Well, how come you only want tomorrow?
With its promise of something hard to do

A real-life adventure
Worth more than pieces of gold

Blue skies above, sun on your arms
Strength in your stride and hope in those squeaky-clean eyes
(Hope in those squeaky-clean eyes)
You'll get chilly receptions everywhere you go
Blinded with desire, I guess the season is on

So you train by shadow boxing, search for the truth
But it's all, but it's all used up
Break open your million-dollar weapon and push your luck
Still you push, still you push your luck

A broken-nosed mogul are you
One of the new-wave boys

Same old thing in brand, new drag
Comes sweeping into view, whoa, hoe, hoe, hoe, hoe, hoe
As ugly as a teenage millionaire
Pretending it's a whizz-kid world
You'll take me aside, and say

"Well, David, what shall I do?
They wait for me in the hallway"
I'll say, "Don't ask me, I don't know any hallways"
But they move in numbers and they've got me in a corner

I feel like a group of one
No, no, they can't do this to me
I'm not some piece of teenage wildlife
(Ooh, not some piece of teenage wildlife
Ooh, not some piece of teenage wildlife)

Those midwives to history put on their bloody robes
And the word is that the hunted one is out there on his own
And you're alone for maybe the last time
And you breathe for a long time
Then you howl like a wolf in a trap and you daren't look behind

You fall to the ground, like a leaf from a tree
And look up, one time, at that vast blue sky
Scream out of line as they shoot you down

No, no, I'm not a piece of teenage wildlife
I'm not a piece of teenage wildlife
(Ooh, not a piece teenage wildlife
Ooh, not a piece of teenage wildlife)

And no one will have seen and no one will confess
The fingerprints will prove that you couldn't pass the test
There'll be others on the line, filing past, who'll whisper low
"I miss you," he really had to go

Well, each to his own, he was another piece of teenage wildlife
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh (ooh, 'nother piece of teenage wildlife)
'Nother piece of teenage wildlife
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh (ooh, 'nother piece of teenage wildlife)

'Nother piece of teenage wildlife
(Ooo, 'nother piece of teenage wildlife)

Wildlife (ooh, 'nother piece of teenage wildlife)
Wildlife (ooh, 'nother piece of teenage wildlife)
Wildlife (ooh, 'nother piece of teenage wildlife)
Wildlife (ooh, 'nother piece of teenage wildlife)
Wildlife (ooh, 'nother piece of teenage wildlife)
Wildlife (ooh, 'nother piece of teenage wildlife)
Wildlife (ooh, 'nother piece of teenage wildlife)

(Ooh, 'nother piece of teenage wildlife
Ooh, 'nother piece of teenage wildlife
Ooh, 'nother piece of teenage wildlife)


Lyrics submitted by saturnine, edited by joshuastorm832

Teenage Wildlife Lyrics as written by David Bowie

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

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Teenage Wildlife song meanings
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    General Comment

    Lyrically, this song sees Bowie taking a thinly-veiled swipe at the new legion of imitators who had sprung up in the late 1970s as a result of his success. Bowie refers to them as the "new wave boys" and sings that they do the "same old thing in brand new drag". Indeed, there were new New Wave artists such as Gary Numan, Falco, Joy Division and The Cure among others who owed much of their existence and success to Bowie. And this track finds Bowie dismissing them with lyrics such as "The fingerprints will prove you couldn't pass the test".

    Musically, the song purposefully echoes Bowie's own classic song "Heroes" as is to drive the point home that his artistic godchildren are just blatantly copying him and acting as if they invented this new style ["pretending it's a whiz-kid world"].

    As the years moved on, Bowie came to terms with his followers and made peace with it - even with Gary Numan who he seemed particularly perturbed with at the time "Teenage Wildlife" was written.

    Rickveeon December 15, 2019   Link

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