True, it's an overused term. As with Queen, or Led Zeppelin, reactors often need a lot of encounters with genius to recognize it because somehow genius finds some thread of unity, even though their songs can each sound profoundly unique from all of their others. And without hearing a lot of them, we can't recognize that their talent is somewhere in finding that middle ground that allows them to be that good, and that eclectic all without sounding trendy or repetitive at all.
Lex, your first comments about David Bowie being immersed in a world of his own imagination and taking us on a journey with him hit the nail on the head exactly. You summed it up with great perception..
@@andyscott5277 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? Idk man, sounds like the description of a bar fight. Also - to be clear - I don't mean that in a bad way. Van Gough painting an apple is still a masterpiece.
@@ThatsMyStuffYouBledOnTrevor just mean that it’s a bit more than that. If taken literally, the chorus is describing a movie that the "girl with the mousey hair" is watching that she’s bored with, as she’s seen it "ten times or more," and wonders "is there life on Mars?" Still the lyrics are rather oblique, and more impressionistic, particularly in the second verse. Could be interpreted as Earth being a madhouse, where nothing makes sense, and wondering if life would be better on Mars, if there is in fact life there? Ultimately, it’s a song about alienation, feeling alone in a crazy world that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. That’s my interpretation at least.
I grieved. My best mate and many people I knew grieved when he was gone. Strange effect that someone we don’t know should have on us. A sentiment to how many people he touched.
The lyrics are the best description of a young girl exiled from her parents and feeling very hurt by the environment in which she lives and wondering in a metaphorical way if she could live somewhere she would feel appreciated like Mars. Totally beautiful. One of the best ever written. Rick Wakeman who plays piano on this track and is best known for his work with the band YES has a great video discussing David's creativity with the chord sequence where he says a standard song would have a 1 4 5 chord structure and Bowie starts with that idea but then Bowie does something entirely different, instead of going back tothe 1 point he goes to the 9 chord augmented and thrusts the song like the girl feeling this long journey to a different place in an instant of intense desire and longing. Frickin' amazing. And Lex pretty much nailed David's intention.
I always thought it was about a girl with mousy hair on mars and they all watch the freakiest show where earthlings star in it (without realising) and do their bizzare things.
Wow. I miss this man. Once y’all get a better understanding of David Bowie check out his last song ever “Lazarus.” He recorded the song & video while he had cancer.
To me it's about the limits of escapism. The girl with the mousy hair at the beginning of the song is unhappy, so she goes to the movies a lot and watches junk that is ultimately repetitive and unsatisfying. We'd do it with Netflix or video games now, but those weren't options in 1971. That "life on Mars" refrain sounds to me like "is that all there is?" But of course Bowie doesn't say that in a simple or straightforward way. Other interpretations are possible.
Nailed it! He is saying that he is bored with the slow to evolve human race. I then is hoping that there is a higher evolution of thinking somewhere else…Mars.
Pretty much. He's addressing "young adult" themes - along with Kooks for example. He's also using the hangover of the 1970s to draw a line under 1960s modernist optimism.
@@lumpyfishgravy --- I see what you mean about Kooks. I was exposed to a lot of contemporary rock and Glam, and classic rock, at a very early age being the youngest of four kids and the oldest being six years older than I am and young parents, my mom only 25 when I was born. My sisters, the elder two of the four, are huge Bowie fans as well as every other groups and artists from the Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Bad Co. , Rod Stewart, Eagles, Elton, Yes, ELP, Boston, Sabbath, Pink Floyd, you get the picture and I was going into my sister's room starting around six or seven years old which would be '71 '72 and I would put on headphones and play my sister's records, and my Monkees and Beach Boys, etc... but I would love when there were lyrics printed on the sleeves or the cover, Bowie was usually good for lyrics. I would play albums over and over and that progressed into my own record collection. The thing is, I still rarely tried to figure out what a song was about if it wasn't self explanatory. Mostly being too young at first, and not knowing the events of the world, and only just learning a lot of slang etc... I wasn't sheltered by any means but I just didn't think too hard about things until I got older. I remember listening to Ziggy Stardust album start to finish and just loving every song. I have a love hate for Rock and Roll Suicide because it is one of the best Bowie songs ever written but it is the last track and that meant the album was done. Every song on that album is so well written and produced and played Hang On To Yourself, Teenage Moondream, Soul Love, It ain't Easy, the drum beat that opens the album first track Five Years. Hunky Dory, Station To Station, Alladin Sane, Diamond Dogs, Low, PinUps, Heroes, etc, all are incredible
Lots of people didn't know quite how to take David Bowie at first. He was truly one of a kind. ⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡ I recommend trying more of his songs, because he was quite vérsatile, and none of his songs sound alike. 💜🎸
"...piano was played by keyboardist Rick Wakeman, noted session musician and member of the Strawbs, who previously played Mellotron on Bowie's 1969 self-titled album. In 1995 he recalled that he met with Bowie in late June 1971 at Haddon Hall, where he heard demos of "Changes" and "Life on Mars?" in "their raw brilliance ... the finest selection of songs I have ever heard in one sitting in my entire life ... I couldn't wait to get into the studio and record them." The piano Wakeman played was the same 1898 Bechstein used by the Beatles for "Hey Jude" and later by Queen for "Bohemian Rhapsody". The day after Bowie's death Wakeman played this instrumental version of Life on Mars as a tribute to his friend: th-cam.com/video/jogv7tD18gs/w-d-xo.html
@@dbrooks76 During the recording sessions for Hunky Dory Bowie offered Wakeman a place in the Spiders From Mars. The same day Chris Squire rang Rick and offered him a place in Yes. Wakeman chose Yes and the magnificent sum of £50 per week.
@@dbrooks76 --- I believe he was in Yes at the time this album came out because Fragile came out around the same time. Fragile was released in November '71 and Ziggy Stardust in June '72 that's only 7 months apart.
I love this song ,not only for its brilliance, but also the TV show of the same name...who could forget Gene Hunt and his quotes “He’s got fingers in more pies than a leper on a cookery course". The show was named after the song, as was the sequel "ashes to ashes "
I always hear the line about the 'law man beating up the wrong guy', like Rodney King and being 'in a best selling show'; so it was all over media; acquitted.. Maybe Bowie knew its an old story and was singing and thinking about a world that was a bit better than ours.
Watching you two grow musically is a treat... Time for some Hard Edge Bowie... ****STAY**** LIVE BBC CONCERT and **I'M AFRAID OF AMERICA** is good for you.
This song Wild Is The Wind shows you a very different side of David Bowie. It’s a wonderful cover of a song made famous by Nina Simone. Great video too 😎
Wild is the Wind is a beautiful song, but Bowie don’t need to be heard for a great cover. First his genius own material to discover, like Life on Mars is
@@addickkelders2265 well, Bowie expand Wild is the Wind to his own direction so yeah, it's cover but who cares. By the way Life on Mars is also an expansion of "My Way" by Sinatra.Or more correctly, expansion of the song "Comme d'habitude" by Jacques Revaux which later was covered by Sinatra. Very tricky expansion. Sinatra wanted the lyrics in English for this song. Bowie sent him his version but Sinatra refused it. Bowie was offended and as an answer created his own version of this song - "Life on Mars?"
"Look at those cave men go"...."take a look at the law-man beating on the wrong guy""....thank you Lex, as always, for your empathy, perception and appreciation with everyone here who enjoy David Jones words, music, and philosophy
I love your channel and I love you guys so much I recently had the opportunity to come back to Florida to visit family and friends and unfortunately I was not able to get down to the Tampa area, you guys are an inspiration, I wish we had the time to talk face to face but, I'm leaving for Tennessee tomorrow and I just wish you the best especially with with your new addition to the family you guys are just some of the coolest folks I've ever had the opportunity to engage with much love keep doing what you do
Im 51 and grew up listening to Bowie. Ive always seen it as 'a little girl' witnessing stuff which she doesnt like in this world and gets immersed in the 'movies' shes watching, 'sailors fighting in the dance hall....' as in the chorus. Just me own personal interpretation. One of his many classics. I love your reactions to the many tunes I grew up with
In the first verse he sings about a girl that sees the horrors of planet earth and is distracted by a movie to distract her from life and in the second verse he admits that he is the movie as an artist and is also distracting you from the horrors of America and Great Britain and police brutality as he sings- it’s a masterpiece
His glam rock opera inspired song, when i was younger one of my least favourites, but the older i get the more i love it. This man was extraordinary, miss him every time i listen to his great songs, thanks.
One of a kind and his like will not be seen again. I may not be able to grasp his music and art but I feel it in my bones anyway. Please give his song Moonage Daydream a try. RIP.
This was a unique melody that originally started with a hit French song. The song, with different lyrics, but the same chord progressions, then became the hits "My Way" for Frank Sinatra and "Life on Mars" for David Bowie. I interpret the song as a view from Britain coming out of bleak postwar rationing after World War II. Food continued to be rationed for years following the war. Lemons on sale again was a cause for celebration for many British families because it was a return to color and normality. Looking at the non-rationed world of the 1960s and 1970s, and comparing it to the conditions Bowie had grown up in the 1950s, was literally like looking at life on another planet.
I always thought the line was Lennon's on sale again. As in John Lennon. It was an established fact that Bowie and Lennon were friends, with Lennon playing guitar and providing background vocals on Fame.
@@matthewdrake4385 And to me it's always seemed like a double... the line before mentions workers striking, so to me he's evoking Vladimir Lenin's ideas being back in style, but ALSO that they're on sale again because John Lennon pushes some quasi-Communist ideals in songs like "Imagine" and "Working Class Hero". I mean, that's the overall idea of the song, right? That the stuff we're confronted with in reality, often horrible, gets recycled into the art that supposed to distract us from reality. This song is over the top with the lyrics. It might be one that's so open-winded, that it means whatever it brings up in each listener's mind. Whatever it is, it's brilliant.
There is a story that Bowie briefly worked for a publishing company, and wrote lyrics for the "My Way" version of this, which were rejected. His "revenge" was to take the lyrics and make them even weirder than the ones that had been rejected - and have a huge hit with it.
A true Genius. Seen this film ten times or more, it’s about to be writ again.. he is in the best selling show, is there life on mars? I think we all feel this way at some point or all of the time, we just do not admit it.
Bowie was a genius at writing a bunch of words that sound like gibberish and once you figure it out you feel the fool! He is one of the greatest, lyrically & musically!
imo the most underrated Bowie song it was a hit but, it’s so overlooked in Bowie’s back catalog of brilliance! the world lost a lot when we lost Mr. David Bowie 😢😩😢
Life on Mars was released in 1971. Imagine how people thought of it then! Not only did artists like Bowie revolutionize music, they were the first to create videos many of which were used in bars long before there was an MTV. He is an icon.
Back when I was a teen and Bowie came on the scene I didn't understand 70% of what I heard. I just knew I wanted to hear it again. RIP David Bowie, you are missed.
This song would not have been possible with TS Eliot's poem The Waste Land, which was published in 1922 - a series of seemingly unconnected episodes that somehow makes a coherent whole.
Saw Bowie twice on his "Serious Moonlight" tour back in May of 1983. Forest National In Brussels, Belgium was the start of that tour and it was a small marvel to behold. Life On Mars was among the songs he performed. This tour was the first after Bowie went into a sort of retreat after the murder of his good friend John Lennon in December 1980. I'm not a huge Bowie fan, but I'm sure glad I went to see him. A once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Bowie use to cut words up, put them in a hat or thrown on the floor and would write lyrics almost randomly, but they create an image in the listeners mind
This is MY FAVOURITE BOWIE SONG Eveeerr...!! is about a little girl who is planted on her first date.... shes finally sittin watching old movies....and philosophizing: Is there Life on Mars??
Good point, Brad. '70s Bowie was similar to Queen (Freddie Mercury). Both were glam rock during the '70s. One of the original glam, hairbands. As for life on Mars. I believe there are other forms of life in far away planets in other galaxies. Universe is much too big for us to be alone.
When the Beatles broke up in '1970, Bowie had Space Oddity out on the radio and he became my favorite artist. Saw him twice in concert back in the 70's. K7st a great performer.
David was sent a backing track and was asked to write a song, he did and it was not used, they sent the backing track to Paul Anka and he wrote "My Way" which was a huge hit for Frank Sinatra, David, slightly miffed, wrote Life on Mars instead
Iv loved and listened to Bowie for least 45 years .. saw him live twice, which was absolutely mind blowing ..David Bowie and his band were phenomenal !
Another classic reaction guy’s Recently travelling from another time zone, as per usual Lex realizing Ziggy parlaying his many talents epically, from stardust to mars Moonage Daydream should be your next Bowie reaction!! ☮️
Very good interpretation from Lex,in particular. There are many "David Bowie Personas".DAVID BOWIE-LIVE IN BERLIN-HEROES including the funny intro is for you and your family of viewers. He was born in Brixton, South East London 2 miles from me, and like us moved out, less than 10 miles away to Outer South East London where he went to Art College with Peter Frampton.
Great clip. Bowie was asked to write lyrics for My Way and did a terrible job, and was passed over to Paul Anka and crew who wrote the My Way we know today. This song was him proving he could write epic ballads. He did a good job by the way
This was one of Bowies newspaper clippings song. He’d cut out lines in a newspaper that caught his eye, then throw a pile of them into the air. As he picked some of them them up they formed the song lyrics with a little massaging to get it all to fit and scan.
He's not talking about random stuff at all. He's talking about a young girl who's been failed by a system that's trying to distract her from her own life that needs to be addressed. She watches films about things she's already dealing with to help her cope, but she's bitter because even when she watches something worse on TV she feels alone in her own sorrows. Maybe it really doesn't get better. She finally asks, crestfallen, and throwing her hands up, "Is there life on Mars?"
Bowie is impossible to describe. I have been a bowie fan since I was a little little kid but as the years go by, I find it impossible to explain Bowie. I guess you just 'had to be there'.please do "teenage wildlife"......best bowie song ever. Or station to station off the the Christine F. soundtrack....or heroes/helden. Or Im afraid of Americans. My very first rock concert: Bowie 1983 Oakland California. Great frkn show.
Lexx intuitive ability to get an artist and a song is simply amazing. Even when she falls of the mark - which doesnt happen often - she gives very interesting interpretations thst are often though provoking. David Bowie is an artist for her, absolutely.
Each generation should know of rhis guy cause he was a pioneer he paved the way for the likes of Boy George Steve Strange and so on and who literally were as much fans as the ordinary public.
Early Bowie here. Rearranged chords from the song My Way with Bowie's own unique lyrics and phrasing. Certainly is considered one of his classic songs.
Hi Brad and Lex. I love David Bowie. He was one of the most diverse and amazing artists of all time and I hope you listen to much more of his work. I've seen many of the greatest artists of this planet, live in concert, and I was gutted when he died, because I never had the chance to see him in person. I love how this song was used throughout the whole trailer of one of my favourite films called 'Licorice Pizza'. It is brilliant and has one of the best soundtracks ever. Not just David Bowie, but many brilliant tracks, including my favourite band, The Doors. It stars Alana Haim, from the band Haim, with her sisters/band members, all with their real names, and their real parents in the movie too. It also stars Cooper Hoffman, son of Philip Seymour Hoffman who tragically died in 2014. You must see this movie, if you haven't already. For now, here's the excellent trailer, linked below. Æx 🙏 th-cam.com/video/ofnXPwUPENo/w-d-xo.html
One of very, VERY few artists that actually deserves the label musical genius.
truth
True, it's an overused term. As with Queen, or Led Zeppelin, reactors often need a lot of encounters with genius to recognize it because somehow genius finds some thread of unity, even though their songs can each sound profoundly unique from all of their others. And without hearing a lot of them, we can't recognize that their talent is somewhere in finding that middle ground that allows them to be that good, and that eclectic all without sounding trendy or repetitive at all.
Kate Bush is on that artistic genius level
Imho Steven Wilson deserves it too and he’s not even known by the mainstream audience ☹️ like Bowie is and he SHOULD be.
I maintain that Bowie is more important than the Beatles in terms of influence for the greatest artists.
Lex, your first comments about David Bowie being immersed in a world of his own imagination and taking us on a journey with him hit the nail on the head exactly. You summed it up with great perception..
Ken Scott told a story that Bowie was so in character when he recorded the vocal for Five Years he had tears streaming down his face.
Right!? Unless I’m missin something, the chorus is just Bowie describing a bar fight. That’s all. But it SOUNDS DOPE hahaha.
@@ThatsMyStuffYouBledOnTrevor I think you’re missing a few things 😅
@@andyscott5277
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?
Idk man, sounds like the description of a bar fight. Also - to be clear - I don't mean that in a bad way. Van Gough painting an apple is still a masterpiece.
@@ThatsMyStuffYouBledOnTrevor just mean that it’s a bit more than that. If taken literally, the chorus is describing a movie that the "girl with the mousey hair" is watching that she’s bored with, as she’s seen it "ten times or more," and wonders "is there life on Mars?" Still the lyrics are rather oblique, and more impressionistic, particularly in the second verse. Could be interpreted as Earth being a madhouse, where nothing makes sense, and wondering if life would be better on Mars, if there is in fact life there? Ultimately, it’s a song about alienation, feeling alone in a crazy world that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. That’s my interpretation at least.
Once in a generation artist and performer. Still hard to believe he's no longer with us. "Moonage Daydream" would be my next vote.
Moonage Daydream is one of his greatest!
Phish does an absolute amazing cover check out " Bakers Dozen Moonage Daydream "
Yes! And the video of the live performance from the early 1970s is the best and with Mick Ronson's amazing guitar solo.
@@gambler213 thanks!
@@alamc200 agreed, a great performance!
Lex has great perception on many of the artists. She listens carefully and go's on their journey with them. She is smart and realy enjoys her music 🎶
Lex is certainly way ahead of Brad when it comes to understanding.
Yeah - her take on this was just perfect.
She does have great perception… and beautiful freckles.
*goes
Agree totally
Still can't get over the fact that Mick Ronson was only 25 when he arranged the orchestra and lyrically, it's so abstract and so perfect.
Don’t forget Rick Wakemans piano.
Losing David Bowie felt like losing a family member,he was a huge part of my musical influences. Great artist so inventive.
Only famous person, I ever cried for when he died...
I still can't believe a world without Bowie will have anything left to say.
@@antonytheolddog8626 Same here.
I grieved. My best mate and many people I knew grieved when he was gone. Strange effect that someone we don’t know should have on us. A sentiment to how many people he touched.
Lex is so smart---she has great instincts --love the joy on her face when she discovers new songs/artists she likes
good lyrics too , typical goodness, so easy to understand too
The lyrics are the best description of a young girl exiled from her parents and feeling very hurt by the environment in which she lives and wondering in a metaphorical way if she could live somewhere she would feel appreciated like Mars. Totally beautiful. One of the best ever written. Rick Wakeman who plays piano on this track and is best known for his work with the band YES has a great video discussing David's creativity with the chord sequence where he says a standard song would have a 1 4 5 chord structure and Bowie starts with that idea but then Bowie does something entirely different, instead of going back tothe 1 point he goes to the 9 chord augmented and thrusts the song like the girl feeling this long journey to a different place in an instant of intense desire and longing. Frickin' amazing. And Lex pretty much nailed David's intention.
I always thought it was about a girl with mousy hair on mars and they all watch the freakiest show where earthlings star in it (without realising) and do their bizzare things.
I always thought it was about a transgender woman with it stating that her father had told her to go and that she was walking through her sunken dream
Wow. I miss this man. Once y’all get a better understanding of David Bowie check out his last song ever “Lazarus.” He recorded the song & video while he had cancer.
I just checked it out, david bowies music has always been amazing imo
To me it's about the limits of escapism. The girl with the mousy hair at the beginning of the song is unhappy, so she goes to the movies a lot and watches junk that is ultimately repetitive and unsatisfying. We'd do it with Netflix or video games now, but those weren't options in 1971. That "life on Mars" refrain sounds to me like "is that all there is?" But of course Bowie doesn't say that in a simple or straightforward way. Other interpretations are possible.
Maruka1 --- very close to my interpretation that I wrote in my comment
Nailed it! He is saying that he is bored with the slow to evolve human race. I then is hoping that there is a higher evolution of thinking somewhere else…Mars.
Pretty much. He's addressing "young adult" themes - along with Kooks for example. He's also using the hangover of the 1970s to draw a line under 1960s modernist optimism.
@@lumpyfishgravy --- I see what you mean about Kooks.
I was exposed to a lot of contemporary rock and Glam, and classic rock, at a very early age being the youngest of four kids and the oldest being six years older than I am and young parents, my mom only 25 when I was born. My sisters, the elder two of the four, are huge Bowie fans as well as every other groups and artists from the Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Bad Co. , Rod Stewart, Eagles, Elton, Yes, ELP, Boston, Sabbath, Pink Floyd, you get the picture and I was going into my sister's room starting around six or seven years old which would be '71 '72 and I would put on headphones and play my sister's records, and my Monkees and Beach Boys, etc... but I would love when there were lyrics printed on the sleeves or the cover, Bowie was usually good for lyrics. I would play albums over and over and that progressed into my own record collection.
The thing is, I still rarely tried to figure out what a song was about if it wasn't self explanatory. Mostly being too young at first, and not knowing the events of the world, and only just learning a lot of slang etc... I wasn't sheltered by any means but I just didn't think too hard about things until I got older. I remember listening to Ziggy Stardust album start to finish and just loving every song. I have a love hate for Rock and Roll Suicide because it is one of the best Bowie songs ever written but it is the last track and that meant the album was done. Every song on that album is so well written and produced and played Hang On To Yourself, Teenage Moondream, Soul Love, It ain't Easy, the drum beat that opens the album first track Five Years.
Hunky Dory, Station To Station, Alladin Sane, Diamond Dogs, Low, PinUps, Heroes, etc, all are incredible
yes its the question that all school leavers ask themselves, 'is this all there is'?
Bowie was so incredibly talented and his 70's albums show him in all his talent and diversity! A musical chameleon.
Lots of people didn't know quite how to take David Bowie at first.
He was truly one of a kind.
⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡
I recommend trying more of his songs, because he was quite vérsatile, and none of his songs sound alike. 💜🎸
A freaking beautiful song from a masterpiece record.
"...piano was played by keyboardist Rick Wakeman, noted session musician and member of the Strawbs, who previously played Mellotron on Bowie's 1969 self-titled album. In 1995 he recalled that he met with Bowie in late June 1971 at Haddon Hall, where he heard demos of "Changes" and "Life on Mars?" in "their raw brilliance ... the finest selection of songs I have ever heard in one sitting in my entire life ... I couldn't wait to get into the studio and record them." The piano Wakeman played was the same 1898 Bechstein used by the Beatles for "Hey Jude" and later by Queen for "Bohemian Rhapsody".
The day after Bowie's death Wakeman played this instrumental version of Life on Mars as a tribute to his friend: th-cam.com/video/jogv7tD18gs/w-d-xo.html
Steve
Thank you so much for the link.
Was Rick in Yes by this time or been and gone from them? I lose track.
@@dbrooks76 During the recording sessions for Hunky Dory Bowie offered Wakeman a place in the Spiders From Mars. The same day Chris Squire rang Rick and offered him a place in Yes. Wakeman chose Yes and the magnificent sum of £50 per week.
@@dbrooks76 --- I believe he was in Yes at the time this album came out because Fragile came out around the same time. Fragile was released in November '71 and Ziggy Stardust in June '72 that's only 7 months apart.
That was brilliant and so heartfelt. Thank you for posting.
I love this song ,not only for its brilliance, but also the TV show of the same name...who could forget Gene Hunt and his quotes “He’s got fingers in more pies than a leper on a cookery course". The show was named after the song, as was the sequel "ashes to ashes "
I always hear the line about the 'law man beating up the wrong guy', like Rodney King and being 'in a best selling show'; so it was all over media; acquitted.. Maybe Bowie knew its an old story and was singing and thinking about a world that was a bit better than ours.
Been watchingh most of your thousands of videos.
Disapointed that you did not imediately responded to this song.
One of the best melodies ever
David Bowie so beautiful, an artist.
Watching you two grow musically is a treat... Time for some Hard Edge Bowie...
****STAY**** LIVE BBC CONCERT and **I'M AFRAID OF AMERICA** is good for you.
Thank You for reacting to my favourite song of all time I'm 23 and this song was my childhood and it brings back so many memories.
Beautiful song by a very beautiful man, miss him so much
Genius. Masterpiece.. Lex..You're really starting to get "Bowie".
Lex always have the most amazing interpretations 💜
Twice the insight of Brad. Sorry, but that's how it always comes across to me!
Brad & Lex, you'll love his "Changes" and "Suffragette City"!!!
yeah give them that stuff before springing Low on them
And Cygnet Committee, my personal favourite.
@@TheJazzper1970 great early one
changes is so freakin good
@@michaelfrazia4569 I doubt anything from "Low" would be reacted to on this channel. Maybe "Sound and Vision".
This song Wild Is The Wind shows you a very different side of David Bowie. It’s a wonderful cover of a song made famous by Nina Simone. Great video too 😎
Wild is the Wind is a beautiful song, but Bowie don’t need to be heard for a great cover. First his genius own material to discover, like Life on Mars is
@@addickkelders2265 well, Bowie expand Wild is the Wind to his own direction so yeah, it's cover but who cares.
By the way Life on Mars is also an expansion of "My Way" by Sinatra.Or more correctly, expansion of the song "Comme d'habitude" by Jacques Revaux which later was covered by Sinatra. Very tricky expansion.
Sinatra wanted the lyrics in English for this song. Bowie sent him his version but Sinatra refused it. Bowie was offended and as an answer created his own version of this song - "Life on Mars?"
@@glebivanov6323 You’re telling the world well known Bowie-stories. But thanx anyway👍
One of his best
David Bowie's favourite of his own vocal performances. Truly stunning.
My favorite Bowie song. This song is just epic, I can't describe why it's my favorite, it's just something subconscious I guess.
Mine too. Its beautiful. Time is another one.
Nail Polish under the Sun of Mars is my favourite David Bowie song 🤣
"Look at those cave men go"...."take a look at the law-man beating on the wrong guy""....thank you Lex, as always, for your empathy, perception and appreciation with everyone here who enjoy David Jones words, music, and philosophy
"to my mother, my dog and clowns..." That phrase 🤦♂ always hits in my heart, it's like a spell.
My favorite Bowie song. A true masterpiece. ❤️
RIP
Brilliant song from the eclectic genius of song.
An iconic video of an iconic song from a musical genius. I have listened to Bowie’s music for 50 years. RIP David.
My favourite all time song and artist.
I love your channel and I love you guys so much I recently had the opportunity to come back to Florida to visit family and friends and unfortunately I was not able to get down to the Tampa area, you guys are an inspiration, I wish we had the time to talk face to face but, I'm leaving for Tennessee tomorrow and I just wish you the best especially with with your new addition to the family you guys are just some of the coolest folks I've ever had the opportunity to engage with much love keep doing what you do
Im 51 and grew up listening to Bowie. Ive always seen it as 'a little girl' witnessing stuff which she doesnt like in this world and gets immersed in the 'movies' shes watching, 'sailors fighting in the dance hall....' as in the chorus. Just me own personal interpretation. One of his many classics. I love your reactions to the many tunes I grew up with
In the first verse he sings about a girl that sees the horrors of planet earth and is distracted by a movie to distract her from life and in the second verse he admits that he is the movie as an artist and is also distracting you from the horrors of America and Great Britain and police brutality as he sings- it’s a masterpiece
Agreed.
My favorite Bowie song!
Yes!!!
His glam rock opera inspired song, when i was younger one of my least favourites, but the older i get the more i love it. This man was extraordinary, miss him every time i listen to his great songs, thanks.
One of a kind and his like will not be seen again. I may not be able to grasp his music and art but I feel it in my bones anyway. Please give his song Moonage Daydream a try. RIP.
Lex is awesome, she always makes me smile or laugh. She gets it.
You are spot on about Bowie!
This was a unique melody that originally started with a hit French song. The song, with different lyrics, but the same chord progressions, then became the hits "My Way" for Frank Sinatra and "Life on Mars" for David Bowie.
I interpret the song as a view from Britain coming out of bleak postwar rationing after World War II. Food continued to be rationed for years following the war. Lemons on sale again was a cause for celebration for many British families because it was a return to color and normality. Looking at the non-rationed world of the 1960s and 1970s, and comparing it to the conditions Bowie had grown up in the 1950s, was literally like looking at life on another planet.
I always thought the line was Lennon's on sale again. As in John Lennon. It was an established fact that Bowie and Lennon were friends, with Lennon playing guitar and providing background vocals on Fame.
@@matthewdrake4385 And to me it's always seemed like a double... the line before mentions workers striking, so to me he's evoking Vladimir Lenin's ideas being back in style, but ALSO that they're on sale again because John Lennon pushes some quasi-Communist ideals in songs like "Imagine" and "Working Class Hero". I mean, that's the overall idea of the song, right? That the stuff we're confronted with in reality, often horrible, gets recycled into the art that supposed to distract us from reality. This song is over the top with the lyrics. It might be one that's so open-winded, that it means whatever it brings up in each listener's mind. Whatever it is, it's brilliant.
There is a story that Bowie briefly worked for a publishing company, and wrote lyrics for the "My Way" version of this, which were rejected. His "revenge" was to take the lyrics and make them even weirder than the ones that had been rejected - and have a huge hit with it.
His Ziggy Stardust period was his most creative in my opinion.
Brad, wtf... it's an absolute classic and banger of a tune...
A true Genius. Seen this film ten times or more, it’s about to be writ again.. he is in the best selling show, is there life on mars? I think we all feel this way at some point or all of the time, we just do not admit it.
Bowie was a genius at writing a bunch of words that sound like gibberish and once you figure it out you feel the fool! He is one of the greatest, lyrically & musically!
The Ziggy Stardust era of Bowie is my favorite. Good review
imo the most underrated Bowie song it was a hit but, it’s so overlooked in Bowie’s back catalog of brilliance! the world lost a lot when we lost Mr. David Bowie 😢😩😢
Ashes to Ashes needs to be next. Bowie was so creative
It’s such a great Bowie song. Saw Bowie and nine inch nails. Looking back now it was a privilege
Bowie & Prince dying within 3 months of 2016 was a tremendous loss 2 us all
I couldn't agree more. Two of the most iconic singer/song writers of our age. A sad year😢
This is one of my favorites. Huge Bowie fan here!
I think this is one of the greatest song ever
Life on Mars was released in 1971. Imagine how people thought of it then! Not only did artists like Bowie revolutionize music, they were the first to create videos many of which were used in bars long before there was an MTV. He is an icon.
If you guys do albums. I highly recommend Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars. A true masterpiece from the 1st track to the last!!!
Yes!! my favorite album by Bowie, has a lot of his best songs on it
Totally agree.
1 of my favourite songs from Bowie. Next 5 years by him.
"Cracked Actor" is a unique and very cool song by David Bowie when he was living in Hollywood, California during the early to middle 70s.
Back when I was a teen and Bowie came on the scene I didn't understand 70% of what I heard. I just knew I wanted to hear it again. RIP David Bowie, you are missed.
This song would not have been possible with TS Eliot's poem The Waste Land, which was published in 1922 - a series of seemingly unconnected episodes that somehow makes a coherent whole.
Saw Bowie twice on his "Serious Moonlight" tour back in May of 1983. Forest National In Brussels, Belgium was the start of that tour and it was a small marvel to behold. Life On Mars was among the songs he performed. This tour was the first after Bowie went into a sort of retreat after the murder of his good friend John Lennon in December 1980. I'm not a huge Bowie fan, but I'm sure glad I went to see him. A once-in-a-lifetime experience.
One of the best songs ever written the genius of Bowie will never be matched
Bowie use to cut words up, put them in a hat or thrown on the floor and would write lyrics almost randomly, but they create an image in the listeners mind
The cut up method he learned from William Burroughs.
I’m an alligator…Is a great example
cool
Dylan did that first.
You two are getting much better. Ya'll my favs.
This is MY FAVOURITE BOWIE SONG Eveeerr...!! is about a little girl who is planted on her first date.... shes finally sittin watching old movies....and philosophizing: Is there Life on Mars??
Good point, Brad. '70s Bowie was similar to Queen (Freddie Mercury). Both were glam rock during the '70s. One of the original glam, hairbands.
As for life on Mars. I believe there are other forms of life in far away planets in other galaxies. Universe is much too big for us to be alone.
When the Beatles broke up in '1970, Bowie had Space Oddity out on the radio and he became my favorite artist. Saw him twice in concert back in the 70's. K7st a great performer.
David was sent a backing track and was asked to write a song, he did and it was not used, they sent the backing track to Paul Anka and he wrote "My Way" which was a huge hit for Frank Sinatra, David, slightly miffed, wrote Life on Mars instead
It cannot be underestimated just how talented that man was.
Iv loved and listened to Bowie for least 45 years .. saw him live twice, which was absolutely mind blowing ..David Bowie and his band were phenomenal !
70's Bowie is everything!
Brad never seems to know what is going on!! Thankfully Lex always seems to know!
David's eyes were amazing.. not to mention his voice and writing talent.. omg. His writing was so complex from a musician's point of view.
Got to see him in Memphis in the 70’s and was blown away- it was so different and exciting
Another classic reaction guy’s Recently travelling from another time zone, as per usual Lex realizing Ziggy parlaying his many talents epically, from stardust to mars Moonage Daydream should be your next Bowie reaction!! ☮️
My favourite artist of all time!
I like how Brad wanted to be confused and Lex just shut that ish down and spoke the truth.
Very good interpretation from Lex,in particular.
There are many "David Bowie Personas".DAVID BOWIE-LIVE IN BERLIN-HEROES including the funny intro is for you and your family of viewers.
He was born in Brixton, South East London 2 miles from me, and like us moved out, less than 10 miles away to Outer South East London where he went to Art College with Peter Frampton.
Great clip. Bowie was asked to write lyrics for My Way and did a terrible job, and was passed over to Paul Anka and crew who wrote the My Way we know today. This song was him proving he could write epic ballads. He did a good job by the way
My god, I love that man. Heard this so much its in my DNA! Thanks for the reaction!
This was one of Bowies newspaper clippings song. He’d cut out lines in a newspaper that caught his eye, then throw a pile of them into the air. As he picked some of them them up they formed the song lyrics with a little massaging to get it all to fit and scan.
Another brilliant song from a musical genius. I miss him as much as Freddie Mercury!
so far ahead of society. we were so lucky to have him when we did. Miss you, David.
When I hear Bowie I'm always " what that honky?? Have you made a Guinness song again 😳" it's so impressive
I saw David Bowie in 1984 the best concert Ever………..Amazing stage presence.
He's not talking about random stuff at all. He's talking about a young girl who's been failed by a system that's trying to distract her from her own life that needs to be addressed. She watches films about things she's already dealing with to help her cope, but she's bitter because even when she watches something worse on TV she feels alone in her own sorrows. Maybe it really doesn't get better. She finally asks, crestfallen, and throwing her hands up, "Is there life on Mars?"
David was just stopping by as he was passing planet Earth.
One of, if not my favorite David Bowie songs.
Bowie was a musical genius, and this is one of his greatest songs. Truly a “born artist “. Well said
Bowie is impossible to describe. I have been a bowie fan since I was a little little kid but as the years go by, I find it impossible to explain Bowie. I guess you just 'had to be there'.please do "teenage wildlife"......best bowie song ever. Or station to station off the the Christine F. soundtrack....or heroes/helden. Or Im afraid of Americans. My very first rock concert: Bowie 1983 Oakland California. Great frkn show.
Lexx intuitive ability to get an artist and a song is simply amazing.
Even when she falls of the mark - which doesnt happen often - she gives very interesting interpretations thst are often though provoking.
David Bowie is an artist for her, absolutely.
Listen to starman .changes or ashes to ashes ..heroes.i can go on
Each generation should know of rhis guy cause he was a pioneer he paved the way for the likes of Boy George Steve Strange and so on and who literally were as much fans as the ordinary public.
Lex, I loveeeee your interpretation!! YES!! Love you guys! Best wishes from SC!
Early Bowie here. Rearranged chords from the song My Way with Bowie's own unique lyrics and phrasing. Certainly is considered one of his classic songs.
Not quite, was right after Ziggy Stardust. Man who Sold the World and Space Oddity were older. Great song though.
i had no idea of that connection, thank you
@@matthewdrake4385 Hunky Dory came out 6 months before Ziggy Stardust.
Oops, my bad I got the records wrong. Thought life on Mars was after. Thanks for clearing that up.
I like your comparison to Freddy Mercury. This song seems a lot like something that Queen might have done in some ways.
This IMO is one of those songs you appreciate the more you listen to it.
Most underrated song ever
Rick Wakeman’s piano playing is amazing on this track.
Hi Brad and Lex. I love David Bowie. He was one of the most diverse and amazing artists of all time and I hope you listen to much more of his work. I've seen many of the greatest artists of this planet, live in concert, and I was gutted when he died, because I never had the chance to see him in person. I love how this song was used throughout the whole trailer of one of my favourite films called 'Licorice Pizza'. It is brilliant and has one of the best soundtracks ever. Not just David Bowie, but many brilliant tracks, including my favourite band, The Doors. It stars Alana Haim, from the band Haim, with her sisters/band members, all with their real names, and their real parents in the movie too. It also stars Cooper Hoffman, son of Philip Seymour Hoffman who tragically died in 2014. You must see this movie, if you haven't already. For now, here's the excellent trailer, linked below. Æx 🙏
th-cam.com/video/ofnXPwUPENo/w-d-xo.html
He was One the best artist of all time 🐐
He still is!
@@pigeonboy7102 yes I meant it cuz he is dead now