Monday, April 17, 2023

The Poetry of Rock n' Roll: "Teenage Wildlife" by David Bowie

For this National Poetry Month 2023, I am posting song lyrics that double as exquisite poetry and for this exercise, we can look at this amazing set of lyrics for a song called "Teenage Wildlife" that David Bowie released on his "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" album in 1980. A sad portrait of a petulant, privileged, celebrity teenager, the lyrics actually say a lot about life in a larger sense, and how it can be devouring.

Teenage Wildlife
by David Bowie

Well, how come you only want tomorrow
With its promise of something hard to do
A real life adventure worth more than pieces of gold
Blue skies above and sun on your arms strength your stride
And hope in those squeaky clean eyes
You'll get chilly receptions everywhere you go
Blinded with desire I guess the season is on

So you train by shadow boxing, search for the truth
But it's all, but it's all used up
Break open your million dollar weapon
And push your luck, still you push, still you push your luck
A broken nosed mogul are you, one of the new wave boys?
Same old thing in brand new drag comes sweeping into view
As ugly as a teenage millionaire pretending it's a whizz kid world
You'll take me aside and say
"Well, David, what shall I do? They wait for me in the hallway"
I'll say "don't ask me, I don't know any hallways"
But they move in numbers and they've got me in a corner
I feel like a group of one, no no they can't do this to me
I'm not some piece of teenage wildlife

Those midwives to history put on their bloody robes
The word is that hunted one is out there on his own
And you're alone for maybe the last time
And you breathe for a long time
Then you howl like a wolf in a trap
And you daren't look behind
You fall to the ground like a leaf from the tree
And look up one time at that vast blue sky
Scream out aloud as they shoot you down
No no, I'm not a piece of teenage wildlife
I'm not a piece of teenage wildlife

And no one will have seen and no one will confess
The fingerprints will prove that you couldn't pass the test
There'll be others on the line filing past, who'll whisper low
I miss you, he really had to go, well each to his own, he was
Another piece of teenage wildlife
Another piece of teenage wildlife, another piece of teenage wild



RIP David. We miss you still.
https://www.davidbowie.com/

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