David Bowie is a musical legend, producing and collaborating on over 23 albums.
Here is a list of my favorite quotations from the artist’s song lyrics.
Enjoy!
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“Let the wind blow through your hair, be nice to the big blue sea
Don’t be afraid of the man in the moon, because it’s only me” (Love You Till Tuesday- David Bowie)
“My studies include suffragy
I formed my own society
To study the power of fecundity
The world will overpopulate
Unless you claim infertility
So who will buy a drink for me, your Messiah” (We Are Hungry Men- David Bowie)
“Wish, and the storm will fade away
Wish again, and you will stand before me while the sky will paint an overture
And trees will play the rhythm of my dream” (When I Live My Dream- David Bowie)
“Here am I sitting in a tin can far above the world
Planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do” (Space Oddity- Space Oddity)
“It must strain you to look down so far from your father’s house
And I know what a louse like me in his house could do for you
I’m the Cream
Of the Great Utopia Dream
And you’re the gleam
In the depths
of your banker’s spleen” (Unwashed and Slightly Dazed- Space Oddity)
“And the day will end for some
As the night begins for one” (Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud- Space Oddity)
“Oh, to capture just one drop of all the ecstasy that
swept that afternoon,
To paint that love upon a white balloon,
And fly it from the topest top of all the tops that
man has pushed beyond his brain.
Satori must be something just the same.” (Memory of a Free Festival- Space Oddity)
“In the corner of the morning in the past
I would sit and blame the master first and last
All the roads were straight and narrow
And the prayers were small and yellow
And the rumour spread that I was aging fast
Then I ran across a monster who was sleeping by a tree.
And I looked and frowned and the monster was me” (The Width of a Circle- The Man Who Sold the World)
“‘Cause I’d rather stay here
With all the madmen
Than perish with the sadmen roaming free” (All the Madmen- The Man Who Sold the World)
“Live till your rebirth and do what you will” (After All- The Man Who Sold the World)
“Where all were minds in uni-thought
Powers weird by mystics taught
No pain, no joy, no power too great
Colossal strength to grasp a fate
Where sad-eyed mermen tossed in slumbers
Nightmare dreams no mortal mind could hold
A man would tear his brother’s flesh, a chance to die
To turn to mold.” (The Supermen- The Man Who Sold the World)
“…the key to the city
Is in the sun that pins
The branches to the sky” (Eight Line Poem- Hunky Dory)
“I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence and
So the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They’re quite aware of what they’re going through” (Changes- Hunky Dory)
“Look out my window what do I see
A crack in the sky and a hand reaching down to me
All the nightmares came today
And it looks as though they’re here to stay” (Oh! You Pretty Things- Hunky Dory)
“I’m not a prophet
or a stone age man
Just a mortal
with the potential of a superman
I’m living on
I’m tethered to the logic
of Homo Sapien
Can’t take my eyes
from the great salvation
Of bullshit faith
If I don’t explain what you ought to know
You can tell me all about it
On, the next Bardo
I’m sinking in the quicksand
of my thought” (Quicksand- Hunky Dory)
“I was Stone and he was Wax
So he could scream,
and still relax, unbelievable
And we frightened the small children away
And our talk was old
and dust would flow
Thru our veins and Lo!
it was midnight
Back o’ the kitchen door
Like the grim face
on the Cathedral floor
And the solid book we wrote
Cannot be found today” (The Bewlay Brothers- Hunky Dory)
“If she says she can do it
Then she can do it,
she don’t make false claims
But she’s a Queen,
and such are queens
That your laughter
is sucked in their brains” (Queen Bitch- Hunky Dory)
“Oh, hear this Robert Zimmerman
I wrote a song for you
About a strange young man
called Dylan
With a voice like sand and glue
His words of truthful vengeance
They could pin us to the floor
Brought a few more people on
And put the fear in a whole lot more” (Song for Bob Dylan-Hunky Dory)
“Just remember
Lovers never lose
‘Cause they are Free of thoughts unpure
And of thoughts unkind
Gentleness clears the soul
Love cleans the mind
And makes it Free…
…Happiness is happening
The dragons have been bled
Gentleness is everywhere
Fear’s just in your Head
Only in your Head…
So Forget your Head
And you’ll be free” (Fill Your Heart- Hunky Dory)
“Inspirations have I none
Just to touch the flaming dove
All I have is my love of love
And love is not loving” (Soul Love- Ziggy Stardust)
“That weren’t no DJ that was hazy cosmic jive” (Starman- Ziggy Stardust)
“Making love with his ego, Ziggy sucked up into his mind
Like a leper messiah
When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band” (Ziggy Stardust-Ziggy Stardust)
“Time takes a cigarette, puts it in your mouth…
You’re too old to lose it, too young to choose it
And the clocks waits so patiently on your song
You walk past a cafe but you don’t eat when youve lived too long
Oh, no, no, no, you’re a rock n roll suicide…
Don’t let the sun blast your shadow
Don’t let the milk float ride your mind
Youre so natural – religiously unkind
Oh no love! you’re not alone
Youre watching yourself but you’re too unfair
You got your head all tangled up but if I could only
Make you care
Oh no love! you’re not alone
No matter what or who youve been
No matter when or where youve seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain
I’ve had my share, I’ll help you with the pain
Gimme your hands cause you’re wonderful (wonderful)” (Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide- Ziggy Stardust)
“Millions weep a fountain
Just incase of sunrise” (Aladdin Sane- Aladdin Sane)
“Time – He’s waiting in the wings
He speaks of senseless things
His script is you and me” (Time- Aladdin Sane)
“She will be your living end” (Lady Grinning Soul- Aladdin Sane)
“So tired, it’s the sky that makes you feel tired
It’s a trick to make you see wide
It can all but break your heart in pieces” (The Prettiest Star- Aladdin Sane)
“We’re today’s scrambled creatures, locked in tomorrow’s double feature
Heaven’s on the pillow, its silence competes with hell
It’s a twenty-four hour service, guaranteed to make you tell” (We Are the Dead- Diamond Dogs)
“He’s got his eye on your soul, his hand on your heart” (Somebody Up there Likes Me- Diamond Dogs)
“It’s not the side-effects of the cocaine
I’m thinking that it must be love” (Station to Station- Station to Station)
“My prayer flies
Like a word on a wing
Does my prayer fit in
With your scheme of things?” (Word on a Wing- Station to Station)
“‘Cause you can never really tell when somebody
Wants something you want too” (Stay- Station to Station)
“And you, you can be mean
And I, I’ll drink all the time
‘Cause we’re lovers, and that is a fact
Yes we’re lovers, and that is that” (Heroes- Heroes)
“In the event that this fantastic voyage
Should turn to erosion and we never get old
Remember it’s true, dignity is valuable
But our lives are valuable too” (Fantastic Voyage- Lodger)
“Strung out in heaven’s high
Hitting an all-time low…
I never done good things
I never done bad things
I never did anything out of the blue,
Want an axe to break the ice
Wanna come down right now” (Ashes to Ashes- Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps))
“Those midwives to history put on their bloody robes” (Teenage Wildlife- Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps))
“I stumble into town just like a sacred cow
Visions of swastikas in my head
Plans for everyone
Its in the white of my eyes” (China Girl- Let’s Dance)
“See these eyes so red
Red like jungle burning bright
Those who feel me near
Pull the blinds and change their minds
It’s been so long…And I’ve been putting out fire with gasoline” (Cat People-Let’s Dance)
“Watching them come and go
Tomorrows and the yesterdays
Christians and the unbelievers
Hanging by the cross and nail” (Loving the Alien- Tonight)
“I’ll paint you mornings of gold.
I’ll spin you Valentine evenings.
Though we’re strangers ’til now,
We’re choosing the path
Between the stars.
I’ll leave my love
Between the stars.” (As the World Falls Down- Labyrinth)
“Time will crawl
Till the 21st century lose” (Time Will Crawl- Never Let me Down)
“If your mother don’t love you then the riverbed might” (Glass Spider- Never let Me Down)
“These are silver wings
These are golden eyes
These are floating clouds
Angel for life” (The Wedding Song-Black Tie White Noise)
“Steely resolve
Is falling from me
My poor soul
All bruised passivity
All your regrets
Ride rough-shod over me
I’m so glad
That we’re strangers when we meet” (Strangers when we Meet- The Buddha of Suburbia)
“There’s always the Diamond friendly
Sitting in the Laugh Motel
The Heart’s filthy lesson
With her hundred miles to hell…Tell the others
What a fantastic death abyss” (The Heart’s Filthy Lesson- Outside)
“And now they just want me to be quiet
And I think something is going to be horrid.” (Baby Grace- Outside)
“A person who loses a name
Feels anxiety descending
Left at the crossroads, between the centuries
A millenium fetish” (Ramona A. Stone- Outside)
“The pain must feel like snow
There you go
Cover me, cover me
We flew on the wings
We were deep in the dead air
And this one will never go down” (Wishful Beginnings- Outside)
“Funny how secrets travel” (I’m Deranged- Outside)
“The Gods forgot they’ve made me
so I forgot them to
I listen to the shadows
I play among their graves” (Seven- Hours)
“Memories that flutter like bats out of hell
Stab you from the city spires Life wasn’t worth the balance
Or the crumpled paper it was written on…
Don’t let me know we’re invisible” (Bring me the Disco King- Reality)
