This piece highlights how David Bowie's romantic relationships directly shaped some of his best-known early songs, drawing on quotes from the singer and those close to him. It underlines the extent to which real-life muses, notably dancer Hermione Farthingale and his first wife Angela Bowie, inspired specific tracks rather than purely abstract or fictional themes.

The article picks out three songs: "Letter to Hermione", written for Farthingale after their 1968-69 relationship ended, which Bowie described as an unsent letter turned into song; "The Prettiest Star", written for Angela Bowie, whom he married in 1970, and which he played to her when proposing over the phone in 1969; and "An Occasional Dream", another reflection on his time with Farthingale. Farthingale later told The Sun, following Bowie's death in 2016, that she had "nothing bad to say" about their time together.