| David Bowie – The Bewlay Brothers Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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that last verse, makes a lot of sense if referred to the years 70/71 when a pre-fame Bowie met a pre-fame Iggy in NY. At that time their antics were real, unfocussed, outrageous... but as the song states quite clearly, it was a phase: the dress is hung, the ticket pawned... and the Max Factor (for non-English readers) is a lipstick company... and that's now been 'melted down'. interestingly, as the glam revolution only took off commercially after this album, that would imply that the Ziggy/Aladdin Sane years were quite deliberate and distanced - a game, not a statement of authenticity. Bewlay is a corruption of Beaulieu (same pronunciation in England) and that site (a co-incidence, probably) was where the first festival was held in the UK in the 50s. It means 'beautiful place', so... I have no idea whether any of the lyrics refer directly or obliquely to Bowie's brother , but they could surely apply to anyone who had closed a golden age, no? |
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| David Bowie – Modern Love Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| "I catch the paper boy" means "I get up early now" instead of staying up all night raving, I suppose.... new clean style.... but nothing really changes | |
| David Bowie – You Feel So Lonely You Could Die Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| And... 'The Lives of Others' about spying in the former DDR (in Berlin)... and by extension, as seen in a lot of the songs on The Next Day, the fall of oppressive regimes, explicitly Communist here, but why not also, more topically, the USA after the Snowden and Assange and NSA leaks / scandals? | |
| David Bowie – If You Can See Me Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Nice exegesis. How about this, too: it's about American fundamentalists who use mediaeval language mixed with the highest technology to wage war on their own infidel (oil owning states) just the title reminds me of the drone in Syriana (the George Clooney film) which spies on his meeting then bombs him... does he not say (to his CIA masters in that movie "If you can see me, I can see you"? |
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| David Bowie – How Does The Grass Grow? Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Yes... but the entire first verse references scenes and conditions in post Soviet Russia (or the 'buffer states')... the Riga One was a late soviet (Latvian) moped, much beloved of teenagers from Russia to East Germany, also seen in Berlin in the late 70s.... in more detail, it sounds post Soviet, from the satellite states which since floundered in civil wars... or maybe Jugoslavia, which was torn apart and 'joined the west'... the yayaya chorus is in fact a loose version of the 1960s pre-Beatles instrumental hit (for The Shadows) called 'Apache', which may reference another Empire, and the genocide which helped create it (it's also why the song gets a co-writer credit, even though that writer passed away in the 90s) a very sad song, a very beautiful song, maybe also having echoes of PJ Harvey's track Our Glorious Land from Let England Shake, which was the big offbeat hit while Bowie was recording this album. |
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| David Bowie – How Does The Grass Grow? Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Yes... but the entire first verse references scenes and conditions in post Soviet Russia (or the 'buffer states')... the Riga One was a late soviet (Latvian) moped, much beloved of teenagers from Russia to East Germany, also seen in Berlin in the late 70s.... in more detail, it sounds post Soviet, from the satellite states which since floundered in civil wars... or maybe Jugoslavia, which was torn apart and 'joined the west'... the yayaya chorus is in fact a loose version of the 1960s pre-Beatles instrumental hit (for The Shadows) called 'Apache', which may reference another Empire, and the genocide which helped create it (it's also why the song gets a co-writer credit, even though that writer passed away in the 90s) a very sad song, a very beautiful song, maybe also having echoes of PJ Harvey's track Our Glorious Land from Let England Shake, which was the big offbeat hit while Bowie was recording this album. |
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| David Bowie – How Does The Grass Grow? Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Yes... but the entire first verse references scenes and conditions in post Soviet Russia (or the 'buffer states')... the Riga One was a late soviet (Latvian) moped, much beloved of teenagers from Russia to East Germany, also seen in Berlin in the late 70s.... in more detail, it sounds post Soviet, from the satellite states which since floundered in civil wars... or maybe Jugoslavia, which was torn apart and 'joined the west'... the yayaya chorus is in fact a loose version of the 1960s pre-Beatles instrumental hit (for The Shadows) called 'Apache', which may reference another Empire, and the genocide which helped create it (it's also why the song gets a co-writer credit, even though that writer passed away in the 90s) a very sad song, a very beautiful song, maybe also having echoes of PJ Harvey's track Our Glorious Land from Let England Shake, which was the big offbeat hit while Bowie was recording this album. |
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| David Bowie – Valentine's Day Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| All true, I guess, but like all great art, it seems to change and adapt as reality evolves: how appropriate this song is now (May 2014) after the S California rampage of the young guy who posted youtube manifestos of his 'rejection as a virgin' and detailed exactly 'who's to go' from his BMW... | |
| David Bowie – Love Is Lost Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Any possibility that this refers to Iman, who came from east africa when she was a young woman (post college age, so 22 would fit) having been very privileged in Somalia, then suddenly a penniless exile (in Kenya) picked up to become a model and whisked to America and riches... a 'bad marriage' and a daughter.... before starting again (and marrying Bowie) and trying to get it right the second time around. Equally a lot of possibilities to play with the fact that Bowie, too, had a wild youthful marriage (and a son from that) before crashing and reinventing himself (and marrying Iman) and trying to get it right the second time around... |
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| David Bowie – (You Will) Set The World On Fire Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Like the idea that it's about his daughter, or his wishes for / advice to her.... 12 at the time of this album's release.... if there is a specific 'in story' incarnation of the black girl with the guitar, who was inspiring and singing in the Greenwich Village (about where Bowie lives now) of the early 60s, then that would have to be Odetta. | |
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