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Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God's love be with you
(spoken)
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff
This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare
"This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do
Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows"
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you....
"Here am I floating round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do."
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God's love be with you
(spoken)
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff
This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare
"This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do
Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows"
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you....
"Here am I floating round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do."
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as mentioned in ashes to ashes "we know major tom's a junkie strung out on heavens high hitting an all time low"
He even re-visits the theme and admits it in "Ashes To Ashes".
The song is about Bowie escaping from this anger by becoming isolated, whether through drugs or another means. I think he feels strange, but enjoys the sensation of isolation from the people of Earth.
Most of the song is straightforward, but I’d like to share my interpretation of the ending with Major Tom’s final words:
This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I’m feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much – “she knows!”
Here we see that Major Tom knows he is going to die, but he doesn’t want to worry Ground Control, so he says that he is feeling “very still,” a euphemism for “something’s wrong.” He is probably feeling a much less pleasant sensation than stillness, but he wants them to believe he is experiencing some sort of peace.
In saying his spaceship knows which way to go, he is in effect telling them that he is on course, and not to worry if they do not hear from him again.
When he says to tell his wife he loves her, the reply of “she knows!” is filled with angst, leading me to believe that his wife has been called in to Ground Control because of the dire situation, and she is watching him on a monitor along with everyone else. I liken it to one of the ending scenes from the movie Armageddon. Everyone’s upset, but she can’t compose herself enough to reply, so one of the technicians shouts it for her. If she was not present, they would have just said, “we’ll let her know,” or something to that effect.
Of course the part 2 to this is Peter Schilling's Major Tom which is the continuation of the story. A reiteration of his new understanding of the meaning of life through God;
"No one understands, but Major Tom sees
Now the light commands
this is my home,
I'm coming home."
The "light" is God, "home" is heaven
This song is about alienation and distancing yourself away from people by getting so lost in your mind that you're high up above everyone else. It's about becoming cynical and seeing the world as a sad place but being unable to communicate with anyone about it. "Planet earth is blue and there's nothing I can do" - he realizes there's nothing he can do about all of the problems he sees in the world.
"Can you hear me Major Tom? Can you hear me Major Tom? - He's lost communication with those on the ground (i.e. in reality). "The papers want to know who's shirts you wear" - something small and insignificant normal people would worry about seems so small and unimportant to this man metaphorically up in space looking down on the world. "The stars look very different today" - the more you spend time in your mind thinking about things, the more your perception of everything will change.
Start to understand this principle of intuition, this is what a majority of the greatest songs are about. It's not about literal interpretation. This is what poetry is, the soul.
RE: Ashes to Ashes, it is very bitter - there is casting off of the metaphor with the 'we all know Major Tom's a junkie' line, its almost as if Bowie is mocking his own mystique - it may feel dangerous and cool but in the end there's just a sad junkie at the end of it. Or it may be simply about loss of innocence/disillusionment. It sounds to me like it was written at a low moment, but there's a ray of hope in the 'I'm happy, hope your happy too' which may indicate he has learnt to deal with the fame Oddity seemed to hold in contempt, just about anyway there's still 'sordid details following'.
This is my rambling take anyway.