Well, on Facebook he is anyways. I asked him to be my friend for a few reasons. Partly because he’s an icon of my generation. Frampton Comes Alive! was one of the seminal party albums when I was, well, too young to be partying.
Secondly, he represented an era that seems to have died off, the guitar player. He was all about his guitar. He made the thing sing, cry, and soar. Occasionally he wrapped some pretty good songs around his guitar as well.
Thirdly,
Glass Spider was the only time I ever saw Bowie perform. Peter Frampton played lead. It was perfect. Flawless. Amazing to hear. Although I had considered Frampton a party staple, I grew to respect his talent during that concert.
Lastly, I have to support fellow Kentuckians. Peter is auctioning his guitar in Tucson tonight. If I have any friends in Tucson, do me a favor and dig a little deeper for Peter’s cause.
OK, so I got to see The Spy Next Door this weekend with my now seven year old boy. It was a fun movie in a cute childish way. Definitely made for kids. This is standard Jackie Chan kid stuff here. It was fun, definitely a thumbs up, but still kid stuff. Except for one odd thing: the plot centers around a bootleg of David Bowie and Iggy Pop performing together. Now, that’s cool and all, but I don’t get why it’s in this movie. Now, the person this performance means something to is a ten year old boy. He was born in 1999. Bowie hasn’t really done a lot since 1999. He’s done a lot of cool things, but musically, not so much. Now, granted, retro and alternative radio plays a lot of Bowie, but not a whole lot of ten year old boys sit around listening to those stations. So, bottom line, they may have heard Bowie, but I sure don’t see how a ten year old boy would be a fan. They hear a lot about Elvis too. I’ll put it this way, think back to when you were ten. How many of your idols then were over the age of 20?
Secondly, and probably less profound, the only Bowie/Pop bootlegs I’m aware of were the 1977 The Idiot tour. And, that’s all over the internet. It’s just striking me as weird with all the Bowie themed small kid movies coming out.
And lastly, and certainly least profound, Jackie Chan is 55. According to him he saw the Bowie/Pop performance that we have to assume was 1977 or so. According to the movie, Bob Ho was living in China. Bowie and Pop never performed in China.
Just a note to the future movie makers, we all know Bowie’s the coolest thing to ever hit pop music. That’s a given, and that’s documented by his work. However, to make a movie the least bit believable, keep Bowie in perspective. If it’s a movie about 30 to 50 somethings, Bowie’s fine. If it’s a movie about little kids, Bowie’s not. It’s a distraction that doesn’t need to be there. Scour the latest teen magazines and you’ll find plenty of fillers for the movie. And, quite frankly, I think most 40 somethings don’t really appreciate the fact some people think their music is on the same level as something a ten year old would listen to. Music’s just not what it was thirty years ago.
Ever since I’ve been blogging here, I’ve lamented the fact that The Stooges were not in the Rock’n'Roll Hall of Fame. The Rolling Stones were the original bad boys of rock. But, they did it in a typical PR kinda way. It seemed contrived. Then, along came Iggy and the Stooges. They were bad. Real bad. There wasn’t much to like about them. Their music was very basic. It was recorded in a way that made it sound like someone literally sat a mic in front of the entire band. Iggy was prone to cut himself on stage, not terribly appealing. He was prone to make musical statements that didn’t really make a lot of sense. Basically, everything about Iggy was chaos. The staple that seemed to keep him from going completely over the edge were The Stooges. There are several legacies left in the aftermath of The Stooges. The most obvious being:
Although bands like Pearl Jam attributed Neil Young with being the godfather of grunge, they’re way off. Iggy made being stupid cool. While other bands were becoming more and more studio oriented, The Stooges stripped it all back down again, paving the way for The Ramones and punk.
While other bands were pretending to be bad:
That’s not fake blood. While others pretended to push sexuality to new levels:
Iggy did it on stage.
Social barriers?
That may be Iggy in white.
Contortionist?
Lounge lizard?
Bondage?
Glam?
Now, ya gotta keep in mind that Iggy did all this before the Beatles broke up. Michael Jackson wasn’t even a teenager yet. While major acts were polishing their images, Iggy did everything possible to destroy his. It became very uncomfortable to watch. Everything punk aspired to be, Iggy took it over the top while laying the groundwork. Iggy went solo at some point. He had some minor hits along the way. He teamed with Kate Pierson to have his biggest hit in 1990. The Stooges basically went nowhere and didn’t do much. In 2003 Iggy re-joined them toured with them since.
Iggy was pretty emotional about finally getting in. They had been passed over seven times while performers who had obviously less of an impact on rock got it. For Iggy, it was vindication. For guitarist and bassist Ron Asheton, it was meaningless. He died earlier this year.
There are so many bands that performed for nothing more than to sell a few records, maybe score some babes, or even better, make lots of money. Then there were true musicians and performers who felt music was something different, something special. The Hall of Fame is for special performers. They need to think long and hard about how they select their members. Ron Asheton never had the limelight, never made a bunch of money, and could have scored chicks without all the aggravations and notoriety of performing with Iggy. But, he seemed to know something special was happening. He’ll never know that the rock world knew it was special too.
About a week or so ago, I had a discussion with my teenage step-daughter. She’s hip. She keeps one eye covered with hair at all times so the world can’t see her face. She’s not emo tho. Be sure to understand that. During some strange dinner time conversation, she questioned the fact that I seemed to have a David Bowie comment about anything pop we discuss. She really seemed to think I was stretching things a bit. I explained to her that the reason I focused on the world according to David Bowie is because he sort of is in the middle of everything musical for the last thirty years or so. I was fairly confident in my claim.
We then hopped in the car and drove to Atlanta, Georgia, to watch U2. Now, the only U2 connection was the fact that Bowie worked with a fella named Brian Eno. Brian Eno would later hook up with U2 to produce an album called The Unforgettable Fire. That was a pretty good mix. Bowie and Eno were a good mix as well, delivering one of Bowie’s most recognizable songs to this day. Eno has again teamed up with U2 to produce the album U2 is supporting for this tour. So, imagine how I felt when U2 was preparing to hit the stage and they played one song over the PA before the band came on:
David Bowie of course. And, in deference to Eno in some way or another, not a song Eno had anything to do with. They could have done Heroes…….
Needless to say, I had to get a dig in on the young and inexperienced step-daughter.
Tomorrow I’m taking the boy to see a movie that features this song:
During their shows, they often do Heroes, a Bowie/Eno collaboration.
They invented punk. The Rolling Stones and others ran around snarling and acting bad. However, going to their concert was as exciting as watching Abba. The Stooges took concerts to a whole new level where you often truly feared for your safety and sanity. Sometimes, you were truly ashamed to watch the personal destruction occurring on stage. In other words, you were actually affected. Punk would spawn all kinds of spin-offs that we listen to today. Almost every young band emulates Iggy at some point by crowd surfing. Watch the video to learn how to do it right. Iggy didn’t just lay there and wallow around. He stood on people. He walked on people. He threw peanut butter. Most people like myself know that Iggy and The Stooges aren’t in there because their sound was unpolished, the band members not pretty, and the crowds at the time were small. However, what they created was huge and Kiss and The Red Hot Chili Peppers will be the first to tell you The Stooges belong there before they do. I’m not going into any argument about any of the rest of the list. But, before any of them get in, The Stooges need to be there.
I picked Bowie to do a blog on not so much specifically because of the music, or the person. I picked Bowie because he seemed to encapsulate about every aspect of life you could dream up, and then some. Today’s Bowie post is about science. Peter Jaeger discovered a yellow, hairy, spider living in Malaysia. Apparently this spider looks something like this:
Just kidding. I’m sure you guessed that. I’m sure it looks more like this:
Yeah, yeah. Gotcha again didn’t I? OK, this really is the bad boy:
I got an email alert about a guy, David Lister, who went to a show by The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain. They did a joke segment they called “plagiarism”. It’s pretty clever. Here it is:
Only thing is, there is no joke. And, as with every other form of entertainment, parody is not plagiarism.
It all started with this fella, Claude Francois wrote a melody called Comme d’habitude. It was a pretty piece. He got a fella named Jacques Revaux to put some lyrics to it. The original version’s lyrics were about a strained relationship. They go something like this ( pardon the bad Google translation ):
I get up
And I’ll upsets
You do not wake up, As usual
I back you on the sheet
I fear that you have cold, As usual
My hand caresses your hair
Almost despite myself, As usual
But you turn your back on me, As usual
Then I get dressed quickly
I leave the room, As usual
All alone I drink my coffee
I’m late, As usual
Quietly I leave the house
Everything is gray outside,As usual
I’m cold
I raise my neck, As usual
As usual
All day
I’ll pretend play
As usual
I’ll smile
As usual
I’ll even laugh
As usual
Finally I will live
As usual
And then the day will go
I will return, As usual
You will exit
And not back yet, As usual
All alone I will go to bed
In this cold bed, As usual
My tears I hide, As usual
As usual
Even the night
I’ll pretend play
As usual
You come home
As usual
I’ll wait
As usual
You smile at me
As usual
As usual
You undress
As usual
You lie
As usual
They embraced
As usual
Sorta strikes me as a song about someone who’s struggling day to day with finding anything meaningful. I know the feeling.
Bowie chanced upon the song and decided to put some English lyrics to it. His idea basically went nowhere. Then, someone else came up with the same idea. Paul Anka had also heard the song. He was hanging out with Frank Sinatra, and the story is Frank was pondering retiring, but wanted Anka to write a song for him. So, Anka, armed with Claude Francois’ melody, put “Frank” words to the song:
And now the end is near
So I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I’ve traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way
Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exception
I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
Oh, and more, much more than this
I did it my way
Yes, there were times, I’m sure you know
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall
And did it my way
I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fails, my share of losing
And now as tears subside
I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way
Oh, no, no not me
I did it my way
For what is a man, what has he got
If not himself, then he has not
To say the words he truly feels
And not the words he would reveal
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way
Now, I get it. Frank Sinatra was not a person who ever presented the aura of being blase. He never struck people as struggling for something to be excited about. He was as arrogant and egotistical a personality as you’d find. He was the mob. He was the godfather. He did it his way, you did it his way. The lyrics were perfect for Frank Sinatra. It didn’t hurt that Frank Sinatra could belt it out loud:
Needless to say, Bowie’s version got stomped all over on. It disappeared. However, the whole incident did not. Seeing his idea become someone else’s monster hit didn’t fade for a while. So, when he signed with RCA with his first major recording deal, one of the very first songs he did, armed with Mick Ronson on strings and Rick Wakeman on piano, was a little piece called “Life on Mars”. Now, if you listen closely, it very strongly resembles My Way:
And, of course, there’s the lyrics:
It’s a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling “No”
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she’s hooked to the silver screen
But the film is a saddening bore
‘Cause she’s lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It’s the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know
He’s in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
It’s on America’s tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
‘Cause Lennon’s on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
But the film is a saddening bore
‘Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It’s about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It’s the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know
He’s in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
About people who are bored. Blase. Struggling to find something meaningful in life. A lot truer to the original song than My Way.
One final irony. Sinatra’s retirement wasn’t a kept secret. He had talked about it a long time. In 1971, he actually had a retirement performance. The last act to perform before Sinatra took the stage was Barbra Streisand. Sinatra came out of retirement to release “My Way”. At pretty much the same time, Barbra re-did Life on Mars?. Coincidence?
I was strumming through my newfeeds and stumbled on someone’s tribute to Marianne Faithful as a Forgotten Beauty. They briefly mention she collaborated with David Bowie. Not much of a mention, but what a collaboration it was. Now, the story of Marianne up to this point was rather depressing. She got off to a fairly messed up start and had her first kid by 18. By nineteen, she had a big hit and was making the rounds looking like this:
Pretty damn cute in a naughty kinda way. By 20 she was hanging out with the Rolling Stones. By 21 she was a heroin addict. Her second shot at a hit, Sister Morphine, was banned from the radio. The Stones would re-release it with no problems. To this day, it’s hard to find her version, dirt simple to find the Stones’ version. My impression of her problems was that she sold one look, and behaved as differently from that innocent look as she possibly could. The contrast unnerved people. She ran with the Stones. If the Stones did it, they were bad boys and it was kind of cool. If she did it, it was dirty. Her career basically just went nowhere after the Stones bus ran over her and she pretty much disappeared. Then, in 1974, she re-appeared on Bowie’s 1980 Floor Show. Now, the premise of her performance was simple enough:
I dressed Marianne in a nun’s habit with the back cut out and I dressed as the Angel of Death!”
The performance was one of the smoothest, easiest to watch performances of the entire show. She was the perfect foil for Bowie:
However, what the audience in the US never saw was the best part of the entire performance. Here’s about the only thing I could find. You’ll have to look real close so as not to miss it:
Check out Ronson when she does that. Whereas he was obviously getting tired and rather put out with the entire over-production of the show ( going ten hours at this point ). He seemed to perk right up when she did that. Bowie even had a little comment about it later on:
“She was wearing a nun’s habit with no backside and black stockings. I’ve got that clip at home, and it is fantastic. But they wouldn’t show it in America. It was felt to be beyond the pale. Madonna, eat your heart out!” – Bowie (1993)
That’s 20 years later. It must have been pretty damned impressive!
That performance seemed to mark a revival for Faithful. Although she never regained the lofty levels of As Tears Go By, she seems fairly consistent and definitely less suicidal and self destructive.
And yeah, she is definitely one the forgotten beauties of the 60′s. She’s also one of the forgotten casualties of the hippie drug revolution. And, definitely a forgotten icon of getting off drugs and being in control of your life. Today she is still recording and perfoming. However, instead of the bitter and resentful scowl that seemed to be pervasive in her earlier years, she smiles some. That forgotten beauty is a lot more beautiful in the 21st century when she does.
I’d like to hear the full version tho. They actually accentuate my favorite part musically of the song. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone else do it that way.
A little while back I mentioned that Bowie had decided to give Scarlett Johansson a little help with her new album. Well, it’s out now. Here’s Falling Down from it:
Quite frankly, I’m extremely impressed. This is not at all what I expected!
this weekend with my now seven year old boy. It was a fun movie in a cute childish way. Definitely made for kids. This is standard Jackie Chan kid stuff here. It was fun, definitely a thumbs up, but still kid stuff. Except for one odd thing: the plot centers around a bootleg of David Bowie and Iggy Pop performing together. Now, that’s cool and all, but I don’t get why it’s in this movie. Now, the person this performance means something to is 
tour. And, that’s all over the internet. It’s just striking me as weird with 
and was making the rounds looking like this:
. My impression of her problems was that she sold one look, and behaved as differently from that innocent look as she possibly could. The contrast unnerved people. She ran with the Stones. If the Stones did it, they were bad boys and it was kind of cool. If she did it, it was dirty. Her career basically just went nowhere after the Stones bus ran over her and she pretty much disappeared. Then, in 1974, she re-appeared on Bowie’s 1980 Floor Show. Now, the premise of her performance was simple enough: