Author Topic: David Bowie RIP  (Read 7038 times)

jeremyp

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #25 on: January 11, 2016, 01:33:04 PM »
I merely meant that the grim reaper was in a hurry to take him away from us far too soon. I was not referring to the length of his illness.

He was 769. Mick Ronson was taken far to soon (46 - younger than me), but David Bowie lived to a good age.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2016, 01:34:49 PM by jeremyp »
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Shaker

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #26 on: January 11, 2016, 01:33:59 PM »
69 - which is a good age unless you're 68.
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wigginhall

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #27 on: January 11, 2016, 01:39:03 PM »
Or 69.   (me).
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jeremyp

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #28 on: January 11, 2016, 01:41:24 PM »
69 - which is a good age unless you're 68.

I guess the tragedy, for those of us who did not know him personally is that he was not creatively spent, if the evidence of his last two albums is anything to go by. However, for me, if he did nothing else, his role in the production of Transformer would be enough.

Also Queen Bitch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljv8xCt4Bq8
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Leonard James

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #29 on: January 11, 2016, 01:42:23 PM »
Or 69.   (me).
This thread is beginning to make me smile!

Hope

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #30 on: January 11, 2016, 01:42:33 PM »
This whole thing sort of reminds me of Pink Floyd's 'The Great Gig in the Sky', especially the spoken lines

Quote
And I am not frightened of dying.
Any time will do, I don't mind.
Why should I be frightened of dying?
There's no reason for it – you've got to go sometime.
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L.A.

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #31 on: January 11, 2016, 01:54:09 PM »
I always felt that The Next Day was a reflection of a life. Maybe he had an inkling that time was running out.  Blackstar is his self-penned requiem.

Both albums are quite deep and personal and I can understand why they don't appeal to some, but I think they show a human being coming to terms with their mortality. A very brave thing to do.
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Nearly Sane

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #32 on: January 11, 2016, 01:59:00 PM »
BBC 4 did Top of The Pops Story of 1981 on Friday. Almost any act on there other than novelty stuff is steeped in Bowie. The 90s other than possibly Pulp because Jarvis is quite old, are influenced by Bowie as a second or third generation.


Whatever you at think of them there is no Smiths, Human League, Joy Division without Bowie.

The day that one hears of his death is not the best one for a proper evaluation but for me I think the output in the 70s is the best concentrated piece of work in terms of its influence that anyone did last century.

Nearly Sane

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #33 on: January 11, 2016, 02:03:59 PM »
It's not just about influences in pop though, I would call him one of the great English artists of all time.

I think that's about right. Gonzo is right to mention him with Turner.

I have seen a couple of challenges elsewhere about comments from him, notably the one on fascism, and actions, notably his commodification of himself, but artists are not saints, thankfully. After all even saints aren't saints

jeremyp

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #34 on: January 11, 2016, 02:09:31 PM »
Has there been a more significant song writer than Bowie since the Lennon-McCartney partnership dissolved? I can't think of one. Bowie himself might claim Lou Reed, but I think Reed's importance is mainly as an influence on Bowie.
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Sassy

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #35 on: January 11, 2016, 02:52:08 PM »
Ground control to Major Tom, Didn't know what time it was and the lights were low
I leaned back on my radio
Some cat was layin' down some rock 'n' roll 'lotta soul,
he said...
It's a God-awful small affair
Oh man wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show


My death waits like an old roue'
So confident, I'll go his way
Whistle to him and the passing time

My death waits like a Bible truth
At the funeral of my youth
Are we proud for that and the passing time?

My death waits like a witch at night
As surely as our love is right
Let's not think about the passing time

But whatever lies behind the door
There is nothing much to do
Angel or devil, I don't care
For in front of that door there is you

My death waits like a beggar blind
Who sees the world through an unlit mind
Throw him a dime for the passing time

My death waits there between your thighs
Your cool fingers will close my eyes
Let's think of that and the passing time

My death waits to allow my friends
A few good times before it ends
So let's think of that and the passing time

For whatever lies behind the door
There is nothing much to do
Angel or devil, I don't care
For in front of that door there is you

My death waits there among the leaves
In magician's mysterious sleeves
Rabbits and dogs and the passing time

My death waits there among the flowers
Where the blackest shadows, blackest shadows cowers
Let's pick lilacs for the passing time

My death waits there in a double bed
Sails of oblivion and my head
So pull up your sheets against the passing time

But whatever lies behind the door
There is nothing much to do
Angel or devil, I don't care
For in front of that door there is, Thank You

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 hear....

David, early in his career -use to write his songs by writing lots of lyrics in sentences and then cutting them into strips in a bowl and pulling them out one by one in no particular order. I can think of no fitting tribute better than doing the same with just a couple of his lyrics and his last song which I believe reflected his own facing of his death.

May he rest in peace... :'( :(


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Nearly Sane

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #36 on: January 11, 2016, 03:01:14 PM »
Kudos, Sassy, kudos.

Rhiannon

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #37 on: January 11, 2016, 03:15:28 PM »
BBC 4 did Top of The Pops Story of 1981 on Friday. Almost any act on there other than novelty stuff is steeped in Bowie. The 90s other than possibly Pulp because Jarvis is quite old, are influenced by Bowie as a second or third generation.


Whatever you at think of them there is no Smiths, Human League, Joy Division without Bowie.

The day that one hears of his death is not the best one for a proper evaluation but for me I think the output in the 70s is the best concentrated piece of work in terms of its influence that anyone did last century.

Yes, I was thinking of Steve Strange and Billy Mackenzie just now. The influence is astonishing.

Shaker

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #38 on: January 11, 2016, 03:30:21 PM »
Blackstar - his final album - really is now looking like the equivalent of his Ninth Symphony, with the song titles and lyrics all seeming to point toward death.

On YouTube one of the songs - I Can't Give It All Away - had this comment appended to it just two days ago, which is creepily prescient:

Quote
It's strange but I know the day will come that he won't release a new album anymore and it really affects me and moves me... pure genious, not replaceable. Enjoy every second of him as if it was the last one.
Pain, or damage, don't end the world. Or despair, or fucking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man, and give some back. - Al Swearengen, Deadwood.

Shaker

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #39 on: January 11, 2016, 05:13:45 PM »
Probably not wise to accept anything as definitive yet given that every source I've seen so far has pointedly declined to specify of what form of cancer Bowie died, but Wikipedia is already saying liver cancer.
Pain, or damage, don't end the world. Or despair, or fucking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man, and give some back. - Al Swearengen, Deadwood.

Rhiannon

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #40 on: January 11, 2016, 07:21:05 PM »
I've just been reading Madonna's tribute, saying how Bowie's stage style set the scene for her own. Very heartfelt.

Rhiannon

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #41 on: January 11, 2016, 08:37:37 PM »
More on Bowie's influence here.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35283114

Gordon

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #42 on: January 12, 2016, 12:17:32 PM »
Thought this was touching: the organist at Kelvingrove Art Gallery/Museum in Glasgow (a place I know well).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-35292054

wigginhall

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #43 on: January 13, 2016, 03:10:14 PM »
The documentary 'Five Years' was shown on the Beeb the other night, I don't know whether it will be on iplayer, as there may be copyright issues.  It has some fascinating clips, e.g. Bowie acting in The Elephant Man (very good), working with Luther Vandross (plastic soul, as Bowie called it), and all the usual stuff, Ziggy, thin white duke, the blond Adonis (Let's Dance), and all his other personae.  By gum, what a giant he was.  My wife compared him to Blake, and I don't think that's an exaggeration.
They were the footprints of a gigantic hound!

Nearly Sane

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #44 on: January 13, 2016, 03:16:50 PM »
Available on iPlayer

The Accountant, OBE, KC

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #45 on: January 14, 2016, 12:29:20 PM »
Bowie was a huge part of my teenage years - listened to his music a lot, bought his albums, had the posters on my wall and his pictures on my school folders, went to his concert at Wembley Stadium. Still listen to his older stuff. Very sad to hear about his death.
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Humph Warden Bennett

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #46 on: January 16, 2016, 09:37:28 AM »
The documentary 'Five Years' was shown on the Beeb the other night, I don't know whether it will be on iplayer, as there may be copyright issues.  It has some fascinating clips, e.g. Bowie acting in The Elephant Man (very good), working with Luther Vandross (plastic soul, as Bowie called it), and all the usual stuff, Ziggy, thin white duke, the blond Adonis (Let's Dance), and all his other personae.  By gum, what a giant he was.  My wife compared him to Blake, and I don't think that's an exaggeration.

I am not going to claim that I liked everything that Bowie ever did, TBH Johnny Rotten IMHO hit the nail on the head when he referred to Bowie's acting skills "...David Bowie gets away with it....just". Nor did I care too much for his "Baal" episode. His real talent was not that he wrote catchy songs-SAW were capable of that, but that he wrote clever songs which were accessible because they were so finely crafted. I give as an example "All the Young Dudes". The lyrics on their own give an impression of the brash confidence of the young, but the tune is melancholy, superbly illustrating the bittersweet transience of youth.

jeremyp

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #47 on: January 16, 2016, 04:35:02 PM »
Johnny Rotten IMHO hit the nail on the head when he referred to Bowie's acting skills "...David Bowie gets away with it....just".
Ha ha. Yes. Great musician, not a great actor. I feel somewhat sorry for Tom Conti who was the star - and IMO played a blinder - in Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence because everybody thinks of it s David Bowie's film when his part was a supporting part at best.
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Nearly Sane

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #48 on: January 19, 2016, 08:33:35 PM »

Nearly Sane

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Re: David Bowie RIP
« Reply #49 on: January 19, 2016, 10:32:39 PM »