David Bowie – Conversation Piece

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I took this walk to ease my mind
To find out what's gnawing at me
Wouldn't think, to look at me,
that I've spent a lot of time in education
It all seems so long ago
I'm a thinker, not a talker
I've no-one to talk to, anyway

I can't see the road
for the rain in my eyes

I live above the grocers store,
owned by an Austrian
He often calls me down to eat
And he jokes about his broken English,
tries to be a friend to me
But for all my years of reading conversation,
I stand without a word to say

I can't see the bridge
for the rain in my eyes
Ahhh-huh, h...uh, huh

And the world is full of life
Full of folk who don't know me
And they walk in twos or threes or more
While the light that shines above the grocer's store
investigates my face so rudely
And my essays lying scattered on the floor
Fulfill their needs just by being there
And my hands shake, my head hurts,
my voice sticks inside my throat
I'm invisible and dumb,
no-one will recall me

And I can't see the water
through the tears in my ey-y-yes

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Lyrics submitted by merchantpierce

Track duration: 03:08

"Conversation Piece" as written by David Bowie David Robert Jones

Lyrics © CARLIN AMERICA INC

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Conversation Piece song meanings
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8 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:i agree with ziggy. this song is about someone who is shy. he is "a thinker, not a talker", so social interactions are difficult for him (as mentioned with his neighbor). i think the line "while the light that shines above the grocer's store investigates my face so rudely" could be about a number of things. it could be about him being kept awake by his thoughts at night, but blaming it on the light keeping him awake (although thats a bit of a stretch). it could also be about feeling self-conscious. to whoever thought feeling invisible and being self-conscious is a contradiction....you've clearly never experienced shyness. when you have social anxiety, it's easy to feel both invisible (do to your inability to make friends) and judged (which is the reason for the anxiety in the first place). by the way i don't think it's raining outside...i think the rain is always referring to his tears. and yeah, he jumps off the bridge at the end. really, really, sad song.
    Flag deerMAUSon July 17, 2011   Link
  • +1
    My Opinion:The version of this on the Heathen Bonus CD is so painfully beautiful! Even just reading the lyrics on here sends shivers through me. Its so emotive.
    Flag doctorhoaxon November 11, 2010   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:I believe that taking his own life may be looked upon

    on one hand as cowardly, to give up on life

    & on the other as brave and heroic, to accept he is a nothing and useless, & to accept that this is the end and there is no more hope & to stop constantly fooling himself into pretending that there is hope, & also to carry out the act of committing suicide requires some guts. It may have been in his eyes the only brave act he will ever get to do.

    I conclude that if he truly believes he is worthless & knows it for a fact, then perhaps there is little to be said for continuing on, as he would be merely existing. His only thrills in life may be from eating, getting drunk, pondering on the past, ect. all of which are unhealthy for the mind. This would only serve to make him more introverted.
    Flag Floyddeadon September 09, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The song, I think, is pretty self-explanatory, and I really like Shiggy's explanation. I think just about everyone at some point in their lives has felt like this, maybe not to the suicidal aspect of it. I actually never saw that way of looking at it until I read the comments on here, but it does make a whole lot of sense. It saddens me to think these thoughts, for the sake of art or in the form of actual feelings, were in Bowie's mind at anytime. "I'm invisible and dumb, no-one will recall me" - if he only knew! Which is why his updated version of the song is a bit more haunting.
    Flag iamanalligatoron July 10, 2008   Link
    • 2 Replies
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is a first person narrative. He's taking a walk on a rainy night, to find out what about his life is bugging him. He's wasted so much of his life on education, which he feels he never needed. He's a thinker, not a talker, but he doesn't have anybody to talk to anyways. In London, above shops, there are often small apartments one can live in. He lives above a grocer's store. The owner invites him to dinner, and tries to joke with him, and make him feel better. He comes back to reality, and stops before a bridge. HE thinks about how many people are in the world, and how little he matters the the world. They don't know him, so they won't miss him. Everybody has a friend but him. He reflects again on his "wasted" education, that his essays are where they need to be; on the floor. His hands are shaking ,and his head is throbbing as he walks toward the bridge. He's telling himself that nobody will miss him, that he's doing the world a favor. He jumps from the bridge, and his eyes are full of tears as he drowns himself, ending his own life. It truly is a very sad song, and it has a huge effect on me, and I'm sure, a lot of others. I recommend it very highly. It was one of David's first 3 songs, the other two being Silly Boy Blue and You've Got a Habit Of Leaving. While the original version of this song is good, the 2001 rerecording is a work of art.
    Flag Shiggyon March 19, 2008   Link
    • 2 Replies
  • 0
    General Comment:Wow, never heard this song, but im gonna try to find it, so sad.
    Flag Deaftoallon August 20, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is the first song im commenting too! I love this song, one of my favorites
    Flag k_kintanoon August 26, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:This is the first song I'm commenting.

    This song is about someone who lacks of social contact, and he finds it hard to communicate with people cause he's just "invisible and dumb". On a rainy day he decides to end his tragic life by jumping from a bridge into the water.

    Oh, its such a sad song. Beautiful!
    Flag Ziggy88on June 13, 2005   Link
    • 1 Reply

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