Remembering David Bowie

The Man with Two Different Eyes

by

B.D. Adams  ©2016

I read the news today – January 11, 2016 -- that another creative artist has gone away. Gone away. I cannot bring myself to use the word … died. A very unusual person with one blue eye and one brown/hazel eye.

David Bowie – David Robert Jones – has left from beside us. The creator of Ziggy Stardust, of Space Oddity, of Changes, of Fame, or Ashes to Ashes of many, many musical compositions has left us. As with many people of the 1970s and 1980s, music was a big part of the world. If asked, you can probably say what music you remembered for any event.

My husband, son and me went to see Bowie’s Serious Moonlight Tour 1983, when we lived in Germany. Of course, I had bought the Let’s Dance album, so my son, only 7 years old, recognized the songs from the album and was enthralled with Bowie and the concert! It was his first Rock Concert, but in no way his only. I educated him well.

I realize that Bowie was not everyone’s “cup of tea,” but he was a musician of memorable songs. His announced bisexual behavior upset many people. However, he also said that that was more part of his made-up persona, not that important in his life.

When I was an impressionable teenager, The Beatles was one music group I listened to, as well as to the Rolling Stones when they jumped in. However, David Bowie was all by himself! Those of us now in our 60s and 70s will never forget his voice, forget his musical arrangements.

When I first heard Space Oddity, it was not just a hard hitting rock and roll piece with repeated lines. It had a hint of folk music (acoustic guitar), storytelling and current events. It grabbed me. And yes, a lot of his music was hard hitting, heart ponding rock and roll in his style, but most of his works were lyrical.

David Bowie was not a religious icon, but for the music world, he was an innovative music icon. Others have copied or emulated or imitated, but never surpassed.

If you have any Bowie music – vinyl, 8-track, cassette, CD or MP3 – put a record on the changer, insert an 8-track or cassette or CD into the player or dial up David Bowie’s music to pay homage to this music maker. Like Buddy Holly, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, John Lennon, Michael Jackson and so many others … the music never goes away. 

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