Observations placeholder
Bowie, David - 2003 Interview - I'm Not Quite an Atheist, and It Worries Me
Identifier
019618
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Reality was the 23rd studio album by English rock musician David Bowie. It was released in 2003 on his Iso Records label, in conjunction with Columbia Records
A description of the experience
I'm Not Quite an Atheist, and It Worries Me'
After all these years of unsettling absolutes, you're calling your new album "Reality."
It is ironic. You haven't seen the artwork yet, but there's a fakeness to the cover that undermines that. It's the old chestnut: What is real and what isn't? It's actually about who's stolen this world.
Do you feel like your thinking about those questions has changed or deepened?
I honestly believe that my initial questions haven't changed at all. There are far fewer of them these days, but they're really important. Questioning my spiritual life has always been germane to what I was writing. Always.
You always seemed rootless, a citizen of the world.
I kind of thought I was. But, frankly, that changed when I met Iman. We got nesting!
Can you describe how your life has changed in recent years?
Well, one thing that's different is I don't have that sense of loneliness that I had before, which was very, very strong. It became a subtext for a lot of things I wrote.
What do you see yourself doing in the next few years?
My priority is that I've stabilized my life to an extent now over these past 10 years. I'm very at ease, and I like it. I never thought I would be such a family-oriented guy; I didn't think that was part of my makeup. But somebody said that as you get older you become the person you always should have been, and I feel that's happening to me. I'm rather surprised at who I am, because I'm actually like my dad! [Laughs]
That's the shock: All clichés are true. The years really do speed by. Life really is as short as they tell you it is. And there really is a God--so do I buy that one? If all the other clichés are true....
The Loneliest Guy"
Streets damp and warm
Empty smell metal
Weeds between buildings
Pictures on my hard drive
But I'm the luckiest guy
Not the loneliest guy
Steam under floor
Shards by the mirrors frame
Clouds green and low
No sign, no nothing now
But I'm the luckiest guy
Not the loneliest guy
All the pages that have turned
All the errors left unlearned, oh
Well I'm the luckiest guy
Not the loneliest guy
In the world
Not me
Not me