Life on Mars? Lyrics

Lyric discussion by georgy 

Cover art for Life on Mars? lyrics by David Bowie

The question "Is there life on mars?" is, I think, like saying "Is this the best we can do? Help! Stop the world I want to get off!" I think he wrote it as a stream of consciousness. maybe not...

I agree, tells the story of a innocent girls who is disappointed and yearns for something else.

A 'scream' of consciousness, perhaps?

@georgy You are entirely correct, and I am afraid all other (lengthy) explanations are wrong.

Bowie actually gave an interview about writing this song, stating it came to him after a group of sailors got into a fight in a park, where he was one morning. He took the bus back to his studio and composed.

The girl protagonist can't find an escape from her family problems, not in film, not elsewhere. And on a larger scale, America's rise to power after the horizon of the British empire where once the sun never sat, is not without its own...