Sons of the Silent Age

To be clear, I don’t mean the song is about abortion the political issue. It’s about aborted existences and by extension, existence itself. The chorus is the essence of existence singing to the baby in the womb ready to be aborted.

Look at the format of the song. Two stanzas and one chorus. The first stanza is 7 normal lines, and three repeats of “Sons of the Silent Age”. The second stanza is 5 normal lines, and three repeats of Sons of the Silent Age. Sons of the Silent age = aborted existences.

The first words in the first 5 normal lines in the first stanza are all related words, but directly conflicting with each other. “Stand”, “sit”, “lay”, “pace”, and “rise”. They are all mutually exclusive. (stand and rise are in the context they are used) So while the whole stanza is talking about sons of the silent age, since these 5 words are mutually exclusive each line is talking about different groups of sons of the silent age. In other words, all the different kinds of lives all the aborted existence would’ve had. You have to notice things like this. Bowie expertly sings the stanzas all together so you assume each line in the stanza builds on each other, but they are completely and utterly separate. He sings them all together to express how existence all blurs together.

Look at each of these 5 lines. Each one is a one-line summary of a certain lifestyle/presence on this planet.

Stand on platforms blank looks and note books (in charge, but oblivious)

Sit in back rows of city limits (people SO close, but still isolated from society/people)

Lay in bed coming and going on easy terms (either apathetic people, or people who would have had aborted an existence had they not been aborted themselves)

Pace their rooms like a cell's dimensions (Thinkers! They’re the thinkers!)

Rise for a year or two then make war (People who die young but make a huge impact.)

The last two lines in the stanza step away from the contemplation of potential livelihoods the aborted would’ve had, and this is specified because they start with words “search” and “then”.

Search through their one inch thoughts Then decided it couldn’t be done (these last two lines refer to the people depriving existences of existence on this planet.)

Then you have the chorus. The chorus is the essence of existence itself crying out to the baby while it’s in the womb. Existence just isn’t going to let this created conceived human life form be deprived of existence! If it isn’t deemed worthy or lucky enough for Earth then it will find existence in some other way God Damn it!

Baby, I'll never let you go All I see is all I know Let's find another way down (sons of sound and sons of sound) Baby, baby, I'll never let you down I can't stand another sound Let's take another way in (kicking the fucking door open for existence! We’re getting there baby.)

So then you have the final stanza. This time there are only five normal lines. The first words in the first three lines are “listen”, “pick”, and “make”. These again, conflict with each other. You pick someone, or you make something, or you listen to something. These are all mutually exclusive. But they aren’t all related like the first five lines in the first stanza are, so Bowie broke each of the first three lines up with a “sons of the silent age” to make clear that each line was a standalone projection of a potential existence.

Listen to tracks by Sam Therapy and King Dice (no clue what this means, but definitely looks like it could be a one-sentence summary of a livelihood)

Pick up in bars and cry only once (people whose first experience with love is intense and all chips in but when it backfires they cry hard but then never cry again, and instead pick up people in bars instead. In fewer words, people who get their heart broken and give up on love.)

Make love only once but dream and dream (too many interpretations to bother, but you’re lying if you don’t think this looks like a one-sentence summary of a potential lifestyle.)

So finally you have the final two lines in the last stanza. The first stanza got away with only having unrelated words starting off the last two lines since the first 5 normal lines were related. But since the first three lines in this stanza are already unrelated, Bowie had to do more to make it clear the last two lines are a separate concept, so he starts both off with “they”. While the last two lines of the first stanza talk about people depriving the existences of life on Earth, these ones simply talk about how the existence in its earliest form experiences the transformation into nothingness (until it’s given existence again by the essence of existence itself)

They don't walk they just glide in and out of life (they have life so short it’s just a blur)

They never die, they just go to sleep one day (they don’t “die” because they find existence elsewhere. They go to sleep on their existence on this planet)

Now it’s time for the very condensed version. Stanza one: five one-line summaries of potential pathways/presences the aborted existences would’ve had on this planet. And two lines about the decisions for their lives never to take place. Chorus: The essence of existence itself crying out to the about to be aborted fetus in the womb and promising it that it will find existence for it somewhere. Heaven? Another dimension? Recesses of David Bowie’s mind so he can write such sickeningly brilliant music? Stanza two: three one-line summaries of potential pathways the existences would’ve had. And two lines about them experiencing their conversion into temporary nothingness.