The song's strings, arranged and orchestrated by Ronson, appear at the return of the chorus and again during the fadeout. The song directly introduces the character of Ziggy Stardust, after being indirectly introduced on "Five Years". He proclaims himself "an exotic hybrid of rock's past and mankind's future": "an alligator" (strong and remorseless), "a mama-papa" (non-gender specific), "the space invader" (alien and phallic), "a rock'n'rollin' bitch" and a "pink-monkey-bird" (gay slang for a recipient of anal sex). According to Pegg, there are several homages present—including one to Iggy Pop, whose lyric "she got a TV eye on me" turns into "keep your 'lectric eye on me", and one to Legendary Stardust Cowboy, whose lyric "I shot my space gun" turns into "put your ray gun to my head". Doggett writes that a "moonage daydream" might represent "an ecstatic, instinctive path to creativity", or nothing more than an homage to "Marc Bolan's brand of lyrical imagery." "Starman" was written as a direct response to the head of RCA Dennis Katz's request for a single. It replaced the cover of Chuck Berry's "Round and Round" as a last-minute addition to the album. Writing about the song's late addition, Pegg writes: "It's extraordinary to consider that one of Bowie's definitive songs replaced a Chuck Berry cover almost as an afterthought." The lyrics describe Ziggy Stardust bringing a message of hope to Earth's youth through the radio, salvation by an alien 'Starman'. The story is told from the point of view of one of the youths who hears Ziggy. Doggett writes that it's similar to his earlier hit "Space Oddity" in that it's a "space-age novelty hit". The chorus is loosely based on "Over the Rainbow", sung by Judy Garland, from the film "The Wizard of Oz". Other influences are the T. Rex songs "Hot Love" and "Telegram Sam", and the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On". The song features a string arrangement from Ronson, which Pegg describes as being more similar to the style of Bowie's previous album "Hunky Dory" (1971) than the rest of "Ziggy Stardust". "It Ain't Easy" is the only cover song on the album.