Talk:Life on Mars (song)/Archive 1

Archive 1

Interpretation

The song is about a girl visiting a cinema after an argument with her parents; the final sentence "is there life on Mars?" alludes to an otherwise unmentioned film that presumably poses the same question. The lyrics are fairly oblique, with confusing lines such as "It's on Amerika's tortured brow/That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow."

My interpretation of this song has always been that it contrasts the question "is there life on Mars?" with scenes of human idiocy on Earth, the unspoken question being, why are we asking that when we haven't even solved are own problems - is there life on Earth? The literal interpretation, of the girl in the cinema, etc, is only to provide a framework for this deeper question. Well, that's what I've always thought anyway, but I could be way off beam - anyone any other ideas? Graham 03:02, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

I had a similar interpretation, only I saw the question as is there something else because life on earth is so filled with turmoil.

This interpretation seems to be just one person's take on the song. Is this interpretation the consensus? If not, should it really be included? - Drumnbach 19:03, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

As a rule, I'd be wary of including any interpretations because they are by definition not NPOV, but the lyrics to Life on Mars do seem pretty straightforward, so I'd vote not to remove the version here.

--Jim68000 11:21, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

The first time the refrain is uttered it seems that the sailors, cavemen, lawman and hypothetical Martians all refer to generic movie plots. I think most would agree this is an obvious interpretation. In the second utterance the sailors, cavemen, etc. seem to be a melancholy description of everyday life. The final question seems to be something akin to what Graham is describing. I think this analysis very obvious but maybe the dual meaning of the lyrics should be elaborated upon. George 19:51, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

it wouldn't be MY interpretation. i'm with graham for the ENTIRE song. even the line about a "seat" with the clearest view -- i'm not picturing an actual CINEMA or any actual FILM. it's about the "cinema" of life. she's observing humanity.

i'm not even sure there's a GIRL, actually. seems like a poetic device for humanity writ small. just another cog in a pointless system, as it were.

surprised to hear it was inspired by "my way". i wuda thunk maybe "eleanor rigby".... 209.172.25.135 (talk) 19:51, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

Line from song

"It's on Amerika's tortured brow/That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow."

I always interpreted this to mean that Mickey Mouse (Disney) has turned a beloved icon, Mickey Mouse, into a very very lucrative cash cow. It is known how much Disney has protected and prolonged its trademarks.

---Um, how about 'sacred cow', ie. golden calf? Also, I think it's probably 'Lenin's on sale again' that jives a lot better with the mention of the 'workers' in the previous ryhme.

You think wrong. The sleeve notes say Lennon, and the album was released the year after 'Plastic Ono Band' by John Lennon was released, on which the song Working Class Hero was featured. In any case, the line is no longer in the article - 124.168.174.235 08:19, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

Shame its Lennon and not Lenin. "Lenin's in sale again" would have been a brilliant line about how even the most serious things become meaningless in pop/consumerist culture, like Che Guevera T-shirts etc. :-) ThePeg 09:35, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

All of the song is not in third person as the article states:

But the film is a sadd'ning bore
'Cause I wrote it ten times or more.
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on

i always figured that lenin/lennon in that line is intentionally ambiguous. didn't know about the sleeve notes, but bowie may still have intended it that way. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.8.70.75 (talk) 01:47, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

I want to suggest that "Look at those Cavemen go" may refer to the famous scene at the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). For verification, note how the drums at the end of the song imitate those in 2001's theme song. -CF —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.195.219.238 (talk) 17:33, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

My Way Chords

I'm changing the line about the chords being identical to my way to "similar to" because, well, they're clearly not identical.

--Jim68000 11:21, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

In an interview with the BBC, Bowie himself says that the music is the same as "My Way" going so far as to say that it is a "modernistic take" on the same song.

Fred

Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact the chords are, as Jim68000 says, clearly not identical. I'm changing it back to 'similar to'.

Bws2002 02:35, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Can someone elaborate on the Life on Mars/My Way similarities? I don't see it myself. ThePeg 09:36, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

It's simply the chord progression thats similar, the chords are different as has been established, but they way the chords progress through the song are pretty right on. 64.230.3.149 00:07, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

OK, the chords are not identical, but the influence of/link to My Way deserves to be mentioned: the issue is an important aspect of the song - especially comparing the different take on life and American cultural imperialism in the two songs.

From the BBC site about the song

Back in 1968 Bowie had written English lyrics for a French song called “Comme, D’Habitude”, calling his version “Even A Fool Learns To Love”. It was never released, but soon afterwards Canadian songwriter Paul Anka heard the original version, bought the rights and rewrote it as “My Way”. Bowie recorded “Life On Mars?” as a Sinatra parody in anger at having missed out on a fortune, although the Hunky Dory liner notes state that the song was merely “inspired by Frankie”.

Seems to me the two are inextricably connected to each other. --Cdavis999 (talk) 09:18, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Nevertheless, it is one of the most interesting songs written in that period. IMHO, it deserves a few more lines dealing with the musical substance, other than merely quoting identical chord changes (not chords!) as in "My Way", which is true only in part, as far as the verse goes. What about the bridge, where the song radically departs from the conventions established in the verse? What about those fresh sounding two chords, spiraling six-four chords and augumented triads which give the song its unique flavor, quite off the common songwriting practice in that period? What about the sudden tonality change from F major to F minor ("freakiest show"), a method quite resembling some of Cole Porter's great works? S.J. 20:58, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

Canadian Idol

The part that states that Steffi Di sung the song recently on Canadian Idol seems kind of pointless, every season on idol shows dozens of songs are sung by competitors, and given how many versions of idol there are across the world, I hardly think it's noteworthy that someone sung it on an idol show once. Eg. The page for Gimme Shelter by the rolling stones should not have to mention Ashley Coulter sung it on Idol once, The page for Space Oddity, also by David Bowie, does not mention that Jacob Hoggard sung it 2 seasons ago on Canadian Idol, etc. I'll delete that bit about Steffi Di a little later on unless someone can state a good reason for it being there.

Yep, we shouldn't be encouraging Idol anyway... Cheers, Ian Rose 08:03, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Well, I don't meen anything anti Idol shows about it, I actually watch those shows I'm afraid, but yah. Doesn't make sense to mention it in this songs article, theirs allready an article for list of performances on idol shows anyway isn't there? I'm going to go delete the bit about Steffi now, as no ones seemed to raise any complaint about me saying I would do so. Riphal 19:08, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Someone put the Steffi Di bit back, a Canadian Idol performance does not count as a conver version of the song. I could go through wikipedia for 2 days straight, adding to every single song that anyone on an idol show has ever sung, but all I'd be doing is filling articles with pointless stuff, there is allready a page which lists what songs contestants pick, and as I said before, it is not notable to be in the songs article. I'll delete that later unless someone will actually REPLY to what I'm saying here, with a reason why it should stay.Riphal 11:50, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Question question

The song is quite often written without the '?'. Presumably this is an error sniffed at by Bowie aficionados. But why is it omitted the single cover (shown)? Earthlyreason (talk) 13:30, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Look at those cavemen go

This is the same as a line from "Alley Oop" by the Bonzo Dog Band, released in I think 1967. Coincidence? I've never heard of DB specifically liking the BDB but I'd be very surprised if he didn't. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.72.224.186 (talk) 14:22, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: move. -- tariqabjotu 03:48, 21 September 2013 (UTC)

---

Life on Mars? → Life on Mars (song) – A question mark (?) is not convincing and precise enough, even when it was an official title according to David Bowie's album. Even when some sources use the official formatting of the title, I am thoroughly sure that the current title is ambiguous. George Ho (talk) 01:08, 12 September 2013 (UTC)

• Support - the question mark is only intermittently used in print sources anyway. In ictu oculi (talk) 03:53, 12 September 2013 (UTC)
• Support. I have never understood disambiguation by punctuation either. --Richhoncho (talk) 13:08, 12 September 2013 (UTC)
• Weakly oppose. - I can't quite figure out the difference between this argument and the one going on over at the talk page for "Heroes". The punctuation is part of the title; shouldn't it stay? I can see perhaps changing the article to "Life on Mars? (song)" but I see no reason to strip the question mark. 87Fan (talk) 16:03, 12 September 2013 (UTC)

Question. The artwork on the page has no question mark. So where does it come from? Is it essential? If you note my comment above, I could be persuaded to Life on Mars? (song). Cheers. --Richhoncho (talk) 21:51, 12 September 2013 (UTC)

• Support. I find George's rationale convincing. In terms of reader experience, this title can't possibly be best used for the song. It's also an excellent example which may lead to some policy tweaks. Andrewa (talk) 19:50, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.