One
artist who has created as much sci-fi music as almost anyone else is
David Bowie, and the song
I’m writing about today is not even
one of the obvious ones,
like SpaceOddity, or Starman.
This post is
about Lifeon Mars,
which is
from 1971 and is
an excellent eample of the sort of sci-fi being made at the time.
Many
people think the
lyrics are cryptic, but
they really aren’t. They are oblique, and
it is possible to read a lot into them, but the basic thread running
through the song is clear. It
tells the story of a young woman looking at
a movie, to escape her dull life and
finding it impossible to reach the world promised in the glamorous
images. The way Bowie puts it is:
> A
sensitive young girl is disappointed with reality... although she's
living in the doldrums of reality, she's being told that there's a
far greater life somewhere, and she's bitterly disappointed that she
doesn't have access to it.
In
an interview about writing the song, Bowie
called this young
woman anomic, a term that
comes from French philosophy. Anomie is a condition in which society
provides little moral guidance to individuals. It is the breakdown of
social bonds between an individual and the community under unruly
scenarios resulting in fragmentation of social identity and rejection
of self-regulatory values. This results in derangement and an
insatiable will. It
is the malady of
the infinite, because desire without limit can never be fulfilled; it
only becomes more intense. Anomie
arises from a mismatch between personal or group standards and wider
social standards.
This
is a very common thread running through the sci-fi of the time, such
as A Clockwork Orange, and even 2001: A Space Odyssey itself. In both
those work, the characters have trouble relating in a healthy way
with society around them. In A Clockwork Orange this results in
ultra-violence, while in 2001 the people become robotic and reserved.
At
the end of the song,
the young woman asks:
>
Is there life on Mars?
To me
it seems she is obviously giving up on the idea of Earth and its
petty concerns entirely, and wondering if she might not have better
luck in outer space. I’m sure we’ve all been there.
The
song is great, and the video that goes along with it only increases
its iconic status. It is directed by Mick
Rock and features
Bowie in a
costume that Rock
says made
Bowie look
like a space doll. It features Bowie in a minimalist white room - a
striking setting that emphasizes his dramatic outfit and alien
makeup. He looks like what an emaciated
alien could
imagine an average 1970s’ British man might look like. He is a calm
but intense presence, and seeing him adds a new layer to the song.
The
song has a warm place in my heart, and I just found out that the
piano part is by RickWakeman,
of prog band, Yes, which only endears it to
me all the more. Wakeman
also played
on Space Oddity, and songs by T. Rex, Elton John, and Cat Stevens,
before joining Yes. However, I
know him from appearances on a British
TV game show about music,
called Never Mind the Buzzcocks, where
he comes across as a gentle spirit.
I
went to the Buzzcocks page on TVTropes
to refresh my memory of the show and I saw that, one
time, he tried to
find a connection between Annie Lennox and Jarvis Cocker via a chain
of celebrities' names. From Annie
Lennox he went to
Lennox Lewis, then
Lewis Carroll, and somehow from there to
a carol service at a Jarvis hotel...in Cockermouth. Tropes
also says he was known for playing the
piano with Bill Bailey
on the show... in wizard outfits. That
fits very well with my memory, and it is amusing to think this
whimsical man is involved in a song as profound and clever as Life on
Mars.
The
lyrics, like I said,
are oblique, and it is possible to read a lot of different things
into them. To me, the character’s despair at the ridiculous battles
that seem important to people of Earth is particularly resonant in
our time of Trump and Brexit, so I guess its a song that is going to
stay just as relevant as it was in the early 1970s. It is a worthy
and important work of sci-fi, referencing space travel and dislocated
psychology, and the video is simply mesmerizing. Google it up right
now, and enjoy.
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