| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Never did anything original? Never did anything spontaneous? Never did anything unexpected? Never did anything with a lasting impact on the future? What's odd about that line is simply hearing it sung by a man like David Bowie!! LOL. Cheers |
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| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Oh my goodness, I somehow missed your comment my first read through this. I just made a post that said almost exactly the same thing! | |
| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Yay! Fourth and final comment. Guess what? From another mishearing. I'm stuck with a valuable friend "I'm happy, hope you're happy too" One flash of light but no smoking pistol. I agree with a few of the earlier comments - "I'm stuck with a valuable friend" - where 'the friend' is either the drug or the dealer. (See Depeche Mode's "Taking a Ride With my Best Friend" or Lou Reed's "Waiting for the Man") "I'm happy, hope you're happy too" - where 'happy' can refer to an addict's getting high again, or a code for 'holding' used between dealer and user. (Personally, I take this line as tongue-in-cheek. He knows very well he is not happy when he sings this.) Now for the mishearing: One flash of light, but no smoking crystal. I know, this may seem ridiculous. However, I just read a comment on "Breaking Glass" where the commenter said "I don't know if they called crystal 'glass' back then, but if you interpret it this way, it makes perfect sense." I feel the same way. I don't know if people smoked crystal in 1980. If anyone had access to do so, though, surely Bowie would be one of them. And I still hear him sing it this way - there are a few performances on YouTube where I simply cannot hear him saying pistol. I realize pistol is the greater metaphor, but "one flash of light, but no smoking crystal" resonates strongly with much of the song and certainly with any crystal smoker. Possible? Possibly intentionally ambiguous? Any thoughts? Thanks for reading. Hope to hear some responses! |
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| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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OK, third comment: Another mishearing of mine. The lyric that goes: Time and again I tell myself I'll stay clean tonight But the little green wheels are following me Oh no, not again. I have misheard many ways the third line: But the little gray winds are following But the little green wheels are calling me But the little gray winds are calling me In my personal opinion, it doesn't make that much difference, my interpretation would be the same for any of the choices - the inevitable allure of an addict's temptation pulling them slowing back into their addiction. (And I worded that carefully so it doesn't "have" to be about drugs!) For me, "the little gray winds are calling me" would resonate more than "green wheels following". Any thoughts on why they are green wheels and why they are following? |
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| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Second comment: Another horrible mishearing of mine. For the longest time, during the part that goes: The shrieking of nothing is killing Just pictures of Jap girls in synthesis I thought he was saying: Well she came and nothing was killing me Just pictures of Jap girls in synthesis. Well? I mean, that does kinda sound like Bowie, suddenly throwing in a line about a previously unmentioned woman arriving... But obviously I was very wrong. The line "the shrieking of the nothing is killing" is probably my favorite line in the song, and I (over)analyze it in one of my earlier replies. Now, here's MY QUESTION: I have heard this song countless times, I have carefully examined, researched, and considered every line in it and could write up an opinion piece about any of them. However, I STILL DON'T KNOW what "just pictures of Jap girls in synthesis" means. I have read in this thread two guesses: the narrator (the one hearing the shrieking of nothing, potentially in a drug addicted state) looking at pornography a reference to some element of the video, not real but grafted in synthetically These are both fine interpretations, but neither resonates that well with me. I would expect the line to follow "the shrieking of nothing is killing" to either be equally as powerful and pervasive a description of the human condition, or an equally powerful but contrasting visceral description of some real world "thing" that provides poignant imagery supporting the many shades of meaning in this song. The pornography interp vaguely qualifies as the second of these, but that interpretation just doesn't seem be make this line burst with meaning as much the other lines of this song. To be fair, Bowie does that a lot - throw in a contrasting, only semi-related image, randomly here and there is his songs, but I just don't think he meant to in this song. Anyone ever hear him explain this line? Read a good review which analyzed it? Come up with an inspiring interpretation of your own? If so, please let me know! Cheers. |
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| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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OK, my first comment: For a long time, this song was full of mishearings by me. I have a hard time making out lyrics in general without being able to read through at least once and I heard this song for years before I finally read the lyrics and began to love it so much. One such mishearing, which I added in a response earlier, was the opening lines, which I heard as: Do you remember 'MacArthur's Park'? It's such an ugly song. Which I thought was pretty funny (and bitchy!) as Donna Summer's hit version of 'MacArthur Park' had come out just a year or so before 'Ashes to Ashes'. How wrong I was! I throw this comment in just to give you a laugh. |
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| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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OK, a coupla things. I hope someone takes the time to read these few comments and respond. Before I get started, I just want to let you know a couple of things, so that you know where I'm coming from: This is possibly my favorite Bowie song and possibly my favorite all-time song. I say possibly because it's just too hard to give a solid definitive ranking to songs this great, to songs of this echelon. I enjoyed listening to this song casually for a long time before diving into the lyrics and researching its history, so I really have two sets of ideas about this song. One is not just naive, it's simply wrong, but it's kinda funny. The other is much more well thought out and researched. I believe very strongly this song has many meanings, many references, many levels, many legitimate interpretations. (Otherwise, the review describing it as having "more message per second that any song released that year" would seem a bit of hyperbole.) I also believe there is no question that one of those is the "discovery that space man Tom was just a drug abuser after all" interpretation and it is perfectly valid. In fact, I would say that this (bizarrely disputed) interpretation is the song's denotation - it's what the lyrics say! Other interpretations come from the beautiful combination of the lyrics connotations. That's all. |
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| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| A beautiful and well written interpretation. | |
| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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So true! But then, that's true for so many of the altered or abnormal mental states and conditions mentioned in this thread! Heaven knows it's the feeling of a recovering addict crashing after a relapse! |
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| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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It doesn't have to be heroin! Many psychoactives produce states well described by this song. (I would even agree with the people who say that the song doesn't have to be about drugs. No, it doesn't *have* to be; there are lots of levels and interpretations to this song, as Bowie intended.) (On the other hand, to say the song is *not* about drugs and ignore that interpretation basically says to me that the person hasn't yet read the lyrics... LOL!) Cheers! |
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| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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That line ("I'm happy, hope you're happy too") I have always interpreted as sarcastic or at least ironic. Perhaps horribly self unaware... The line reminds me of a line from another song (I don't remember what song, though - anyone?) that goes: "I'm happy because I'm smiling.") And yeah, Bowie is the megabomb, the metabomb. |
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| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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The three big ones: death, aloneness, inadequacy... I like your interpretation of the "never done good things" part of the song very much. As you describe the moments when we feel like we haven't accomplished anything at all and are filled with self doubt and regret, it sounds very much to me like "the shrieking of nothing is killing" And of course you are right - it isn't necessarily due to drugs. This song be far less interesting if it had only one meaning. Without question it has, and was intended to have, a drug-related interpretation. (See: the lyrics) But there is so much more there in the mix. |
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| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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About the first line: When I first heard this song, and for a long time after, I thought the lyrics started out: Do you remember 'MacArthur's Park'? It's such an ugly song. Which I thought was pretty funny (and bitchy!) as Donna Summer's hit version of 'MacArthur Park' had come out just a year or so before 'Ashes to Ashes'. How wrong I was! LOL. I like your version very much though, especially if you add a space: in such an 'other' song would mean (to me) such a different song from such a different place and time. And you're right, it does sound like he's singing that. About the shrieking: Another horrible mishearing of mine. For the longest time I thought he was saying: Well she came and nothing was killing me Just pictures of Jap girls in synthesis. Now that I've paid some attention and know what the song is about, though, I think "The shrieking of nothing is killing" may be my favorite line. I have no idea how familiar you are with the effects of drug abuse, but in the depths of an addiction there is definitely a feeling of "nothingness," meaning, more or less, an emptiness gnawing away at you from the inside and an inability to see anything or import or interest in your surroundings. Although it seems like everything inside and out is "nothing", this feeling is definitely something - it drives many addicts into various states of insanity. That's the shrieking. The voices you hear in the song are the voices heard by addicts in this state. (And I don't necessarily mean that in the stereotypical "little voices in your head" way, although it can be that. We all, to some degree, have thoughts, or messages, or voices, that seem to come into our minds out of nowhere.) This nothingness, and its insistent shrieking, without a doubt feel "like dying" to the addict. Often, in fact, the addiction and the shrieking of its nothing do lead to the actual death of the addict. You are right. It is creepy. Bowie isn't always creepy though. I still don't know what "just pictures of Jap girls in synthesis" means. That's actually what I am here to find out. This is probably my favorite Bowie song, too. Cheers! |
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| David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I believe it was the most expensive video ever made at the time... |
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| Jane Siberry – The Bird In The Gravel Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I have a lot to say about this song. It's probably my favorite song of all time. For the moment, though, I just want to mention that the song takes place at a wealthy gentleman's manor, as his "servant" brings his tea and pours it for him, the raucous staff in his kitchen prepares his meals, and his maid takes a walk through a forest while she's on break. And during this walk, she's thinking about her loved one, who is soon leaving. Not gone yet but the fact that their relationship is going to be over has put her in this "in-between" place of having a beloved, and of having lost a beloved. "I don't mind when it's over I don't mind when it's all done it's just the moments in between just before it's gone" She is clearly in love ("I am crying because I love you.") so much so that she "can't be there when" her lover leaves - it would be too much, but still she worries "what if you're afraid?" Then, in one of the most beautiful moments of music and lyrical poetry, the maid remembers something that her love said: "you said something about the leaving the moments in between the yawning when the world shifts the clanging of the trains" So beautiful. The in-between moments are the chasm between two different worlds - a "yawning when the world shifts." Then immediately from this insightful and abstract expression of a complex human emotional state, she lands squarely on the ground with the solid, real-world imagery of hearing "the clanging of the trains" - which also raises the question "is the lover leaving by train? is that where she can't be when her lover leaves?" And then the maid follows with four more lines of very solid visceral imagery from the present world surrounding her: "and a dog sits up and growls and a cow begins to bawl and a nun nearby stops to listen cross herself and then move on" All of this taking in the moment of reality after exposing the raw, sensitive nature of what's preoccupying her mind (the in-between moments) suddenly shifts her focus and the juxtaposition is funny to her and she begins to laugh. "I was laughing in the forest" She's laughing hard and loses her balance, which doesn't stop her process of soaking in the world around her: "I fell down in the leaves and I watched the trees above me crossing in the breeze" She's slowly remembering a deep joyful love based on the sensual world: "I love the bare branches I love the healing bells the bareness in the last sun the greyness and the gold" And then, an event of no significance, perhaps oddly timed, but perfectly commonplace, just happens to occur *right then*! "and a flock of geese flew over" And she is so taken by the sudden incongruity of the sight she succumbs to the ultimate euphoria of being alive and being one with the world she observes: "and I laughed harder still I laughed 'til I was heaving" So overcome she is, she laughs until she simply cannot laugh anymore! And then: "everything was still" The world around her, and her turbulent world of emotions, have found a calm moment of rest, a welcome respite. The music that accompanies the second part of the maid song repeats for every one of the eight verses, but each slowly builds in volume, complexity, instrumentation, and dynamics. Even the final lines of the servant are woven in and out of it to help support the effect of the maid's song building in importance. The first verse begins in almost complete silence; her first, high-pitched, warbly note barely breaking the silence, but beginning the most awe-inspiring musical ascent. By the eighth verse, a cacophonous orchestra from every inch of earth's symphony hall is blaring the music required to match the intensity of the maid's moment. The music builds quickly, but subtly, and by the climactic line "I laughed till I was heaving," it's hard to remember that the music started in silence only seven verses ago! However, the descent of this climactic musical moment is rapid and noticeable - by the end of the next line, "then everything was still," the music rushes away from under her voice, like a completely opaque fog obscuring a scene in a theater being blown off the stage as quickly as possible to reveal the action happening there. And though, if you follow the words, get into their meaning, and let your spirits ride the crest of this musical masterpiece to its climax, you will find the sudden drop doesn't leave you feeling empty, but, with racing heart, leaves you feeling full, but still. |
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| Jane Siberry – Ingrid And The Footman Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I don't have any startlingly revelatory interpretation for this song. In fact, I believe its meaning is -for Jane - surprisingly simple, obvious, and prosaic. In my opinion it's the low point of her greatest album, The Walking - perhaps *the* greatest album...! The song is about the fairly commonplace notion of two people in a relationship (well, "getting together," anyway) and not really knowing one another ("she didn't get him" / "he ... didn't get her"). Jane really doesn't take it very far from there. There is, however, one part of this song I love. When the man is trying to petition for the favor of the woman, he does so energetically. Jane emphasizes this by repeating his request three times with slight variations, indicating that he is at least pursuing his proposal without immediate abandonment. The slight variations indicate he's approaching the pursuit from every angle - at least every angle he can think of. What is funny about these variations is how minutely they actually vary his proposal - he doesn't seem be gifted with creativity! ("Let me be your Main Man / Let me be your Cowboy / Let me be your Boogaloo") Those are a hilarious, if frightening, set of pick up lines! The woman in Jane's song clearly picks up on this unimaginative series of cliches, and thinks to herself: He wants to be my Cowboy? Hmmm "... What does this make me" The obvious answer, if she wanted to follow his lead with a sentimental stereotype would be to say: You wanna be my Cowboy? OK, I'll be your Cowgirl." Jane's woman is having no part of that. After a moment of thought, she comes up with just as common a cliche, but one totally inappropriate in this circumstance: "I see... then I'll be the Indian / then I'll be the Indian / then I'll be the Indian" Here she is mocking his repeated overtures by repeating her answer an equal number of times. She is pointing out the lack of interesting diversity in his requests by including no variation at all in hers. But most of all, she is responding to a romantic request, "Let me be your cowboy" not with "then I will be your cowgirl" but with "then I'll be the Indian". As if she had said, "You wanna play with me? I pick the game. How about 'Cowboys and Indians'?" I doubt the man in the song understood or even heard this... |
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| Tori Amos – Jackie's Strength Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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burningstar, What on earth gives you that idea? There's a big difference between getting lost (or simply running away - choosing to be lost) and suicide! Her mother laid her down on their front lawn when she was a kid, the day they heard of the Kennedy assassination. That was a huge deal in this country when it happened, and it is no surprise that her mother carried her out to the front and fell down to her knees praying to god that Jackie stay strong. I think her bridesmaid's getting laid is more a commentary along the lines of "virgins always get backstage." Even at her own wedding, she wasn't going to be the most popular girl. (And isn't there a belief that bridesmaids are always laid at weddings?) Anyways... |
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| Tori Amos – Jackie's Strength Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This has been my favorite Tori song for a long time, given its great depth of personal expression interwoven with the political tragedy of a country and the woman who led the country through its grief with her emotional strength. I love JBBonBon's analysis of "the real thing", but I have a slightly different interpretation of one line in particular. I don't think Tori is saying "He made her laugh and reveal herself in ways she wouldn't have because he was disarming." I think she is well past that point when she sings this song, and is saying, bitterly, "Go ahead: you wanna make me laugh? Tell me again how 'you know what you want.' It would make me laugh, you know, because you never knew what you wanted. Its funny, but still, knowing that now has left me so stunned and hurt. I actually listened to you when you said we 'were the real thing.' I believed you, and I poured myself open for you to learn who I am. And what did I get? Well, I learned too. I learned what black magic can do." Whether it is his black magic for carelessly misleading her -- or the black magic she develops when she becomes aware of his betrayal -- is left delightfully ambiguous. For the second half of the chorus, she basically repeats the same sentiment: "Yeah, that's right, you wanna make me laugh again? Tell me one more time how *you* are gonna turn *me* into the "real thing." I actually wanted to be that "real thing" you know (sick!), and so I may have opened up to you, but that mistake has cost me dearly, and now, how I have learned." Hope someone else finds something in that analysis that resonates, or even wants to debate it. I never find people eager to discuss the meaning of Tori's poetry. It's good to be here with y'all. |
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