Watch Michael Stipe perform Bowie’s ‘The Man Who Sold the World’

Michael Stipe is one of the artists performing at the upcoming tribute concert for David Bowie at Radio City Music Hall (Patti Smith, The Roots, Laurie Anderson and Blondie are among the many others).

But Stipe swung by “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Tuesday to offer a preview of his Bowie cover. Stipe performed “The Man Who Sold the World” as a delicate, voice-and-piano number that put the song in a whole new light, certainly a sadder and lonelier one given Bowie’s recent death.

Nirvana’s version of it still probably remains the definitive cover, but Stipe’s read underlined the deep feelings of loss at the center of the song.

It’s easy to imagine that for Stipe, a self-described “queer” rock star at a time when it was far more difficult to be one, Bowie’s career had particular resonance for him (after Bowie’s death, Stipe also wrote a poem in tribute). This lovely cover more than does Bowie’s legacy justice.

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