Five Years

While “Ziggy” is a concept album I don't think you can simply say that all other meaning is thrown out the window. I think that this is Ziggy saying that we (earth) have five years left. Bowie chose the length of time, five years, as a result of a dream in which his deceased father told him he must never fly again and would die in five years.

He describes the whole episode so vividly. He starts with the news-guy proclaiming Armageddon and goes into his and other people’s reactions. In between he talks of what is great about life:

Material: "telephones, opera house, favourite melodies I saw boys, toys, electric irons and TVs."

and not: all the fat-skinny people, etc.

Ziggy is supposed to be from outer-space but I see it as a metaphor for him being different. When he learns that its all going to end he just wants to go home to Mom. At heart Ziggy is just a confused kid like the rest of us. No matter how old you are.

<i>News guy wept when he told us, earth was really dying</i> is a dead giveaway that this is about Earth/Armageddon. Such a visual song, the imagery really burns the lyrics in your brain. Doesn't even need a video. I love the image of the person chilling with a milkshake while the rest of the world is freaking out.

I don't know how much religion has to do with the entire Stardust saga, but I can certainly see where people are drawing their comparisons from. In relation to Bowie's in depth explanation of the Rise and Fall concept (see below), Ziggy does indeed play a similar role to Jesus Christ. Ironically, Jesus died to give hope to humanity, while Ziggy's death was simply a confirmation that hope had well and truly left the building. Still, they were both mediums of a sort, and both sacrificed their lives for what they wholeheartedly believed in.

One of the most exhilarating aspects about Bowie's songs is the way they creep up on you, and Five Years is an excellent specimen. Starting with a lazy beat and brief, semi-apathetic statements, it subtly comes to an emotional crescendo in the final few verses. It runs the gauntlet from anomic grey to bittersweet vermillion without missing a shade in between.

"The time is five years to go before the end of the earth. It has been announced that the world will end because of lack of natural resources. Ziggy is in a position where all the kids have access to things that they thought they wanted. The older people have lost all touch with reality and the kids are left on their own to plunder anything. Ziggy was in a rock-and-roll band and the kids no longer want rock-and-roll. There's no electricity to play it. Ziggy's adviser tells him to collect news and sing it, 'cause there is no news. So Ziggy does this and there is terrible news. 'All the young dudes' is a song about this news. It's no hymn to the youth as people thought. It is completely the opposite. [...] The end comes when the infinites arrive. They really are a black hole, but I've made them people because it would be very hard to explain a black hole on stage. [...] Ziggy is advised in a dream by the infinites to write the coming of a Starman, so he writes 'Starman', which is the first news of hope that the people have heard. So they latch onto it immediately...The starmen that he is talking about are called the infinites, and they are black-hole jumpers. Ziggy has been talking about this amazing spaceman who will be coming down to save the earth. They arrive somewhere in Greenwich Village. They don't have a care in the world and are of no possible use to us. They just happened to stumble into our universe by black hole jumping. Their whole life is travelling from universe to universe. In the stage show, one of them resembles Brando, another one is a Black New Yorker. I even have one called Queenie, the Infinite Fox...Now Ziggy starts to believe in all this himself and thinks himself a prophet of the future starmen. He takes himself up to the incredible spiritual heights and is kept alive by his disciples. When the infinites arrive, they take bits of Ziggy to make them real because in their original state they are anti-matter and cannot exist in our world. And they tear him to pieces on stage during the song 'Rock 'n' roll suicide'. As soon as Ziggy dies on stage the infinites take his elements and make themselves visible."

(The above quote is from a Rolling Stone interview with David Bowie. See Wikipedia for more info and references.)

Geez, the song's not that hard to figure out. Its about full circle. That is ziggy has become human, if you will, and adopted earth as his home. He disbelieves the world will end, and then realizes it is true. He has feelings, about everything, like telephones, opera houses, boys, toys, etc. Then the line about the fat-skinny and tall-short people is not what's bad about the world, but about what the world is. See, he says all the fat-skinny, tall short, nobody, somebody people, I never thought I'd need so many people - this means as in need people to feel alive, to be human, to have life, community, etc. We come in all shapes, sizes, egos and realities.

the gay comment? its a comment. Why focus on this so much. I think he meant that cops are exhaulted, or society holds them to that, and then when a cop prays, it shows both that all has broken down, thus sickness that the end is for real, and also shows the hyprocicacy of it all and the sudeen bron again bullcrap that the apocolypse will bring in people. The gay guy is sickened by the hyprocicacy of it all. Why a gay guy? for the same reason a cop. Symbolism. The cop is above society, the thin blue line. The gay guy is the bottom, below it all, farthest removed from the norm.

Then he sees the girl and digs her for her coolness, perhaps because instead of freaking out, she is enjoying life. What are you gonna do, pack? save your photos? No, might as well anjoy it while you got it, a milkshake is one of life's simple pleasures.

Finally, the last couple lines i think complete the circle to a child. he says about his ma, then about humans generally, then about "I kiss you, you're beautiful, I want you to walk". Could be the girl in the ice cream parlor, but instead I think it is about a newborn, maybe his, maybe hypotethical, that he would've like to see live, to walk - a momentus occassion in anyone's life. all gone now, world's ending.

and no, its not a religious song. Does it have religious overtones? sure. All good art is linked to religion somehow, usually by religious people looking for meaning of it all. No wonder people will think of gensesis and apocolypse in religious terms. Too bad genesis and apocolypse preceded religion. Or did they?

Well, I had to sign up and provide my 2 cents on this song... The song seems to be about people's reactions to the message that the world is coming to an end... The first part is the narrator's reaction; his mind fills with memories of things he considers important to him, or things he like. His favourite melody, electrical irons and so on. Then he tries to find comfort in the people around him, something he never thought he'd need to do.

The next part is the reaction of other people, and how the world is turned upside down. The line about the priest shows this quite clearly I think. Remember that gay people don't hate religion, but religion hate gay people. And in this song you see the opposite,

And then he sings about the girl in the ice-cream parlour, who seems completely unaffected, and sort of becomes a rock for him to cling to.

Also, on the comments that Jesus hated gay people I have to ask you how you know that... Have you asked him? Keep in mind that the Bible is about as biased as something can get... Actually, I've heard the opposite, that Jesus weren't against anyone, but quite on the contrary supporting everyone... But, I'm an atheist, so what do I know.

I feel like the basic message of this song is that The End of The World would bring out the best and worst in the human race. Some people would get depressed, sad and violent. Whilst others would use it to chase dreams and ambitions they never did because life was holding them back.

I'm a lifetime student of writing, and one of the things you learn very quickly is that detail = evocation. So it's no surprise that this song makes you feel as if you are right there, as he pours out all the things, people, actions, etc. he witnesses. And by listing them, he gives them importance. Suddenly all the small things become terribly important, almost shining - as happens when faced with mortaility.

I’ve got to say, this song is hitting closer and closer to home, and feeling more and more relevant In a directly personal way every year as the climate change’s dire consequences become more and more clear. More and more clearly we hear newsmen describing the mounting evidence that our world and everything in it will face very real days of reckoning. It’s easier and easier to imagine hearing stories like the one described in the song being for real on the actual evening news.

That said, this is still a beautiful song that I have long loved. It just feels less fictional and more inadvertently prophetic now than when it was written. I mean, last week was a news story about an oceanographic expedition to study the underside of a huge melting glacial ice sheet in Antarctica. When it breaks off and melts in the sea, that single event is expected to raise sea level 11 feet worldwide. And it seems to be melting faster than they thought.

“... Five years, what a surprise. Five years, my brain hurts oh Lord...”

I don't seem to remeber Jesus specifically critasizing gays, that was mainly in the old testment with stories of Sodom and Gomorrah. (sp?) Do correct me if I'm wrong, preferably with a biblical quote.

God,I love this song there is not much left to say that hasn't been said but since i don't think anyone said this but to me it seems the We've got five years,What a surprise line says that he was sort of expecting this and wasn't surprised.

I also love the mental images of the girl hitting the children and being pulled of by the black guy,The soldier with the broken arm and the girl just drinking milkshakes and in my mind just taking it all in.

For some reason the line with the priest,cop and gay is rather beautiful in a horrible way that i personally can see happening