this is one of my favorite bowie songs. it has so much yearning, sadness, love, hope...
anyway, a couple of years ago i read some alternative interpretations of this song on a bowie board, and they just stuck with me, because they fit very well. one interp was that the lover that bowie is singing to has aids or alzheimer's or some other kind of terminal illness. the illness makes her drastically different physically and mentally ("thin and frail," "strangers when we meet"). she's dying, but she's not dead yet, so of course he "can't move on." her mind is getting weaker by the disease, and she "forgets his name." he's feeling conflicted by this disease, at once angry ("all my violence"), "bewildered," and "resentful." sometimes he just wishes to forget her and be "over her," and her "embrace was all that he feared" because he is afraid of becoming ill just like her. but at last he reconciles his love for her, and continues to love her, despite the bruises he has sustained emotionally, and he's ultimately thankful that she's still alive.
i just thought this was a fascinating interpretation that really, really works.
this is one of my favorite bowie songs. it has so much yearning, sadness, love, hope...
anyway, a couple of years ago i read some alternative interpretations of this song on a bowie board, and they just stuck with me, because they fit very well. one interp was that the lover that bowie is singing to has aids or alzheimer's or some other kind of terminal illness. the illness makes her drastically different physically and mentally ("thin and frail," "strangers when we meet"). she's dying, but she's not dead yet, so of course he "can't move on." her mind is getting weaker by the disease, and she "forgets his name." he's feeling conflicted by this disease, at once angry ("all my violence"), "bewildered," and "resentful." sometimes he just wishes to forget her and be "over her," and her "embrace was all that he feared" because he is afraid of becoming ill just like her. but at last he reconciles his love for her, and continues to love her, despite the bruises he has sustained emotionally, and he's ultimately thankful that she's still alive.
i just thought this was a fascinating interpretation that really, really works.