This song is definately a reenactment of the basic tenets of existentensialism - - denial of God, the reliance of Choice by the individual, that isolation will be felt by those who choose to pursue independance fom society and that are basic quest as humans is to give life meaning so as to greater understand the bigger picture. Essentially, Bowie is singing with quiet resignation to the fact that life is a downward spiral (or a vat of quicksand) culminating in the ultimate realization upon one's death that it was all pointless. Probabley one of his bleakest works, I still do adore it because he is asking profound questions and setting it to such a cascading melody. When he signs "Don't believe in yourself" he almost makes doomful resignation sound gentle and lovely. Obviously Bowie was reading lots of Nietsche at the time.
This song is definately a reenactment of the basic tenets of existentensialism - - denial of God, the reliance of Choice by the individual, that isolation will be felt by those who choose to pursue independance fom society and that are basic quest as humans is to give life meaning so as to greater understand the bigger picture. Essentially, Bowie is singing with quiet resignation to the fact that life is a downward spiral (or a vat of quicksand) culminating in the ultimate realization upon one's death that it was all pointless. Probabley one of his bleakest works, I still do adore it because he is asking profound questions and setting it to such a cascading melody. When he signs "Don't believe in yourself" he almost makes doomful resignation sound gentle and lovely. Obviously Bowie was reading lots of Nietsche at the time.