Observations placeholder
Bowie, David - 1971 Life on Mars?
Identifier
019616
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Wikipedia
"Life on Mars", also known as "(Is There) Life on Mars?", is a song by David Bowie first released in 1971 on the album Hunky Dory and also released as a single. The song, which featured guest piano work by keyboardist Rick Wakeman, was called "a cross between a Broadway musical and a Salvador Dalí painting" by BBC Radio 2.[1] When released as a single in 1973, it reached number three in the UK and stayed on the chart for thirteen weeks. Neil McCormick, chief rock music critic of The Daily Telegraph, ranked it as number one in his "100 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.
Bowie noted that Wakeman "embellished the piano part" of his original melody and guitarist Mick Ronson "created one of his first and best string parts" for the song. The liner notes for Hunky Dory indicate that the song was 'inspired by Frankie'.
One reviewer suggested the song was written after "a brief and painful affair" with actress Hermione Farthingale. While on tour in 1990, Bowie introduced the song by saying "You fall in love, you write a love song. This is a love song."
A description of the experience
David Bowie - Life On Mars?
"Life On Mars?"
It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling "No"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks
through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen
But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it
ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on
[CHORUS]
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man!
Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
It's on Amerika's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse
has grown up a cow
Now the workers
have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause I wrote it
ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on
[CHORUS]
Dring-dring-dring......
[Mind the phone]