Sound and Vision

Unquestionably about writer's block. Post Station to Station burn-out, enui, self doubt. Nothing to say, but saying it anyway. Brave and brilliant.

This song is about David Bowie realizing that he needs to stop his drugs. He said that he wished he could be put into a room with an annoyingly bright color and just get over it. The entire album though, is what he meant to be the soundtrack for "The Man Who Fell to Earth." But when he was asked to make the soundtrack, he was to drugged to write anything that sounded decent. So a little before the release of the movie after he had gotten clean, he sent the album to the director telling him this had been what he meant it to be. On the movie though, it was all Pink Floyd music..

I've always taken this song as being about how everyone takes the two most complex and artistic sense, hearing and seeing, for granted. Maybe that sounds overly simple, but haven't you ever wondered about the complexity and gloriousness of those two senses? I think it's an odd sort of "stop and smell the roses" song. The two things that shape our lives most, sound and vison, are always taken for granted. I think more people would hear the song this way if they ever lost one of those two senses.

When i hear this song i always think about a man who sits in his room all day watching TV.

Blue, electric blue mind you, is the color of the throat chakra... which cross-referenced with the correlating frequency from some page online gives us the following(note :BLUE of Throat chakra connection):

12.0 - Centering, doorway to all other frequencies [×] ; frequency of earth resonance (Hercules - a researcher); Centering, mental stability, transitional point, time seems faster [SS]; To stimulate mental clarity [ESR]; Associated with Throat/Vishuddha chakra (Color=Blue) (Body Parts=Thyroid, Lungs, Vocal Cords) (Effects=Expression/self in society)(Note=G) [OML] 12.0-36.0 Beta Range [per CRI] - dominant brainwave in alert/awake/anxious adults with their eyes open. Comes into play when "listening & thinking during analytical problem solving, judgment, decision making, processing information about the world around us." [CRI] 12.0-14.0 Learning Frequency - Good for absorbing information passively, when you plan to think about it later. [RA]

That was from a page on binaural brainwave entrainment which is akin to reaching the same through meditation. "I will sing" (which could be about chanting as a means of meditation) and "waiting for the gift of sound and vision"(which, when done properly can put the mind into a state where closed eye colorations can be seen/perceived and then also the rise of "brain music" can take place...ever been near falling asleep and realized you were hearing music in your head and then, without much effort, you were in a sense "composing" it? I bet my life that this was one of Bowie's major components to his prolific music career). Enjoy.

"For me, it reminds me of the thought-process of something or coming up with an elaborate plan or idea."

I like that idea actually. Always struck me as him saying he wants to get away from everything and be a reclusive and just be able to think about everything, but that's far to obvious I guess. It's probably about drugs...

Man I love the texture of this song, I could almost consume it. If I ever had to explain how to listen to music to someone, I'd use this song.

It's about the writing process, totally. Great one too. One of my favorite Bowie songs.

Well...Artie Shaw's 'Stardust' (Mercer & Carmichael) wasn't Pink Floyd. Still this was the only hit song of this album in the UK. The rest of the first side was awful. The ambient stuff withy Eno was good.

I adore the Franz Ferdinand version of this song. Too bad I can't find the MP3 :(