Bowie and Tony Visconti roughly split the track in half, re-recording it so both halves could function as individual songs.
Biographer David Buckley described "Memory of a Free Festival" as "a sort of trippy retake of the Stones' 'Sympathy for the Devil' but with a smiley lyric".
David Bowie used a child's Rosedale Electric Chord Organ, obtained from Woolworths, on both LP and single versions of the song to give a "classic Ivor Cutler/harmonium feel".
[7] Producer Tony Visconti recalled that Bowie "always had a hard time playing the organ and singing part one of the song".
[8] The late reworking of the song also featured a Moog synthesizer played by classical music producer Ralph Mace and programmed by Chris Thomas.