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David Bowie - Space Oddity & Peter Schilling - Major Tom...

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by DarkHorse, Aug 2, 2003.

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  1. DarkHorse

    DarkHorse Contributing Member

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    Am I the last person in the world to notice that they are aparently about the same person, and that they tell about the same story?

    I had no idea until they coincidentally played back to back on my computer.
     
    #1 DarkHorse, Aug 2, 2003
  2. DarkHorse

    DarkHorse Contributing Member

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    (LYRICS)

    Space Oddity

    Ground control to Major Tom
    Ground control to Major Tom
    Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

    Ground control to Major Tom
    (10, 9, 8, 7)
    Commencing countdown, engines on
    (6, 5, 4, 3)
    Check ignition, and may God's love be with you
    (2, 1, liftoff)

    This is ground control to Major Tom,
    You've really made the grade
    And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
    Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

    This is Major Tom to ground control
    I'm stepping through the door
    And I'm floating in the most peculiar way
    And the stars look very different today

    For here am I sitting in a tin can
    Far above the world
    Planet Earth is blue, and there's nothing I can do

    Though I'm past 100,000 miles
    I'm feeling very still
    And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
    Tell my wife I love her very much, she knows

    Ground control to Major Tom,
    Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
    Can you hear me Major Tom?
    Can you hear me Major Tom?
    Can you hear me Major Tom?
    Can you...

    Here am I floating round my tin can
    Far above the moon
    Planet Earth is blue, and there's nothing I can do....






    MAJOR TOM (COMING HOME)
    Standing there alone,
    the ship is waiting.
    All systems are go.
    "Are you sure?"
    Control is not convinced,
    but the computer
    has the evidence.
    No need to abort.
    The countdown starts.

    Watching in a trance,
    the crew is certain.
    Nothing left to chance,
    all is working.
    Trying to relax
    up in the capsule
    "Send me up a drink."
    jokes Major Tom.
    The count goes on...

    4, 3, 2, 1
    Earth below us
    drifting, falling.
    Floating weightless
    calling, calling home...

    Second stage is cut.
    We're now in orbit.
    Stabilizers up,
    runnning perfect.
    Starting to collect
    requested data.
    "What will it affect
    when all is done?"
    thinks Major Tom.

    Back at ground control,
    there is a problem.
    "Go to rockets full."
    Not responding.
    "Hello Major Tom.
    Are you receiving?
    Turn the thrusters on.
    We're standing by."
    There's no reply.

    4, 3, 2, 1
    Earth below us
    drifting, falling.
    Floating weightless
    calling, calling home...

    Across the stratosphere,
    a final message:
    "Give my wife my love."
    Then nothing more.

    Far beneath the ship,
    the world is mourning.
    They don't realize
    he's alive.
    No one understands,
    but Major Tom sees.
    "Now the light commands
    this is my home,
    I'm coming home."

    Earth below us
    drifting, falling.
    Floating weightless
    coming home...
    Earth below us
    drifting, falling.
    Floating weightless
    coming, coming
    home...
    home.....
     
    #2 DarkHorse, Aug 2, 2003
  3. rockHEAD

    rockHEAD Contributing Member

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    a quick google search came up with this:

    "Poor Major Tom has been floating in space for quite some time now.

    It was David Bowie who first launched Major Tom in his 1969 UK album "David Bowie" (which was re-released in 1972 with the title "Space Oddity"). Released to coincide with the first moon landing, "Space Oddity" tells the story of Major Tom whose space adventure ends in tragedy as he floats away from the spaceship ("Here am I floating round my tin can far above the moon ..."), calling out, "Tell my wife I love her very much..."

    Peter Schilling's 1983 techno-beat revision, entitled "Major Tom (I'm Coming Home)," was a hit when released on his "Error in the System" album. Schilling's version basically retells the tale of Major Tom, including the sentiments of love he sends to his wife, with the haunting chorus, "Earth below us, drifting, falling, floating weightless, calling, calling home."

    In 1980, Bowie revisited Major Tom's plight with his follow-up "Ashes to Ashes" (on the "Scary Monsters" album). In this song, some time after the disappearance of Major Tom, ground control receives a message from the wayward astronaut: "I'm happy, hope you're happy, too. I've loved all I've needed to love." The opinion on earth is that Major Tom is a "junkie strung out in heaven's high," but hitting "an all-time low."

    Bowie's creation of Major Tom was certainly influenced by Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey." Bowie is said to have written his song shortly after seeing the movie. "Space Oddity" obviously is a pun on "Space Odyssey."
    The bottom line: given Bowie's penchant for creating characters for and about himself (Ziggy Stardust among others) plus his well-known battle with drugs, most Bowie experts agree that Major Tom is an allegorically autobiographical character."

    Link
     
    #3 rockHEAD, Aug 2, 2003
  4. DarkHorse

    DarkHorse Contributing Member

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    Wow... that's pretty interesting. Kind of funny the way I stumbled on to that. Thanks rH.

    :)
     
    #4 DarkHorse, Aug 3, 2003
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