Talk:Life on Mars?

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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)


Contents

[edit] 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

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:Bowie LifeOnMars.jpg

Image:Bowie LifeOnMars.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 18:18, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale has since been added to the image in question. Cheers, Ian Rose 10:00, 2 June 2007 (UTC)