“Life on Mars?” is often considered one of the true masterpieces of the Bowie Canon. Originally released on the Hunky Dory album in 1971, it was made a single in 1973 during the height of Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust era.
The song details the story of a young girl who wants to go the movies, while her pa...
[Verse 1]
It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling, "No!"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen
[Pre-Chorus]
But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on
[Chorus]
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?
[Verse 2]
It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
[Pre-Chorus]
But the film is a saddening bore
Because I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on
[Chorus]
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?
[Outro]
[Phone ringing, muttering]
Life on Mars? was written by David Bowie.
Life on Mars? was produced by David Bowie & Ken Scott.
David Bowie released Life on Mars? on Thu Jun 17 1971.
In an interview with the Daily Mail about his new compilation album iSelect, for which he’d chosen twelve of his favourite songs from his catalogue, Bowie described the composition of “Life on Mars”:
This song was so easy. Being young was easy. A really beautiful day in the park, sitting on the ste...
Yes, although not until Ziggy-mania in 1973. It reached #3 in the UK and its initial chart run lasted 13 weeks.
To date, it has done so three times. In 2007, it hit #55 after the conclusion of the TV show named after it. In June 2013, it hit #89 following the news that Mars rover Opportunity had found evidence for water on Mars. Finally, it was one of sixteen Bowie songs in the top 100 following his death. It...
Created by Matthew Graham and starring John Simm, Life On Mars is about a police officer who wakes up in the 1970s after a car crash. The show ended after series 2 when Simm wanted to leave. It was succeeded by Ashes to Ashes, set in the 1980s, and later adapted for US, Spanish, and Russian viewers....
Although the piano part was played by Rick Wakeman (who would soon join Yes), Bowie wrote it himself:
I played my plodding version and Rick wrote the chords down, then played them with his inimitable touch.