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Do you remember a guy that's been
In such an early song
I've heard a rumor from ground control
Oh no, don't say it's true
They got a message from the action man
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too
I've loved all I've needed love
Sordid details following"
The shrieking of nothing is killing
Just pictures of Jap girls in synthesis and I
Ain't got no money and I ain't got no hair
But I'm hoping to kick but the planet it's glowing
Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know major tom's a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low
Time and again I tell myself
I'll stay clean tonight
But the little green wheels are following me
Oh no, not again
I'm stuck with a valuable friend
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too"
One flash of light but no smoking pistol
I never done good things
I never done bad things
I never did anything out of the blue, woh-o-oh
Want an axe to break the ice
Want to come down right now
Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know major tom's a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low
My mother said to get things done
You'd better not mess with major tom
My mother said to get things done
You'd better not mess with major tom
My mother said to get things done
You'd better not mess with major tom
My mother said to get things done
You'd better not mess with major tom
In such an early song
I've heard a rumor from ground control
Oh no, don't say it's true
They got a message from the action man
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too
I've loved all I've needed love
Sordid details following"
The shrieking of nothing is killing
Just pictures of Jap girls in synthesis and I
Ain't got no money and I ain't got no hair
But I'm hoping to kick but the planet it's glowing
Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know major tom's a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low
Time and again I tell myself
I'll stay clean tonight
But the little green wheels are following me
Oh no, not again
I'm stuck with a valuable friend
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too"
One flash of light but no smoking pistol
I never done good things
I never done bad things
I never did anything out of the blue, woh-o-oh
Want an axe to break the ice
Want to come down right now
Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know major tom's a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low
My mother said to get things done
You'd better not mess with major tom
My mother said to get things done
You'd better not mess with major tom
My mother said to get things done
You'd better not mess with major tom
My mother said to get things done
You'd better not mess with major tom
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There are some strange lyrics within the lyrics that reveal some of David's biography.
For starters, this song is named Ashes to Ashes. Where does that come from?
The Bible. The line in the Bible is about death obviously. The Bible verse, "For then the dust will return to the earth,...". But who is returning?
Is it David or Major Tom? Major Tom is David's stand in for his many bisexual flings he had in the 1970's. David and Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and Mick Ronson were many of David's bisexual adventures. Analyze the name...and it becomes interesting. What is Major Tom? A "Tom" is a male cat that goes out looking for bodies. A Major Tom = Major Cat. This is David's way of saying he was looking for bisexual men for him to get high with and have men on men sex.
Then the key ending lyrics brings it all home:
"My mother said to get things done
You'd better not mess with major tom"
David's mother wants him to stick to women, but the drugs have caused David's homosexuality to awaken. It forces him to seek out men and dress up as women. David use to dye his hair red, wear lipstick and wear a dress to pick up men. This song was a way for him to admit to it and put it behind him.
Notice also how in the 1980's David became more masculine. He wore suits again and became more manly.
I've never heard anything so ridiculous, considering in the eighties Bowie looked as camp as he ever did in the 70s (serious moonlight Bowie, manly, Screaming Lord Byron, manly? Bowie at the Brits in black stilettoes? are you sure???)
Ashes To Ashes is a line from the bible, of course, it is used at funerals, and the song is a funeral. The funeral procession is there, the semi-religious figures, the pyre.
Whose funeral? Well obviously Major Tom's but that is not the real-point. The real point is that it is the funeral of the 70s. Every single line in the song references the 70s (and the late 60s in the case of Space Oddity references).
I think your prurience is interesting, and indeed Bowie has written many overtly homosexual songs throughout his career (from the 60s right up to the 00s). Indeed, his greatest songs have been about homosexuality (Moonage Daydream, Width Of A Circle, Bewlay Brothers) but this is not an overtly homosexual song.
As I have said earlier, the meaning of the song, to anybody who has listened to his music of the 70s, is obvious. It is about the 70s, it is about his experienes in the 70s and his music of the 70s. And it is a song of the 80s. So it is a funeral.
Simple as that. I don't think Bowie has written a more direct and autobiographic lyric - he has said so much himself. It's one of the few Bowie lyrics that is not cryptic and does not need too much analysing.
He also talks about his drug addiction and leaving this behind:
"We know major tom's a junkie"
"Time and again I tell myself
I'll stay clean tonight"
This song is really about moving on, about closure. But he wonders if he will really be able to leave Major Tom behind...
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too"
cause that's all we really want, to be happy and to see the person that makes us happy happy, and to be able to tell them that. that's sure as hell all I want right now, for this person to be here and for me to tell them this...
The video:
The Joey outfit and the ballerina girl, harking back to his time in a Commedia DelArte mime troupe (Pierrot, Columbine).
Bowie says the digger truck was a symbol of advancing violence (love machine rumbles through desolation row)
Location was Beachy Head, an infamous suicide spot, a reference to Major Tom's suicide in Space Oddity
Padded Cell, a reference to his brother's time in a Hospital for the Mentally Ill
He wears Green Ziggy Stardust boots, again a reference to his past career.
Lyrics
"Do you remember a guy that's been in such an early song". Obviously a simple reference to Space Oddity.
"Pictures of Jap Girls in synthesis". Kabuki reference, the girls in Kabuki theatre are played by boys. Transformed with make up.
"Ain't got no money, ain't got no hair". Reference to the mid 70s. Skint after the Mainman fiasco even after selling lots of records. No hair - reference to Man Who Fell To Earth.
"Hoping to kick". Obviously a drug reference, he is trying to get off drugs that dominated his life in the 70s
"Funk to Funky". Young Americans/Station To Station era music reference; although he purposefully sings it "fun to funky"
"Hitting an all time Low". Reference to Low Album
"I'm stuck with a valuable friend". This is Major Tom. Makes him a lot of money (royalties); and hope by sticking with him for this song that he will remain valuable.
"Never did anything out of the blue". Bowie admitting his music is rather calculated rather than spontaneous.
"Want to come down right now". Another obvious drug reference
"My mamma said". Obviously, a reference to the Nursery Rhyme "My Mamma said" (same tune). Bowie (via his mother) considers that Major Tom is a bad influence, despite him being a valuable friend. Bowie is ending the 70s and to get things done, needs to leave the characters and music of the 70s behind.
I think it is quite obviously a looking back and wrapping up of the 70s - his characters, music, drugs etc
"My mother said to get things done,
You better not mess with Major Tom."
Would be a mother...Well, his, saying not to do drugs.
By the way, I'm sorry to anyone about posting five or so huge comments, but this song is quite confusing when I try to organize my thoughts, I had to write it all down somewhere. Anyway I think I've exhausted all possibilities. There you have it.
Bowie becoming Major Tom, reaching space (stardom), only to discover that once he has made it "out of the stratosphere", as Montresor so aptly puts, there is nothing but the cosmic emptiness of space. No happiness, just sordid details. Emptiness. The "shrieking of our own voices".
And now Major Tom wants to come back down to Earth, to turn away from the endless void that is laid out in front of him and back to the world that he left behind.
But no one wants him, he is a junkie, one that had to become strung out on heavens high to get that far out into space. And Major Tom won't let him back down. He is trapped.
His mother had always warned him.