Why? Because I feel like it. So here goes...
It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
And 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
But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on
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?
Excerpted from
Song: Life on Mars?
Album: Hunky Dory (1972)
I have no idea what the lyrics mean either. ("Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow"? Far out, man.) It doesn't matter. It's still a great song.
Panic In Detroit!
Panic In Detroit is a great song, but it's off Aladdin Sane, J-Dog. Life on Mars? is from Hunky Dory, which also has the songs Queen Bitch and Andy Warhol. Both are great albums. But then, Bowie has a lot of those.
"Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow": I take it to mean that a symbol of childhood innocence now represents a bloated corporate monolith, or, by the same token, that dreams have become commodified.
When I read the "Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow" line, I had two thoughts:
1) Bloated corporate monolith (like Martin)
2) The golden calf of Exodus
In fact, since "Mooby the Golden Calf" in the movie "Dogma" is a Mickey Moust clone, I wonder if Kevin Smith might have been inspired by this song. (Of course the connection is easily made independently.)
Been watching British TV again?
Yes, actually. Now that I have a region-free DVD player, I'm slowly working my way through the Blakes' 7 DVDs that I ordered from Amazon.co.uk.