This is my entry to this month’s Bear Blog Carnival on Music Memories, hosted by James G.
A decade ago, on January 10th 2016, I recall going home after a lunch party in Dublin when I learnt that David Bowie, the legendary and influential artist passed away. Despite not knowing much about him, I felt mournful—yet another talented human departed too soon. At that point in time, I actually didn’t know much about Bowie. I barely know his immense body of work, apart from a few well-known songs like China Girl, Let’s Dance, and Heroes (actually, Ziggy Stardust was probably the first Bowie song I heard while playing Guitar Hero on the Playstation 2).
The rest of the day felt heavy despite meeting up with friends earlier. I felt strangely impelled to learn more about Bowie—and oh was I in for a deep dive—developing an unshakeable admiration and affection for everything David Bowie. He has since become the most played artist in my music library, and I can listen to him speak for hours from interviews.
There’s one interview that came to mind, 1999 with Jeremy Paxman, where he predicts what the Internet is and its impact. I find him incredibly talented not only in the domains of music, writing, and art; but also a well-read and farsighted man. David also has a “top 100 books” list called Bowie Book Club (luckily the Wayback Machine by the Internet Archive has a copy, the live site is showing 404).
I also love how Iman, David’s wife, will occasionally share memories of their time together on her socials; it seemed their love was true love and I really admire the dedication between them. David is also hilarious and has a great sense of humour; his many interviews showcases this. His collaboration with Ricky Gervais on Extras was pretty funny. I don’t like YouTube, but there’s a trove of interviews where I can easily spend an afternoon watching; but I digress.
On the last day of December 2016, I flew to London’s Kings Cross Theatre to see Lazarus, the musical, one of David’s last piece of work. I was the lucky few who got tickets to the sold out show. I personally thought Michael C. Hall (known for Dexter) did an amazing job portraying Thomas Jerome Newton, the same protagonist of the 1963 novel The Man Who Fell To Earth by Walter Tevis (he also wrote The Queen’s Gambit which got adapted as a miniseries which I heard is exceptional). As more concert-goer, so musicals are relatively novel to me (the only other musical I watched in person is Chicago in 2010 when they came to Hong Kong—I found a review by Rachel if you’re interested).
The flight and train connections were very tight, a delay in any part of the trip would have caused me to miss the connection. I couldn’t stay the night in London as I actually needed to travel on Sunday from Dublin to another part of Ireland for the following week. Luckily, everything worked out, and I enjoyed the whole journey and the show; I am so glad I went out of my way to see it in person.
After becoming a Bowie fan for a year, in January 2017, there was a special screening of David’s first leading film role, The Man Who Fell To Earth in 1976 directed by Nicolas Roeg, at the Light House Cinema in Smithfield, Dublin (Light House Cinema is one of my favourite cinemas in Dublin as it has a lot of charm compared to the “normal” CineWorlds; they would show a variety of indie films instead of just blockbusters/mainstream movies). I enjoyed the film more than the musical. To me, David has an incredible amount of screen/stage presence and an undeniable magnetism. I would recommend this film for sci-fi lovers!
This special screening was actually part of the second Dublin Bowie Festival. While writing this post, I see that the festival is still going strong after all these years! I remember for the inaugural year, I attended a tribute concert where they covered David’s hits with Gerry Leonard (Irish guitarist who worked extensively with David from 1995 to 2004).
If only I had the chance to see David live… it must have been truly special. He actually played for two nights in Hong Kong, before my time, on December 7 & 8, 1983; part of his Serious Moonlight Tour. At the end of the last show, he spoke about John Lennon as it was the third anniversary of his death. David then performed his version of Imagine—here’s a clip of it.
The last David Bowie related event I attended was Moonage Daydream, a documentary film by Brett Morgen, on October 1, 2022 in Hong Kong. I watched it in IMAX at B+ cinema in Mong Kok East (MOKO Shopping Mall). The movie was brilliant, and it felt as close to a concert as I’d ever get. The unreleased footage was a joy to experience on the big screen (I bought the OST soon after). I recall the movie having an extremely limited screening so I was fortunate to have snatched a ticket.
While watching Moonage Daydream, I noticed the house was packed with mostly Westerners. I guess it makes sense because even on HK radio today, David Bowie is nowhere near as popular as other Western singers artists, like The Carpenters, Elvis Presley, Queen, The Beatles, Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, ABBA, etc. I guess Bowie isn’t considered mainstream in Hong Kong, but to me, therein lies his beauty.
David’s songs accompanied me throughout the past decade, with some songs linked to particular memories. One night during my internship, I had a long day and was feeling perhaps a bit inadequate and had a dose of imposter syndrome hit me. I sat down at the computer about to type up a report when I noticed in the background, David Bowie’s Absolute Beginner was playing on the radio. It was perfect timing I thought—I knew the song was about being in love with someone new and relationships—but to me, at that moment, it gave me a hint of optimism and strength to overcome difficulties. Plus, getting to listen to one Bowie song by chance, at work, on the radio is always a mood lifter. (Who else loves it when their favourite artist or song comes on the radio?)
Closing Thoughts
Fast-forward to today, writing this post for James’ Music Memories Carnival was real treat down memory lane. I want to thank James for setting this topic; without it, I would have never collected all my David Bowie thoughts in one piece like this. This is also my first time participating in a blog carnival and is also the first blog post on this new Quartz-built site (having migrated from WordPress earlier this month)!
Thank you for reading my post to the end, dear reader. I’ve included a curated playlist and my favourite lyric snippets below. The last thing I want to share is a photo I took on a trip in Galway, Ireland in 2011 (with my Canonet QL17 GIII rangefinder with cross-processed Agfa CT Precisa 100 film). The photo was a painting of a man in a yellow suit holding a pair of scissors. I remember taking the photo because I thought the man in the painting looked handsome and intriguing; little did I know that was David Bowie! The original photo is shot by Terry O’Neill in 1975 “David Bowie in Yellow Suit”.
David Bowie was a creative chameleon and a global icon I will not forget; and I hope future generations will continue to discover his work.
Playlist
Here’s a selection of some of my favourite Bowie tracks (this is my first time using mbzlists to create this playlist; it’s a tool created by unnu and lepisma who’s part of the IndieWeb community!). You can visit the link to the playlist page which provides individual Spotify links in additional to a generated YouTube playlist link.
Naty's Pick: David Bowie
Lyrics
Lastly, here are some lyric snippets I admire from David Bowie.
Well, how come you only want tomorrow?
With its promise of something hard to do
— Teenage Wildlife
You’re 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 you’ve been
No matter when or where you’ve seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain
I’ve had my share, I’ll help you with the pain
You’re not alone
— Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide
Pushing through the market square
So many mothers sighing
News had just come over
We had five years left to cry in
News guy wept and told us
Earth was really dying
Cried so much his face was wet
Then I knew he was not lying
— Five Years
My death waits there among the flowers
Where the blackest shadow cowers
Let’s pick lilacs for the passing time
— My Death
Grown inside a plastic box
Micro thoughts and safety locks
Hearts become outdated clocks
Tickin’ in your mind
— What’s Really Happening
You’re spring to me
All things to me
Don’t you know
You’re life itself
Like the leaf clings to the tree
Oh, my darling, cling to me
For we’re like creatures of the wind
And wild is the wind
Wild is the wind
You touch me
— Wild Is The Wind (lyrics by Ned Washington, for the 1957 film of the same name)
Once there were mountains on mountains
And once there were sunbirds to soar with
And once I could never be down
Got to keep searching and searching
Oh, what will I be believing and who will connect me with love?
Wonderful, wonder who, wonder when
— Station to Station
But we’re absolute beginners
With eyes completely open
But nervous all the same
— Absolute Beginners