wayne Kramer, Marc Ribot, Donald Fagen, J.G. Thirlwell, Steven Bernstein and Thomas Bartlett.

“Cosmic Dancer” isn't just a song: it's a manifesto of lightness and decadence, of sweet surrender to wonder. It's no surprise, then, that an artist like Cave, who shares a certain romantic, nocturnal idea of music, chose to cover it. His version delves into the heart of a song that recounts Bolan's creative awakening while grappling with his own mortality, one artist speaking to another across the generations. “Marc was an incredible artist and this song has always floored me”, Cave said in Rome, introducing his cover, which was accompanied by a video showing the Melbourne rocker and other musicians during the studio sessions, intercut with archival footage of T. Rex. Here it is below.

Marc Bolan has always been cited as one of the biggest influences by some of the greatest names in British music. Among them, David Bowie and Morrissey, who shared a stage in 1991 at the Los Angeles Forum precisely to reinterpret "Cosmic Dancer" together. The recording of that performance, in which the frontman of the Smiths welcomed the Thin White Duke onstage, remained locked away in the archives for a long time, until its official release five years ago on digital and vinyl. The front and back cover images – credited to Linder Sterling – portray the two artists in New York, visually capturing the atmosphere of a unique encounter: two restless personalities, profoundly different yet united by a shared sense of otherness toward the music world around them.

But the idyll between Bowie and Morrissey didn't last long. The friction became particularly evident during a joint 1995 tour, when the two shared several dates but with clear tension between them. In 2013, Bowie refused to grant Morrissey permission to use a photo of the two of them for the cover of a new live album. The ex-Smiths frontman reacted with his usual irony: in place of the Thin White Duke, the cover featured Rick Astley instead. And yet, despite the squabbles and the distance between them, in 2014 Morrissey admitted: "I know I've criticized David in the past, but it was entirely my fault. I think he knows that."

Bolan's golden era dates back to the late Sixties and Seventies, when he was the best-selling artist after the Beatles, as well as a movie star and the spark behind the glam rock scene. He died in 1977 at just 29 years old, following a car accident in Barnes, London, but his reputation has only grown over the years. In 2020, 50 years after T. Rex's first single and album, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Released in 1971 on the album "Electric Warrior", "Cosmic Dancer" is one of Marc Bolan's most emblematic and moving songs. Born during the album's early sessions, it was recorded in an acoustic version as early as March of that same year, before being dressed in a delicate orchestral arrangement by Tony Visconti, which heightened its sense of suspension and melancholy.

The song is built on a simple chord progression, led by an acoustic guitar over which light strings and Bolan's thin, almost whispered voice are layered. The lyrics tell, in a lyrical and vaguely surreal tone, of a cosmic dancer who dances from birth to death, evoking life itself as a single, continuous bodily gesture. The chorus, which wonders whether it's strange to dance "so soon" or "so late", suggests a deep existential uncertainty, a sense of estrangement that runs through the whole song. Bolan sings in a subdued, almost childlike tone, baring himself more than in other songs, setting aside for a moment the irony and theatricality typical of glam for a more intimate, spiritual expression.

"Cosmic Dancer" is a poetic reflection on identity, on destiny, on the freedom to express oneself: a small hymn to human fragility, hidden beneath the guise of a pop ballad. It would later be used not only in the series "Sex Education", but also in Stephen Daldry's film "Billy Elliott", becoming an integral part of its soundtrack and its poignant yearning for freedom.

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22/01/2026