David Bowie's lyrics

[Borden]

I'm a life long Bowie fan, and on so many occasions his lyrics have given me cause to wonder just what he's trying to communicate. Is he or was he a dabbler in the sorts of things we talk about, and just an artistic opportunist? Or is there a truth to the things he sings about?

I'll list a few songs that are of particular interest, and Bowie fans will probably know what I'm talking about. I don't want to copy and paste because the post would be huge, and I'm not sure about copyright arcanery.


Specifically:

Moonage Daydream (Ziggy Stardust) (Reptilian, Thule theory)

Quicksand (Hunky Dory) (Ditto)

Slip Away (Heathen) (Montauk, blatantly, whatever he says it's about.)

All the Madmen (David Bowie) (Just listen, speaks for itself.)

Supermen (Hunky Dory) (Hoagland would surely be interested.)


Please tell me about any I haven't mentioned and what you think they mean.

Don't forget that this man spent many years involved in the occult, and also don't forget he's known as a chameleon. Hmmmm.

Borden.

[GK76]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Only recently I'd rediscovered Bowie's more colourful songs while filling my MP3 player, I guess he had an awakening in his psychedelic phase.

Also you missed 'Starman', but a good list (working my way though his back catalogue now).

[Borden]

Thanks GK76,

Well, there are loads of obvious ones, like Life on Mars, Starman, etc., but the ones that interest me are less 'in your face'. Especially in the earlier albums. And on the day that Mars is officially recognised as harbouring life Bowie will experience a massive surge in happy monetary surprises from PRS.

But is he a dabbler and opportunist or something else? That's the question, I reckon.

Borden.

[ulli]

Here is an article (one of many) about the David Bowie ET connection: inspiration coming from ET.

"Early in life, Bowie had established his interest in all matters extraterrestrial. As a Brit teenager, David had helped edit a flying saucer newsletter. He admitted to me that he loved science fiction and was fascinated with life in space and the possibility that quite a few cosmic visitors had ended up on our earthly shores.

During a conversation, Bowie had gone out on a limb revealing that he had once had a close encounter. In the book Laugh Gnostic, author Peter Koening paraphrases what Bowie said: "A friend and I were traveling in the English countryside when we both noticed a strange object hovering above a field. From then on I have come to take this phenomena seriously. I believe that what I saw was not the actual object, but a projection of my own mind trying to make sense of this quantum topological doorway into dimensions beyond our own. It's as if our dimension is but one among an infinite number of others."


http://www.ufodigest.com/news/1209/david-bowie.php

[mondaze]

in the early seventies Bowie espoused some very dodgy elitist politics, which as a lifelong fan i found difficult to accept. However, during this same period he had a serious drug habit, so im not sure how clear his thinking was.

[kevlar]

Thanks Borden
I too have been a life long bowie fan well before I got any enlightenment, and only now realise what some of the lyrics were eluding to. He obviously had some knowledge of the occult with the ref to Crowley in Quicksand. Maybe he used it to gain the ability to create brill music.

A great song off The Man Who Sold The World -Saviour Machine talks about artificial intelligence running our world! Sounds familiar.

Also don’t forget that he played an alien in the "man who fell to earth" that came to earth to take water back to his planet. He used his tech knowledge to make a load of money so he could build a space craft!Sounds familiar.

Eye colour - one blue one brown

Maybe he is an alien.

love kevlar

[Amenjo]

Hi Borden,

Amazing synchronicity! Was listening to a Bowie Album last night, haven't listened to him for months, and was having exactly the same conversation with my girlfriend, the more we listened to his lyrics the more ET references we found.


Love and Truth,

Amenjo

[GK76]

It just occurred to me, Bowie was in the 1986 film 'Labyrinth', this film is often claimed to be part of the monarch mind control occult. To be honest there are many films which can be interpreted with that hidden theme, even though he is thought to have occult links, I find it hard to associate actors with having full knowledge. But, that's just another thing to take into consideration, sadly Mr Bowie didn't speak much about the meaning behind his songs... as always it's left for the listener to interpret, when they are ready I guess.

[ahamkara]

Bowie is a an interesting man, no doubt.

When he sang
"I thought you died a long, long time ago!
'Oh no, not me I (We) never lost control'
You're face to face, with the Man Who Sold the World...
I laughed and shook his hand, and made my way back home"
~Man Who Sold the World

The song seemed to describe a Robert-Johnson-selling-his soul-at-the crossroads kind of moment. Right after Hunky Dory, The Ziggy Album hit big time and a superstar was born.

[Borden]

Thanks people, interesting thoughts.

I didn't know that about 'Labyrinth', GK76, thank you.

The one that's really made me pay attention was a more recent song (about 2002, I think), called 'Slip Away'. It's on the album, 'Heathen', and Bowie, unusually, has explained several times what it's about. He says it's about a TV show he and others watched in New York in the early eighties, I think.

But the thing is, Bowie likes to use double, triple meanings, and he's always been very experimental in terms of the psychology of his music.

The lyric to that song would, if I'm right, fall under the heading of plausible deniability. When I first bought the album that song leapt out at me immediately, and I honestly thought I was listening to a song about the Montauk mythology. It also reminded me of a book by someone called Bob Frissell, called, 'Nothing in this book is true but it's exactly how things are'.

The reference to 'grey', and it being forever 1982. This was a date given for a sort of time loop connected to the event involving a battleship that went invisible or something (can't remember the name, but it's well known, I'm sure you guys know what I mean). 'Sailing over Coney Island, twinle twinkle, Uncle Floyd.' I'm English, so have little idea where Coney Island is in relation to Montauk point. 'Don't forget to keep your head warm'. That could mean a lot of interesting things.

Anyway, I'd love to know if anyone else sees what I see in that song. Or have I just over thunk?

As for the very early stuff ('Man who sold the world', 'All the madmen', 'Supermen', 'Quicksand', etc.,), it all seems very heavy on the Vril, inner earth, reptilian business. 'Should I kiss the viper's fang ... or herald loud the death of man?' I mean ... blimey!

But the big question is this: if Bowie is a reptilian ... am I still allowed to like his music? I think I would. So long as he doesn't eat people. Okay ... so long as he doesn't eat particularly nice people. Ah, what the hell ... if he would finally put a new album out I'd forgive him anything!

Borden.