When I was a kid I thought that David Bowie (like a lot of the artists back in the 80s) was just another stuck up yuppie and a boring middle aged guy. Even though I adored 'Labyrinth' when it came out when I was 7 (I saw it at the cinema certainly more than once but I couldn't say how many times) to me I knew that it was a character in a movie I liked and not him. It wasn't til I hit 16 and took a liking to a guy in an unsigned band that I got to know that I started to actually like Bowie, as well as other people like The Who, The Kinks and the Rolling Stones to name but a few, and my interest grew from there.
As I gradually began to listen to the music and get beyond the 'hits' I found that he had such a great wealth of sounds to embrace as his musical styling shifted from album to album. He has simply been a musical treasure and I hope that there might still be something to come from him yet.
This week's song is one that I'd liked for a long time before I picked up a copy of 'Alias David Bowie' by Peter and Leni Gillman in a second-hand bookstore in Australia in 2001. I read it, cover to cover, on the flight home and by the end had a much better insight into Bowie. The song had been written about the suicide in 1985 Bowie's half-brother, Terry, who suffered from schizophrenia and it seems mental illness was a big factor on his mothers side of the family. A lot of Bowie's song lyrics, album themes and characters stemmed from this family background and his own fears of becoming another victim of the family 'curse'.
Despite the fact that the subject matter of this song is fairly bleak, I've always seen it as a song that really gives a feeling of 'release'...but maybe that's just me...
Enjoy!
David Bowie - Jump They Say
When comes the shaking man
A nation in his eyes
Striped with blood and emblazed tattoo
Streaking cathedral spire
They say
They say
They say
He has no brain
They say
He has no mood
They say
He was born again
They say
Look at him climb
They say 'Jump'
They say 'Jump'
They say
He has two gods
They say
He has no fear
They say
He has no eyes
They say
He has no mouth
They say hey that's really something
They feel he should get some time
I say he should watch his ass
My friend don't listen to the crowd
They say 'Jump'
They say 'Jump'
Watch out
Watch out
They say hey that's really something
They feel he should get some time
I say he should watch his ass
My friend don't listen to the crowd
They say 'Jump'
Juuuuummmppp
Got to believe somebody
They say 'Jump'
Juuuuummmppp
Got to believe somebody
They say 'Jump'
Juuuuummmppp
Got to believe
They say 'Jump'
Juuuuummmppp
Got to believe somebody
'Jump'
Got to believe
'Jump'
Got to believe somebody
'Jump'
Got to believe
'Jump'
Got to believe somebody
'Jump'
They say 'Jump'
They say 'Jump'
They say 'Jump'
They say 'Jump'
David Bowie - Jump They Say
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