And seeing as we just lost one of the greats of contemporary music, here are lyrics to three different songs by David Bowie. His impact on not only the music world but the worlds of art, fashion, film, and literature is immeasurable.
I have chosen to share three songs, one each from his legendary Berlin Trilogy. This first song was recorded for his phenomenal 1977 release "Low" which, as I wrote in a past post (here), emerged smack in the middle of the disco and punk eras. Along came this avant-garde-ambient-electronic-abstract collection which had nothing to do with any other music of the time, and which stumped even Bowie fans. Unlike past Bowie songs, the lyrical offerings on "Low" were minimal but packed quite a punch. Here, our narrator is caught in a loop of bad decisions, as if sabotaging his own life...
Always Crashing In The Same Car
Every chance, every chance that I take
I take it on the road
Those kilometers and the red lights
I was always looking left and right
Oh, but I'm always crashing in the same car
Jasmine, I saw you peeping
As I pushed my foot down to the floor
I was going round and round the hotel garage
Must have been touching close to 94
Oh, but I'm always crashing in the same car
This next song is familiar to all of us, I am sure, since it became one of Bowie's most identifiable and iconic songs. The quotation marks around the title are meant to imply irony but the sentiment of the lyrics is anything but, with its imagery of love surviving under a crushing political regime. It came from the 1977 release "Heroes."
"Heroes"
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be heroes, just for one day
And you, you can be mean
And I, I'll drink all the time
'Cause we're lovers and that is a fact
Yes, we're lovers and that is that
Though nothing will keep us together
We could steal time, just for one day
We can be heroes forever and ever
What d'ya say?
I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them forever and ever
Oh we can be heroes, just for one day
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can be heroes just for one day
We can be us, just for one day
I, I can remember
Standing by the wall
And the guns shot above our heads
And we kissed as though nothing could fall
And the shame was on the other side
Oh, we can beat them, forever and ever
Then we could be heroes, just for one day
We can be heroes
We can be heroes
We can be heroes
Just for one day
We can be heroes
We're nothing, and nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay
But we could be safer, just for one day
And here are the lyrics to a song from 1979's "Lodger," perhaps the most accessible release of the Berlin Trilogy, musically speaking. In this song about domestic violence, Bowie eschews the usual sentimentalities of the subject and instead chooses to present a detached, chilling, psychological study.
Repetition
Johnny is a man
And he's bigger than you
But his overheads are high
And he looks straight through when you ask him how the kids are
He'll get home around seven
'Cuz the Chevy's really old
And he could have had a Cadillac
If the school had taught him right
And he could have married Anne with the blue silk blouse
(He could have married Anne with the blue silk blouse)
And the food is on the table
But the food is cold
(Don't hit her)
"Can't you even cook?
What's the good of me working when you can't damn cook?"
Well, Johnny is a man and he's bigger than her
I guess the bruises won't show if she wears long sleeves
But the space in her eyes shows through
R.I.P David Bowie. We miss you.
http://www.davidbowie.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment