Welcome to my Bowie blog. Hope you like it and visit more often!

My most popular remix, by far, at a 3 to 1 pace over anything else, is Warszawa ( do what you say? Don’t worry, I can’t explain it either. ) When I stuck it over there, I did so only to illustrate the very creative period of the Bowie/Eno collaboration and why those two needed to get together again. The best way to understand Warszawa ( Polish for Warsaw ), is to listen to it. Not my version, but the original recording. What most people don’t really remember is, there are lyrics. In fact, here they are.  Play the song and sing along!

Mmmm-mm-mm-ommm
Sula vie dilejo
Mmmm-mm-mm-ommm
Sula vie milejo
Mmm-omm

Cheli venco deho
Cheli venco deho
Malio
Mmmm-mm-mm-ommm

Helibo seyoman
Cheli venco raero
Malio, Malio

Did ya get all that? Now, my goal of late is to try to interpret, as best I can, the meaning and intent of some of my favorite Bowie songs. I took the easy way out on the last one and pointed out it had no meaning necessarily to it at all. So, guess what I’m gonna do with Warszawa? You got it. It means nothing. Bowie and Eno made the words up. They’re not even real words. My guess is it was their interpretation of an encantation. You know, like meditation, when you repeat pleasant tones. It sounded good, so it was right.

And guess what, I’m going to do some other interpretless interpretations pretty soon. Bowie did that a lot in the old days.

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Technorati Tags: brian-eno, david bowie, Interpretations, low, warzawa

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Now, when looking at interesting lyrics, a couple songs stick out and BEG for some type of translation. None of which could possibly be more confusing than The Bewlay Brothers. The Bewlay Brothers was recorded for Hunky Dory, one of his premier lyrical albums. Without further ado, here are the lyrics :

And so the story goes they wore the clothes They said the things to make it seem improbable
The whale of a lie like they hope it was
And the good men of tomorrow had their feet in the wallow and their heads of brawn were nicer shorn and how they bought their positions with saccharin and trust
And the world was asleep to our latent fuss
Sighing, the swirl through the streets like the crust of the sun The Bewlay Brothers
In our Wings that Bark
Flashing teeth of Brass
Standing tall in the dark
Oh, And we were Gone
Hanging out with your Dwarf Men
We were so turned on
By your lack of conclusions I was Stone and he was Wax So he could scream, and still relax, unbelievable
And we frightened the small children away
And our talk was old and dust would flow thru our veins and Lo! it was midnight back o’ the kitchen door
Like the grim face on the Cathedral floor
And the solid book we wrote Cannot be found today

And it was Stalking time for the Moonboys
The Bewlay Brothers
With our backs on the arch
In the Devil-may-be-here
But He can’t sing about that
Oh, And we were Gone
Real Cool Traders
We were so Turned On
You’d thought we were Fakers

Now the dress is hung, the ticket pawned The Factor Max that proved the fact is melted down
And woven on the edging of my pillow
Now my Brother lays upon the rocks he could be dead, he could be not, he could be You
He’s Chameleon, Comedian, Corinthian and Caricature
“Shooting-up Pie-in-the-Sky”
The Bewlay Brothers
In the feeble and the Bad
The Bewlay Brothers
In the Blessed and Cold
In the Crutch-hungry Dark
Was where we flayed our Mark
Oh, and we were Gone
Kings of Oblivion
We were so Turned On
In the Mind-Warp Pavilion

Lay me place and bake me pie I’m starving for me Gravy
Leave my shoes, and door unlocked I might just slip away

Just for the Day, Hey!
Please come Away, Hey!

OK, don’t think I can translate that? Well, guess what.

I can’t. That’s the point of the song.

Bowie’s half-brother, Terry Burns, was apparently schizophrenic, trying to commit suicide several times, and eventually doing so in 1985. In my opinion, this song, along with “All The Madmen” and “The Width of a Circle”, was Bowie struggling to understand what was going on with Terry. I’ve worked with schizophrenics in the past. Their logic leaves you almost stunned at times. The pace at which ideas flow out is overwhelming if you try to understand what they’re conveying during an event. In The Bewlay Brothers, Bowie rushes nonsensical phases out until he’s breathless. He’s emulating schizophrenia. Whether or not these are actual quotes or not I have no clue obviously. But, this is definitely a song about schizophrenia. I really see it as someone who cared about someone else struggling to make sense of what they were witnessing. With All the Madmen and The Width of a Circle, I think Bowie tries to explain what he’s seeing to some degree, but really can’t. As Bowie slipped into his own self-imposed mental chaos, he lost track of Terry. He apparently made a brief attempt to re-connect with his brother after the 1982 suicide attempt. However, from my own experiences, trying to connect with a full-blown schizophrenic is both impossible and terribly disappointing. Bowie never saw Terry after 1982 ( from all I’ve read ). I don’t fault him for that. Terry would not have known who he was.

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Technorati Tags: bewlay-brothers, david bowie, Interpretations, width-of-a-circle

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During the Eno trilogy, art seems to have affected Bowie moreso than any other era of his career. The most obvious references to the art world appeared during the making of “Heroes”. For example:

	A self portrait by Walter Gramatte. A German artist.
	By Erich Heckel. Also a painter from Germany. Led to this from an album Bowie produced for Iggy Pop, his partner in Berlin.:
		This is Otto Mueller’s Lovers Between Garden Walls. Rumor has it that Bowie observed Tony Visconti and Antonia Mass kissing discretely. At the time, Bowie was within viewing distance of the Berlin Wall. My thought is he put the three together to create the song “Heroes”.

Bowie always totally immersed himself in the culture he was writing about. When he lived in the US, he absorbed and became a soul man. He ditched Los Angeles for Berlin. As such, he immersed himself in German artand his albums took a decidedly European tone. The sound of this era was also very German, reflecting heavily the influence of bands such as Kraftwerk. It’s my second favorite genre of Bowie I believe only to the hippie London era. Low and “Heroes” are probably the two most under-rated albums Bowie made, ESPECIALLY Low. During this era, Bowie also did a lot of painting as well. It’s impossible to miss the German art influence he carried with him since:

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In an article in The Guardian, John Harris is primarily trashing someone for remaking “Heroes” again. I didn’t care much for that part of the article. However, his description of what makes ‘Heroes‘ a great song is an ultra-special interpretation. I’m going to steal that part totally intact:

The reason is down to what might be rather pretentiously termed authorial specificity. No one apart from Bowie has ever been resident in Berlin with Iggy Pop, drugged to the gills and convinced they might alchemise their own self-importance, the thrilling melodrama of the cold war and humankind’s empathy with dolphins into a six-minute song. Thinking about it, few producers have ever matched Tony Visconti’s inspired idea of setting up three microphones in front of his charge, and taping the loudest verses through the one that was 50ft away, so they sounded like the work of someone bravely yelling into the historical void.

He also lists people who have remade “Heroes”:

• Blondie - Originally a live bootleg. Now a bonus track on “Eat to the Beat”. It’s good, not great.
• Oasis - Something ain’t right about it.
• King Crimson - Never heard this one.
• Nico - Never heard this one. Not sure I want to.
• PJ Proby - No clue.
• Magnetic Fields - Own this. It’s very good. If you don’t listen to any other version, you HAVE to hear this one!

Inexplicably, he leaves out probably the best remake. The Wallflowers version sticks very close to the original. I like it a LOT. Look for it on the Godzilla soundtrack.

I’m going to leave my interpretation pretty much the same as John’s. The story I heard was Bowie was creating a painting, and the story he “painted” he put to words. Doesn’t sound too far-fetched. Here are those lyrics:

I
I will be king
And you
You will be queen
Though nothing will
Drive them away
We can beat them
Just for one day
We can be Heroes
Just for one day

And you
You can be mean
And I
I’ll drink all the time
‘Cause we’re lovers
And that is a fact
Yes we’re lovers
And that is that

Though nothing
Will keep us together
We could steal time
Just for one day
We can be Heroes
For ever and ever
What d’you say

I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins
Like dolphins can swim
Though nothing
Will keep us together
We can beat them
For ever and ever
Oh we can be Heroes
Just for one day

I
I will be king
And you
You will be queen
Though nothing
Will drive them away
We can be Heroes
Just for one day
We can be us
Just for one day

I
I can remember
Standing
By the wall
And the guns
Shot above our heads
And we kissed
As though nothing could fall
And the shame
Was on the other side
Oh we can beat them
For ever and ever
Then we can be Heroes
Just for one day

We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
Just for one day
We can be Heroes
We’re nothing
And nothing will help us
Maybe we’re lying
Then you better not stay
But we could be safer
Just for one day

Nothing complicated. No subversive double entendre. No seldom-used words no one understands. Simple, straight to the point, and something people can relate to. To me, it’s a song about emotional survival. It doesn’t really matter if you win or lose the game, if nothing else, in your own mind, you can be a Hero, if just for one day. The real Heroes are the people “that can be us”. In other words, are true to themselves. That’s it.

I saw Bowie perform what I think was one of his best performances of Heroes for Glass Spider. The tour was largely panned for being over-produced. But, for a song like Heroes, the multiple layers of music, produced loudly and very clearly, made for one hell of a concert experience. I wanted desperately to see Charlie Sexton, but by the time they made it to Lexington, Charlie had been replaced with Peter Frampton. To say the least, that wasn’t a loss at all. Frampton nailed it. I still would love to see Charlie do it. I don’t much think he ever will now tho.

My special treat for this one is the video of the first known performance of ‘Heroes’:

( Note the drum flubs! )

My version, of course, is over there on my list. It’s one of my oldest mixes. And, still one of my favorites.

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Technorati Tags: Charlie-Sexton, david bowie, guardian, heroes, Interpretations, john-harris, magnetic-fields, Peter-Frampton, wallflowers

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Before I get started, start the mood music:

I will be mentioning a common theme among Bowie songs as I delve into his lyrics more. From about 1971 until 1976 or so, Aleister Crowley is a recurring theme with Bowie’s music. Starting with 1971’s Quicksand to 1976’s Station to Station, Crowley is referred to probably more often than any other one person Bowie references. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not, but for me, this was his creative peak as well. It would probably do better to understand some of the lyrics if one had an idea of what Crowley was about.

	First and foremost, he was an occultist. Probably the first and most famous person to basically claim to be an “occultist”.
	Secondly, he was a showman. He was flamboyant and basically put on a show no matter what he was doing or who he was with. In a lot of ways, a rock star of the early 20th century.
	Thirdly, he was a prolific writer. He wrote MANY books on the occult and his own special version of it.
	Fourthly, he was a world traveler. He went to the Orient to further his knowledge of the occult.
	Above all, he was a con-man. He used his dabbling in the occult to scam people out of money and spent much of his life destitute.

But, people still discuss him to this day. A lot of the symbolism used today by occultists and occult wannabees were actually created BY Crowley. A lot of symbolism of today’s occultism is reputed to be from his works. ( This link even claims Jabba the Hut is a Crowley reference and has evidence to “prove” it. ) IMO, Ozzy Osborne’s best song is a tribute to Crowley.

My own interpretation of why Crowley appealed to Bowie ( and others ) for so long is that Crowley reminded Bowie of himself. He was yet another man who sold the world on a product he dreamt up himself. It also didn’t hurt that they both apparently had very deep curiosities about religion and the many aspects of it. Plus, it’s very obvious they both have incredible imaginations. For a short time Bowie did follow some of Crowley’s directions. However, he wrote about Crowley before and after his “participation”. I don’t know if that was just show or Bowie did get in that deep. But, take away the bizarre occult, and all you had left was someone who never ceased to shock and amaze society with the things he did and said, and made a living doing that exclusively for a short while. Now, do you think I’m talking about Bowie or Crowley at this point?

The Laughing Gnostic does a FANTASTIC job explaining Crowleyism and Bowie’s fascination with it. I really felt no need to go into the details, just go to that site. It’s a fabulous read.

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Technorati Tags: aleister-crowley, david bowie, mr-crowley, occult, ozzy-osborne, quicksand, The World Of David Bowie

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One of Bowie’s more obscure oldies, and one of my Top 10 favorites, is a song called Silly Boy Blue. I previously blogged on how I originally came to hear the song and some other stuff. However, I’m into the lyrics now and I didn’t touch them then. So, here goes:

Mountains of Lhasa are feeling the rain
People are walking the Potala lanes
Preacher takes the school
One boy breaks a ruleSilly Boy Blue, blue
Silly Boy Blue

Yak butter statues that melt in the sun
Cannot dissolve all the work you’ve not done
A chela likes to feel
That his overself pays the bill

Silly Boy Blue, Blue
Silly Boy BlueYou wish and wish, and wish again
You’ve tried so hard to fly
You’ll never leave your body now
You’ve got to wait to die

La la la la la , la la , la la la la
La la la la la , la la , la la la la
La la la , la la
La la la , la la
Silly Boy Blue, blue
Silly Boy Blue

Child of Tibet, you’re a gift from the sun
Reincarnation of one better man
The homeward road is long
You’ve left your prayers and song

Silly Boy Blue , blue
Silly Boy Blue
Silly Boy Blue
Silly Boy Blue

Once again, a song that requires a LOT of reading to figure out. Bowie toys with Hindu Buddhism in this one. First, he sets the imagery

The Lhasa Mountains surrounding Potala are some of the most rugged in the world. They look harsh and intimidating. In the midst of that harsh environment, you find the “Child of Tibet, a gift from the sun”. One of the most serene images on Earth are the young Buddhist monks in monasteries of those harsh mountains of Tibet. The “Child of Tibet, a gift from the sun” is the Dali Lhama, who fled Tibet in the early 1950’s to never return. I think Bowie feels that by leaving his environment, the Dali Lhama left his “prayer and song”, in other words, the true inspiration for his convictions.

It’s a quick and simple song, and I love the music to it. Now that I’ve made it complicated, click here and sing along with it. It has one of my favorite Bowie melodies. It just sounds simple and somewhat forlorn. Like a boy who’s lost his home should. Excellent song and possibly the most under-appreciated Bowie song there is.

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Technorati Tags: david bowie, Interpretations, silly-boy-blue

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Got an email from a fellow in London, England, who discussed some aspects of this blog. One of the things he mentioned is how much he enjoys Quicksand. Now, that struck a nerve with me because Quicksand is one of my Top 10 Bowie songs ever. Now, some of Bowie’s stuff was fluff, some was rockin’, some plain silly, some annoying, you get the picture. Quicksand is none of the above. It is COMPLEX. This is not a song to sit around and get stoned to, you’ll freak out. The music itself is OK, recorded originally in 1971 for Hunky Dory, Bowie’s last folk album. I did a much edgier version, my vision of what it could be if done today. It doesn’t feature that many instruments, but it’s constant flowing counter-melody is something that is never heard today, and I miss it. The lyrics are the heart of this one.  Click on the song and sing along:

I’m closer to the Golden Dawn
Immersed in Crowley’s uniform
Of imagery
I’m living in a silent film
Portraying Himmler’s sacred realm
Of dream reality
I’m frightened by the total goal
Drawing to the ragged hole
And I ain’t got the power anymore
No I ain’t got the power anymoreI’m the twisted name on Garbo’s eyes
Living proof of Churchill’s lies
I’m destiny
I’m torn between the light and dark
Where others see their target
Divine symmetry
Should I kiss the Viper’s fang
Or herald loud the death of Man?
I’m sinking in the quicksand of my thought
And I ain’t got the power anymore

Don’t believe in yourself
Don’t deceive with belief
Knowledge comes with death’s release

I’m not a prophet or a stone age man
Just a mortal with potential of a superman
I’m living on
I’m tethered to the logic of Homo Sapien
Can’t take my eyes from the great salvation
Of bullshit faith
If I don’t explain what you ought to know
You can tell me all about it on the next Bardo
I’m sinking in the quicksand of my thought
And I ain’t got the power anymore

Don’t believe in yourself
Don’t deceive with belief
Knowledge comes with death’s release

Don’t believe in yourself
Don’t deceive with belief
Knowledge comes with death’s release

Now, quite a load huh? I doubt the average person understands much more than 1/3 of what Bowie’s even talking about, much less what it means. It was songs like this that got me hooked on Bowie in the first place. After uttering wtf a few times, I had to read stuff to figure out what he was talking about. That opened up entirely new worlds to a kid living in rural Kentucky. We didn’t have MTV, HBO, 100 cable channels, or even ( gasp ) the internet. Glimpses of alternative lifestyles came to us through artists such as Bowie. So, needless to say, I had to do a lot of reading.

I’m going to borrow a LOT from “David Bowie and the Occult“. That page is a fabulous read. Once initiated, the opening line of the song is the theme to the rest of it.

“The Golden Dawn was a magical secret society which flourished at the end of the 19th century and taught a unique blend of Jewish mysticism (called Cabbala, also to be found in Bowie’s symbolism), astral travel, magic, yoga (also practised by Bowie) and how to communicate with angels and demons. For this latter communion it was first necessary to empty the mind, to make room for the unknown to enter“…..

So, Bowie has become closer to the Golden Dawn. He has emptied his mind and immersed himself in Crowley:

“Crowley’s key maxim was “Do what Thou Wilt” (as can be found on Bowie’s ‘After All’, 1970), which (among many other interpretations) is equated with the Greek word “Thelema” which stands for “Will”. In the Crowleyan world, ‘Thelema’ refers to sexmagick (which Crowley spelt ‘Magick’ to distinguish it from the purely ceremonial variety): to reach illumination while having sexual intercourse through techniques focusing the sexual energies upon a wish, a sort of an inner photography which represents the desire to be fulfilled.”

The total goal was to become the unknown. To be something completely different for a period of time. For Crowley, it was to become a sort of god. Bowie doesn’t say what his goal is. He hints at with “death’s release”. I assume he is seeking knowledge from the afterlife. To talk to angels.

He then jumps into all kinds of commercial and political symbolism. Sex is a huge part of Crowleyism. I take the “twisted name in Garbo’s eyes” to mean he wishes to have the desire of Greta Garbo, his example of the ultimate in sensuality. With using “Churchill’s lies”, he wants to be the ultimate salesman, a person everyone trusts, even if they shouldn’t.

“Portraying Himmler’s sacred realm of dream reality”. This line is profound. Never in the history of man were so many people misled into a frenzied state of murder and cruelty to man than during the Nazi reign of Germany. Second in power to Hitler, it was Himmler that designed the SS and gave it direction. He was also the man who put together the media support that turned latent racism issues in Germany into a call for murder against an entire race. It may have been Hitler’s wish, but Himmler was the Man Who Sold The World. He had the ability to turn otherwise good people into murderers based on the illusion of supremacy. Bowie is aspiring to have Himmler’s ability to control mankind.

These weren’t ordinary people. They were almost god-like in their ability to influence people. Bowie wanted to empty his mind and become these people for a short while. In the end, he realizes he’s mortal and can’t do what Crowley was claiming. Crowley’s promises were all “bullshit faith”. Realizing that, he feels he’s wiser. And, he’ll know that “on the next Bardo”. Bardo is the Tibetan Buddhist state between death and life. In other words, in his next life, he’ll know Crowley was a fake and not fool with it.

Then there’s some fluff to add to the lyrics and prop up the impression he’s making.

Bet ya didn’t think all that was crammed into that one little song now did ya?

If anyone has a different interpretation, I’d love to hear it.

To me this song very strongly defined Bowie personally. Bowie had already morphed from a clean-cut pop singer to a long-haired cross-dressing hippie. Hunky Dory was the point Bowie would start morphing wildly from one defined personna to another, totally discarding the previous image as if it never existed. Many times killing the character off with a “retirement”. In other words, experiencing new lives after the deaths of the previous character. In simpler terms, telling us about it on his next Bardo. He recently “retired” again and promptly showed up with David Gilmour. I don’t think he’s stopped shooting for his dream reality. And, in his case, that’s a good thing.

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Technorati Tags: david bowie, Interpretations, quicksand

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