David Bowie survivor - FINAL SIX

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Vote for you're least favourite

  • "Heroes"

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Station to Station

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Life on Mars?

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    13
  • Poll closed .

cobl04

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Lady Soul, she grins no more.

Just six songs remaining.

Vote for your least favourite and tell us why.

Laz, would love to read your dissertation on why you love Young Americans so much.
 
Young Americans, a great song, but come on. Its time has come. Easily my least favourite of what's left. Five absolute elite tracks and one really good one.
 
YOUNG AMERICANS

* The little drum intro with the sweep across the piano keyboard

* The saxophone

* The way Bowie draws out “nowhere” in the first verse.

* The background vocals singing the title in the chorus, and the “Woo-ooo-ooh”s on the second verse. Arranged by Luther FUCKING Vandross.

* The “middle eight” with the topical 1970s references that continue into the third/fourth verse’s depiction of African American culture

* Bowie’s falsetto “well, well, wells”

* A Day In The Life shout-out

* The series of questions culminating in Bowie’s falsetto “Ain’t there one damn song…” and that cold stop.

But honestly, this is perhaps the greatest lyric Bowie ever wrote. It doesn't rhyme AT ALL, and is very expressionistic. Look at the first verse alone:

They pulled in just behind the bridge
He lays her down, he frowns
"Gee my life's a funny thing, am I
still too young?"
He kissed her then and there
She took his ring, took his babies
It took him minutes, took her nowhere
Heaven knows, she'd have taken anything, but


"It took him minutes/took her nowhere" is such a perfect, funny comment on someone's "first time".


Then you have various gems like:

All the way from Washington
Her bread-winner begs off the bathroom floor
We live for just these twenty years
Do we have to die for the fifty more?"


What a picture.


Just you and your idol sing falsetto
'bout Leather, leather everywhere, and
Not a myth left from the ghetto
Well, well, well, would you carry a razor
In case, just in case of depression?
Sit on your hands on a bus of survivors
Blushing at all the afro-Sheeners


and this whole fucking section:

You ain't a pimp and you ain't a hustler
A pimp's got a Caddy and a lady got a Chrysler
Black's got respect, and white's got his soul train
Mama's got cramps, and look at your hands ache
(I heard the news today, oh boy)
I got a suite and you got defeat
Ain't there a man who can say no more?
And, ain't there a woman I can
sock on the jaw?
And, ain't there a child I can hold without judging?
Ain't there a pen that will write before they die?
Ain't you proud that you've still got faces?
Ain't there one damn song that can make me
break down and cry?



While one could say that Bowie rushes through these words and that the lack of rhyming makes it hard to sing along and remember the words, I feel he's spewing this out like a fevered preacher, or maybe just some madman on the corner. But this is legit downtown street style up there with anything Lou Reed ever wrote. It's fascinating when looked at in contrast to everything else he's done, and works perfectly with the Philly soul sound he's exploring on the album as a whole.

Listen to it one more time, read along with the lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScVi_L817ec
 
Awesome breakdown. I was really low on Young Americans until I started picking off tracks recently... "Somebody Up There Likes Me," "Win," the bonus track "It's Gonna Be Me" are all great encapsulations of that Philly Soul Sound that Laz mentions above.

The dude dabbled in every major musical genre of the late '60s and '70s and made pantheon-level records for each of 'em. I don't fucking understand it, nor do I want to. Just accept it.
 
Thanks for that, I think I'll drop into JB and buy the album, read along with the lyrics. Always good when someone goes in-depth.

And yeah, LMP, that's why I consider him probably the best artist there's ever been. No one I can think of off the top of my head has tried so much different shit and done well at most of it.
 
Life on Mars deserves a breakdown like that more than Young Americans does. Possibly the best song ever written.

Five Years is an extremely moving and passionate track, despite delving into science fiction. Top notch vocal. That dry, intimately recorded drum intro is one of my favorite moments of his discography.
 
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Life on Mars deserves a breakdown like that more than Young Americans does. Possibly the best song ever written.

Five Years is an extremely moving and passionate track, despite delving into science fiction. Top notch vocal. That dry, intimately recorded drum intro is one of my favorite moments of his discography.

It's not even the best song Bowie's written!
 
Didn't Hewson say "Five Years" until it's gone?

I'm fine with that being next.

Not me, iyup. I was all about losing Lady Grinning Soul since the finals began.

Now that we've accomplished that we can mercy rule "Five Years" and get on to the top 5.
 
YOUNG AMERICANS

* The little drum intro with the sweep across the piano keyboard

* The saxophone

* The way Bowie draws out “nowhere” in the first verse.

* The background vocals singing the title in the chorus, and the “Woo-ooo-ooh”s on the second verse. Arranged by Luther FUCKING Vandross.

* The “middle eight” with the topical 1970s references that continue into the third/fourth verse’s depiction of African American culture

* Bowie’s falsetto “well, well, wells”

* A Day In The Life shout-out

* The series of questions culminating in Bowie’s falsetto “Ain’t there one damn song…” and that cold stop.

But honestly, this is perhaps the greatest lyric Bowie ever wrote. It doesn't rhyme AT ALL, and is very expressionistic. Look at the first verse alone:

They pulled in just behind the bridge
He lays her down, he frowns
"Gee my life's a funny thing, am I
still too young?"
He kissed her then and there
She took his ring, took his babies
It took him minutes, took her nowhere
Heaven knows, she'd have taken anything, but


"It took him minutes/took her nowhere" is such a perfect, funny comment on someone's "first time".


Then you have various gems like:

All the way from Washington
Her bread-winner begs off the bathroom floor
We live for just these twenty years
Do we have to die for the fifty more?"


What a picture.


Just you and your idol sing falsetto
'bout Leather, leather everywhere, and
Not a myth left from the ghetto
Well, well, well, would you carry a razor
In case, just in case of depression?
Sit on your hands on a bus of survivors
Blushing at all the afro-Sheeners


and this whole fucking section:

You ain't a pimp and you ain't a hustler
A pimp's got a Caddy and a lady got a Chrysler
Black's got respect, and white's got his soul train
Mama's got cramps, and look at your hands ache
(I heard the news today, oh boy)
I got a suite and you got defeat
Ain't there a man who can say no more?
And, ain't there a woman I can
sock on the jaw?
And, ain't there a child I can hold without judging?
Ain't there a pen that will write before they die?
Ain't you proud that you've still got faces?
Ain't there one damn song that can make me
break down and cry?



While one could say that Bowie rushes through these words and that the lack of rhyming makes it hard to sing along and remember the words, I feel he's spewing this out like a fevered preacher, or maybe just some madman on the corner. But this is legit downtown street style up there with anything Lou Reed ever wrote. It's fascinating when looked at in contrast to everything else he's done, and works perfectly with the Philly soul sound he's exploring on the album as a whole.

Listen to it one more time, read along with the lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScVi_L817ec

"I got a suite and you got defeat" and "ain't there a child I can hold without judging?" are pretty brutal lines. It's a really complex set of lyrics, sympathetic yet judgmental. Bowie is very under rated in that regard. This song, Station to Station, and Life on Mars? are as good as anything has ever written.
 
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