Caros audiophiles, David Bowie is regarded as one of rock music's greatest innovators and is one of my favourite artists. From his beginnings as a strange alien-like Space Oddity, through his alter-ego rock superstar persona Ziggy Stardust and then Aladdin Sane, from "white soul" to experimentations with electronic music, Bowie kept changing, kept surprising. Consequently he would alienate some fans, but also he attracted new fans, People say that he is a chameleon. But a chameleon changes to fit the landscape. Bowie, always curious to look for and assimilate new musical ideas, created his own musical and visual landscapes. Probably more than anyone he introduced the idea of visual drama into rock music and especially into his stage shows. The chameleons were those artists that followed him.... (This must sound very pretentious. Oh well).
There are, as usual, too many songs to choose, many different styles throughout his career, but here I wish to focus more on an element that, I think, receives less recognition: David Bowie has an incredibly expressive, sometimes almost operatic, soaring voice.
Wild Is The Wind, even though he did not write it, is probably my favourite of his songs. This is not his brilliant original album version with his band but instead a solo concert version with just a beautiful piano accompaniment for the wildly romantic lyrics:
Love me, love me, love me, love me,
say you do
Let me fly away with you
For my love is like the wind,
and wild is the wind
Wild is the wind
Give me more than one caress
satisfy this hungryness
Let the wind blow through your heart
Oh wild is the wind, wild is the wind
You touch me, I hear the sound of mandolins
You kiss me
With your kiss my life begins
You're Spring to me, all things to me
Don't you know you're life itself!
Like the leaf clings to the tree,
Oh, my darling, cling to me
For we're like creatures in the wind,
and wild is the wind
Wild is the wind
Lady Grinning Soul is one of Bowie's less known songs but also a favourite. I always imagine it should have been the opening theme to a James Bond film, with the beautiful sensuous dancing women in silhouette and flames. Maybe this was his inspiration? I must ask him!
say you do
Let me fly away with you
For my love is like the wind,
and wild is the wind
Wild is the wind
Give me more than one caress
satisfy this hungryness
Let the wind blow through your heart
Oh wild is the wind, wild is the wind
You touch me, I hear the sound of mandolins
You kiss me
With your kiss my life begins
You're Spring to me, all things to me
Don't you know you're life itself!
Like the leaf clings to the tree,
Oh, my darling, cling to me
For we're like creatures in the wind,
and wild is the wind
Wild is the wind
Lady Grinning Soul is one of Bowie's less known songs but also a favourite. I always imagine it should have been the opening theme to a James Bond film, with the beautiful sensuous dancing women in silhouette and flames. Maybe this was his inspiration? I must ask him!
She'll come, she'll go
She'll lay belief on you
Skin sweet with musky oil
The lady from another grinning soul
Cologne she'll wear, Silver and Americard
She'll drive a Beetle car
And beat you down at cool Canasta
And when the clothes are strewn, don't be afraid of the room
Touch the fullness of her breast
Feel the love of her caress
She will be your living end
She'll come, she'll go
She'll lay belief on you
But she won't stake her life on you
How can life become her point of view?
And when the clothes are strewn, don't be afraid of the room
Touch the fullness of her breast
Feel the love of her caress
She will be your living end
And finally, two more of his best loved early songs. So if you don't like these, then I guess you don't like David Bowie.
Life On Mars?
She'll lay belief on you
Skin sweet with musky oil
The lady from another grinning soul
Cologne she'll wear, Silver and Americard
She'll drive a Beetle car
And beat you down at cool Canasta
And when the clothes are strewn, don't be afraid of the room
Touch the fullness of her breast
Feel the love of her caress
She will be your living end
She'll come, she'll go
She'll lay belief on you
But she won't stake her life on you
How can life become her point of view?
And when the clothes are strewn, don't be afraid of the room
Touch the fullness of her breast
Feel the love of her caress
She will be your living end
And finally, two more of his best loved early songs. So if you don't like these, then I guess you don't like David Bowie.
Life On Mars?
Changes:
I still don't know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I'd got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I've never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I'm much too fast to take that test
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time
I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence and
So the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't tell them to grow up and out of it
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Where's your shame
You've left us up to our necks in it
Time may change me
But you can't trace time
Strange fascination, fascinating me
Changes are taking the pace I'm going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Oh, look out you rock 'n rollers
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Pretty soon you're gonna get a little older
Time may change me
But I can't trace time
I said that time may change me
But I can't trace time
A proxima.
Or, as Bowie sang, Wham Bam Thank You Mam.
PO
4 comentários:
P
Great post! DB is an enigma to me. You shed some light and I'm greatful for that.
For me he is like a human 'instalation', the way the word is used by museum curators: he acts, sings, never the same in the various performances. He seems not to be afraid of trying new ways, new solutions. But... he interacts with the public very little don't you think? He is different. It's like if he was offering his performance and that's it.
I liked the first video also because there is a contrast between lyrics and the way he presents himself and the music - the minimum or the 'cleanest' as possible.
Another great thursday morning!
Maria Lemos
Dear ML, thank you for your interest. I think you are right about his interaction. He is a performer, he creates characters and presents himself through these characters, not as himself. Bowie has always presented himself as an outsider: notably in his early years as a kind of alien observer, exemplified in song titles such as Space Oddity and Starman, and in the Nick Roeg film The Man Who Fell To Earth where he played a real alien looking to utilise Earth's water resources to save his own planet. He appears androgynous, hard to categorise, so yes, he is different. Also he was born with eyes of slightly different colours and one "lazy" eye which seems unsettling to the observer since he never seems to be looking directly at you. PO
Hi PO, this time I did not listen to the songs (I can't at the moment). But I did read your text and the lyrics. I must admit: I've never liked DB much. I don't fancy his voice, I find him too cool, too cold, too much of a performer. It's as if he wasn't there, he hides all the time, he is the perfect actor. I can undertand that and I can even admire what he really is: a "creator" of new paths in the art of music. This, by itself, is already extraordinary. But I can't say I like him, not even with your comments. But the lyrics are divine (remember who said that??). Music to me has to be very, very soulful. It can be soulful in a more or less explicit way (there's a world of difference between an Etta James or Mozart's Requiem), but the soul has to be there, it has to be the main component. I don't find this soulfulness in DB (apart from the lyrics - by the way, did he write his own lyrics??). Thanks, P. Bjs. pcp
But never mind about my post: tonight I am going to have dinner with a cousin of mine who is an actor. He just ADORES DB! Ever since I can remember (since I was 13-14 years old) he used to say the most transcending words about DB! And I remember thinking: why, why does he like him so much??? That must be it! Actors love other actors. Actors love actors who innovate, who go to extremes... have to ask him this tonight... Thanks. pcp
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