Bowie-adherent and learned musicophile Siobhan Patricia Lynch dwells with David Bowie’s final opus BLACKSTAR
“Something happened on the day he died
Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside
Somebody else took his place, and bravely cried
(I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar)
How many times does an angel fall?
How many people lie instead of talking tall?
He trod on sacred ground, he cried loud into the crowd“
David Bowie – Blackstar
As the haunting sounds of the title track Blackstar start to flow over my speakers for the Nth time this week, it’s hard not to be overcome by the emotion brought to the title piece of David Bowie’s gift to us in his last days, his lyrics start to feel prophetic. While by
accounts of his long time producer, Tony Visconti and people like Brian Eno, he was already working on his next one, his lyrics are strangely prophetic.
He says “I’m a blackstar” and proceeds to say “I’m not a rockstar, not a gangstar, not a popstar”…
But in the wake of his death – the sonic landscape painted by Bowie and the Donny McCaslin Band is largely experimental jazz, with a progressive sensibility, but it is Bowie delivering his own eulogy that seems to be the real value of Blackstar, He’s not a white star – born the wrong way around, and he’s a star’s star. He’s a blackstar.
However, as prophetic as it is, according to McCaslin, Bowie said the first song was “About ISIS” … but one wonders if he knew there would be another way to view it. Between McCaslin’s saxophone and Mark Guiliana’s rhythms in shifting time signatures, the effect is eerie and throws the listener off a bit, kind of like Bowie did himself, his entire life.
The experimental Jazz of the next song comes through heavily, but was reminscent of late 90’s Bowie, and he throws us off yet again with lyrics that seem to be describing an encounter with a pro-Domme where he actually had to safeword, but enjoyed himself thoroughly, opining “Tis a Pity She’s a Whore” – ‘Nuff said, David.
Lazarus is where we start to really feel like he wanted to leave a message to everyone who loved and adored him and his music. “Look up here, I’m in heaven, I’ve got scars that can’t be see, drama that can;t be stolen, everybody knows me now” – the rhythm is more somber, and the McCaslin band brings a gothic rock influenced piece that will probably haunt his fans forever, as we all reflect upon his life… and for anyone knows about his history, it hearkens back to an entire life lived, (“By the time I got to New York”) and now he’s free, just like that bluebird, ain’t that just like Bowie? I said that Bowie and Co. channeled the Cure in Lazarus, but outdid them in every way. Then again, throughout his history, Bowie would take different styles and genres of music, and take them to the next level…
Which brings us to Sue (Or In A Season of Crime). Originally recorded for “Nothing Has Changed” – with a larger band and a more traditional fusion jazz feel, this time, with a Jazz band, he goes for a more King Crimsonesque feel, conjuring up images of Mid-90’s King Crimson (it might be mentioned that Adrian Belew, a long time guitarist and collaborator with Bowie was in King Crimson), yet, in typical Bowie fashion, taking it to the next level. In his typical storytelling fashion, he seems to be talking to a sick wife, who “was a fool” because “she went with that clown” – but it’s hard not to assume “that clown” is death itself. It’s hard in reflection, to separate the fact that he passed two days after this album’s release, and many of the songs in retrospect seem to be reflections on death and loss.
The real gem on this album is “Girl Loves Me”, written entirely in Nadsat – the pseudo-language that Anthony Burgess wrote “A Clockwork Orange” in…. while in a Peter Gabriel influenced arrangement, also takes it to the next level, between the Nadsat lyrics and the chorus “Girl Loves Me” – it is beautiful, haunting, and really dark. Truly groundbreaking, while exploring familiar ground, it ends up with Bowie, McCaslin, Guiliana, Tim LeFebvre (Bass), Jason Lindner (Keys), Ben Monder (Guitar), James Murphy (Percussion) and Tony Visconti (Strings and production) , taking it to a another level yet again, outdoing Bowie’s contemporary Gabriel at his own game. Which is impressive indeed! One thing Bowie knew how to do is pick some of the world’s most amazing musicians to play with him, throughout his history, and this album is no exception.
Moving on to Dollar Days, we move into very familiar Bowie, with an “hours…” reminiscent arrangement, we move back to “Cash girls suffer me, I’ve got no enemies” – in either a confession or a persona, with Bowie, we never really know, as he inhabited his personas, but it seemed to address a similar situation to Tis a Pity She’s a Whore, that “It meant nothing to me” and “I’m trying to forget” – but he can’t seem to. One thread about David Bowie that seems to hold true throughout stories told, by relative strangers, to people who had contact with him, was that everyone he met actually did mean something to him, even if for just that brief moment. He always made those people feel important.
Which brings us to Bowie’s parting gift, “I Can’t Give Everything Away” – where he tells us – in lyrics, the sadness of McCaslin’s soprano and alto saxophones, and Ben Monder’s somber guitar,
“I know something is very wrong
The pulse returns the prodigal sons
The blackout hearts, the flowered news
With skull designs upon my shoes
I can’t give everything
I can’t give everything
Away”
…. Mic Drop, Rest in Peace , David Robert Jones.
art credit ISO Records/Wikipedia
Continued: Something happened on the day he died Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside Somebody else took his place and bravely cried I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar How many times does an angel fall? How many people lie instead of talking tall? He trod on sacred ground, he cried loud into the crowd I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar This is a particularly emotional verse, which seems to reflect back on a bitter-sweet life, as well as looking ahead to the time when it will end. If we view Blackstar as Bowie’s “swan song”, as many have suggested,… Read more »
Everyone always makes the mistake of assuming that David Bowie understood his work, that he must somehow “get it”, when in fact he really had no idea what he was doing most of the time. In his own words: “It has something to do with the arts, that’s all I know”. Like all truly great artists, he was simply following his muse. It is probably not wise to try to interpret any of his songs too literally, least of all Blackstar (and the idea that is “about ISIS” is so ridiculous that I will never believe it unless I hear… Read more »