It's a God-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling "No"
And her daddy has told her to go

But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen

But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on

Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lenin's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on

Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?


Lyrics submitted by numb, edited by Smxxch, Mellow_Harsher, Waterlord, aljosa95, BowieTheStarman

Life On Mars? Lyrics as written by David Bowie

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Life on Mars? song meanings
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    General Comment

    I don't pretend to know all the underlying sentiment in this song, but here goes something...

    The girl of verse one is a disaffected youth who knows more about modern life than her parents (a recurring theme of bowie's). This girl in particular wanted to go out, despite her parents' vehement refusal, but her friend split on her. So she's off to the movies instead, since she's already been kicked out. However, the movie is a let-down because its supposed to be spectacular and its no more than her typical night out.

    Then it shifts view in the chorus, describing real life in the world...sailors causing fights, police injustice...its all a big show. If there's life on Mars, they're probably eating up this big spectacle called Earth.

    Now Bowie sheds the girl metaphor.

    I have to agree with previous ideas that Mickey Mouse is about the loss of innocence.

    The worker's strike is a direct link to socialism, but also in a sense, striking to get your name in the paper (since Lennon's calling for a revolution anyway).

    The mice do seem to be the underserved, underrepresented masses.

    The Rule Britannia lines seem to suggest simply that the law excludes everybody from fair treatment for one reason or another. His mother is a woman, his dog is an animal, and the "clowns" (his 'unprofessional' peers) are plain undesirable.

    Now back to the movie, but this time he's speaking directly about himself. The depiction of real life is boring, because he wrote ten songs about it already. And here, by finishing the last chorus, he's writing yet another song about it.

    fortheloveon January 19, 2006   Link

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