Goodbye Goblin King, and Thanks for the Sweet Tunes!

[Stillwater]

I thought some of you might appreciate this.

As you know, David Bowie just passed this week. He died of a cancerous malignancy at age 69.

The remarkable thing here though, is that he released an entire album two days before he died, on his birthday.

More remarkable still, with legendary poise, he wrote a whole album about his own immediate death, and his embracing of it. I can't recall another time this has ever happened... where another musical artist has turned the lens of their art to focus on their own imminent death. It truly seems to be a unique and surreal thing, and a priceless gift to be dropped into the hands of such a musical genius.

Bowie even managed to film a video for the titular single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kszLwBaC4Sw

Bowie joins us here as a blind prophet, with substitute button eyes, as a vestal virgin takes Major Tom's jewel-encrusted skull on a pilgrimage, and dancers convulse in spirited rapture. Pretty other-worldly imagery, to put it lightly.  



And then the chorus:

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!)

You can read into that what you will.

I choose to see it as a celebration of the act of a musical artist discarding themself, and channeling the universal persona and voice. When you stand up on the stage, the person you were is gone. In your body, is a new being. It is very much a metaphysical ritual. His physical death is thus rendered meaningless, as he already died and was reborn all those decades ago.

I am sure it admits of many other interpretations as well.


-----------------------------------------------------------------


Goodbye Goblin King, and thanks for the sweet tunes!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--IqqusnNQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRcPA7Fzebw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3qm2tTD_oQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgcc5V9Hu3g

[Xanth]

He was quite the man, human being and consciousness.  I am happy to have lived during the same time as he.