Hearing this for the first time it sounds like a letter to his younger self at age 22, the year he broke up with the love of his life and threw himself into fame and career.
Bowie would have been 22 in 1969, the same year he broke up with the love of his life, a dancer named Hermione Farthingale (see song "Letter to Hermione"). He's described this in interviews as a major and devastating event, but that a lot of artistic fuel came from their split. His career starts to take off around this point.
New house, maid, accent... he described himself as someone who could adopt accents quickly and he moved often. "You are a beautiful girl" might refer to his old love, or perhaps suggesting a female narrator is a way of making the song less autobiographical. After all he has spent a career inventing characters to do just that.
The video shows David Bowie dressed very simply and washing his hands, then peering into a dark room where a puppet version of his past selves (the clown from Ashes to Ashes and Thin White Duke) are lit by a spotlight and an image is projected around the room. I think it's a reference to his real self vs the hollow public self.
My interpretation is that this is an older man looking back in regret at a turning point when he let himself grow bitter after a loss, and threw his soul into artistic greatness which, I suppose, is still empty at the end of the day compared to the real love whose loss sent him reeling.
"Say hello to the greater men
Tell them your secrets they're like the grave
Oh what have you done, oh what have you done
Love is lost, lost is love"
@millivanilliscoop Which song were you listening to? Both you and someone else refer to 'the greater men'. This is total license as far as I'm concerned. You're making it up to fit your prejudices. my CD's lyrics are 'the lunatic men' which is far more apt in the circumstances of which I am the receiver and progenitor. You know who I am he said.... This is Fiona Crossland speaking. If you want to reply personally my email address is fimcrossland@gmail.com THANKYOU
@millivanilliscoop Which song were you listening to? Both you and someone else refer to 'the greater men'. This is total license as far as I'm concerned. You're making it up to fit your prejudices. my CD's lyrics are 'the lunatic men' which is far more apt in the circumstances of which I am the receiver and progenitor. You know who I am he said.... This is Fiona Crossland speaking. If you want to reply personally my email address is fimcrossland@gmail.com THANKYOU
@millivanilliscoop Which song were you listening to? Both you and someone else refer to 'the greater men'. This is total license as far as I'm concerned. You're making it up to fit your prejudices. my CD's lyrics are 'the lunatic men' which is far more apt in the circumstances of which I am the receiver and progenitor. You know who I am he said.... This is Fiona Crossland speaking. If you want to reply personally my email address is fimcrossland@gmail.com THANKYOU
@millivanilliscoop Which song were you listening to? Both you and someone else refer to 'the greater men'. This is total license as far as I'm concerned. You're making it up to fit your prejudices. my CD's lyrics are 'the lunatic men' which is far more apt in the circumstances of which I am the receiver and progenitor. You know who I am he said.... This is Fiona Crossland speaking. If you want to reply personally my email address is fimcrossland@gmail.com THANKYOU
Hearing this for the first time it sounds like a letter to his younger self at age 22, the year he broke up with the love of his life and threw himself into fame and career.
Bowie would have been 22 in 1969, the same year he broke up with the love of his life, a dancer named Hermione Farthingale (see song "Letter to Hermione"). He's described this in interviews as a major and devastating event, but that a lot of artistic fuel came from their split. His career starts to take off around this point.
New house, maid, accent... he described himself as someone who could adopt accents quickly and he moved often. "You are a beautiful girl" might refer to his old love, or perhaps suggesting a female narrator is a way of making the song less autobiographical. After all he has spent a career inventing characters to do just that.
The video shows David Bowie dressed very simply and washing his hands, then peering into a dark room where a puppet version of his past selves (the clown from Ashes to Ashes and Thin White Duke) are lit by a spotlight and an image is projected around the room. I think it's a reference to his real self vs the hollow public self.
My interpretation is that this is an older man looking back in regret at a turning point when he let himself grow bitter after a loss, and threw his soul into artistic greatness which, I suppose, is still empty at the end of the day compared to the real love whose loss sent him reeling.
"Say hello to the greater men Tell them your secrets they're like the grave Oh what have you done, oh what have you done Love is lost, lost is love"
@millivanilliscoop Which song were you listening to? Both you and someone else refer to 'the greater men'. This is total license as far as I'm concerned. You're making it up to fit your prejudices. my CD's lyrics are 'the lunatic men' which is far more apt in the circumstances of which I am the receiver and progenitor. You know who I am he said.... This is Fiona Crossland speaking. If you want to reply personally my email address is fimcrossland@gmail.com THANKYOU
@millivanilliscoop Which song were you listening to? Both you and someone else refer to 'the greater men'. This is total license as far as I'm concerned. You're making it up to fit your prejudices. my CD's lyrics are 'the lunatic men' which is far more apt in the circumstances of which I am the receiver and progenitor. You know who I am he said.... This is Fiona Crossland speaking. If you want to reply personally my email address is fimcrossland@gmail.com THANKYOU
@millivanilliscoop Which song were you listening to? Both you and someone else refer to 'the greater men'. This is total license as far as I'm concerned. You're making it up to fit your prejudices. my CD's lyrics are 'the lunatic men' which is far more apt in the circumstances of which I am the receiver and progenitor. You know who I am he said.... This is Fiona Crossland speaking. If you want to reply personally my email address is fimcrossland@gmail.com THANKYOU
@millivanilliscoop Which song were you listening to? Both you and someone else refer to 'the greater men'. This is total license as far as I'm concerned. You're making it up to fit your prejudices. my CD's lyrics are 'the lunatic men' which is far more apt in the circumstances of which I am the receiver and progenitor. You know who I am he said.... This is Fiona Crossland speaking. If you want to reply personally my email address is fimcrossland@gmail.com THANKYOU
@millivanilliscoop I resent 'the greater men ' tag for agents of the fascist state
@millivanilliscoop I resent 'the greater men ' tag for agents of the fascist state
@millivanilliscoop I resent 'the greater men ' tag for agents of the fascist state
@millivanilliscoop I resent 'the greater men ' tag for agents of the fascist state