In a week when I rejoined Weight Watchers after a 7 year break, when I met up with friends, when I rode a bike for the first time in years and when a plumber came to fix the downstairs loo and we heard of the death of the wonderful actor Alan Rickman, there was really only one topic that I could write about...the unexpected and untimely passing of David Bowie to cancer at the age of 69 and just a few days after his birthday too. FYI, I still have to stop my self pronouncing his name as Bowie as in wowee and have to remember to refer to him as David Bowie as in Zoe.
I have been saddened by his death but have used it as an excuse to listen to loads of his music that, in truth, I haven't heard in many a year and I have loved it! I have even made my own Spotify playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/user/angfisher/playlist/3AIrKZxnpxNHpPVCrDT8h0
I have been immersing myself in the albums that we had at home when we were kids....Ziggy, Diamond Dogs, Hunky Dory to name a few.
Those were the albums that were played by my parents and their friends at all hours of the day and night and I'm so very glad they did. What a musical education we were given. Along with Bowie, we had albums by Elton John, Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton and Cat Stevens, John Lennon et al which we heard time and again. When I listened to Station To Station the other day via Spotify I was surprised by how much of the album I actually knew the words to and yet I have no recollection of hearing it before. Mum and Dad must have had it and played it.
The day that Bowie's death was announced I was due to do a food shop and so, as I wandered up and down the aisles of the supermarket, I came across the CDs that they had for sale. My car is not equipped with anything that I can play mp3s through and so, very occasionally, I will buy a CD that I can play while I'm driving. At home CD's are a thing of the past as all of our music comes from Spotify etc and played through bluetooth speakers or similar. In fact the last CD that I purchased was 'Positive Songs For Negative People' by Frank Turner and I only brought that because I was meeting him and wanted him to sign it for me!
Anyway, the CD selection in the supermarket was limited but they had a selection of Bowie albums there for £5 each. I couldn't resist and splashed the cash on the aforementioned Ziggy, Diamond Dogs and Hunky Dory and have loved playing them at full volume when I have been driving about.
Hearing those album tracks transported me back to my younger days. I can almost hear Mum chatting about Bowie. She loved him! I can't quite hear her singing his songs - in fact I don't recall her singing at all - but she really had a thing for Bowie. He was so unusual, so intelligent, so intriguing. He was just her cup of tea! It made me smile when I received a text from my stepdad on the day of Bowie's death saying that he had no doubt that Mum would already have found him and had a chat with him. I don't doubt it for a minute.
I also tried to make a list of my top 10 Bowie songs but it was an impossible task for me. I love so many of them...'Kooks', 'Quicksand' and 'Life on Mars?' from Hunky Dory, '5 Years' and 'Suffragette City' from Ziggy Stardust. Then there is the wonderful 'Heroes' which will always remind me of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The 'Young Americans' album has some great stuff on it too and 'Can You Hear Me?' is my favourite track from it I think.
However, when I listened to the 'Diamond Dogs' album I knew that there were 5 tracks in a row that I absolutely love. Well, I used to love them but would I still feel the same after a gap of about 20 years since I last heard them?
I sat in the car, put the CD in the player and waited. First there came the spoken words of 'Future Legend' with the sound of cats howling and then ....BOOM!....track 2, 'Diamond Dogs'. It was brilliant to hear it again. Then came the tracks that I really wanted to hear again...'Sweet Thing', straight into 'Candidate' and then into 'Sweet Thing (Reprise). My God, it was as good as I remembered and had hoped. And then the final chords of the reprise crashed straight into 'Rebel Rebel'. It's about 20 minutes (or all of side one on the vinyl LP!) of absolutely fantastic stuff and I have played it to death as the people that live with me will testify I'm sure.
My niece put up a post to say that Bowie was the kind of figure that you always felt would be around for ever and I know what she means. Although he had been out of the public eye for about 10 years or so, he was still there. For myself and for people of my generation who were lucky enough to have been surrounded by his music for a long time I think his death has come as a shock but, for me, it has lead to me rediscovering the music of my youth, to remembering happy times.
I never had to opportunity to experience his live shows but my hubby did see him in 1973 at the Guildford Civic Hall on the 'Ziggy Stardust' tour. Apparently, Bowie gave his last performance as Ziggy a few days later at a show in London. I didn't got to Live Aid or any of the stadium shows that were big in the 80's/90's that Bowie appeared at but I do remember him giving an mesmerising performance of 'Under Pressure' with Annie Lennox at the Freddie Mercury Wembley gig. i recall watching it on TV. A youtube video of it was put on Facebook the other day and it was wonderful to
see it again. Take a look for yourselves:
That's enough from me for now. Enjoy your week, stay safe and well. Thank you Mr. Bowie.
xxxxxx
I have been immersing myself in the albums that we had at home when we were kids....Ziggy, Diamond Dogs, Hunky Dory to name a few.
Those were the albums that were played by my parents and their friends at all hours of the day and night and I'm so very glad they did. What a musical education we were given. Along with Bowie, we had albums by Elton John, Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton and Cat Stevens, John Lennon et al which we heard time and again. When I listened to Station To Station the other day via Spotify I was surprised by how much of the album I actually knew the words to and yet I have no recollection of hearing it before. Mum and Dad must have had it and played it.
The day that Bowie's death was announced I was due to do a food shop and so, as I wandered up and down the aisles of the supermarket, I came across the CDs that they had for sale. My car is not equipped with anything that I can play mp3s through and so, very occasionally, I will buy a CD that I can play while I'm driving. At home CD's are a thing of the past as all of our music comes from Spotify etc and played through bluetooth speakers or similar. In fact the last CD that I purchased was 'Positive Songs For Negative People' by Frank Turner and I only brought that because I was meeting him and wanted him to sign it for me!
Anyway, the CD selection in the supermarket was limited but they had a selection of Bowie albums there for £5 each. I couldn't resist and splashed the cash on the aforementioned Ziggy, Diamond Dogs and Hunky Dory and have loved playing them at full volume when I have been driving about.
Hearing those album tracks transported me back to my younger days. I can almost hear Mum chatting about Bowie. She loved him! I can't quite hear her singing his songs - in fact I don't recall her singing at all - but she really had a thing for Bowie. He was so unusual, so intelligent, so intriguing. He was just her cup of tea! It made me smile when I received a text from my stepdad on the day of Bowie's death saying that he had no doubt that Mum would already have found him and had a chat with him. I don't doubt it for a minute.
I also tried to make a list of my top 10 Bowie songs but it was an impossible task for me. I love so many of them...'Kooks', 'Quicksand' and 'Life on Mars?' from Hunky Dory, '5 Years' and 'Suffragette City' from Ziggy Stardust. Then there is the wonderful 'Heroes' which will always remind me of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The 'Young Americans' album has some great stuff on it too and 'Can You Hear Me?' is my favourite track from it I think.
However, when I listened to the 'Diamond Dogs' album I knew that there were 5 tracks in a row that I absolutely love. Well, I used to love them but would I still feel the same after a gap of about 20 years since I last heard them?
I sat in the car, put the CD in the player and waited. First there came the spoken words of 'Future Legend' with the sound of cats howling and then ....BOOM!....track 2, 'Diamond Dogs'. It was brilliant to hear it again. Then came the tracks that I really wanted to hear again...'Sweet Thing', straight into 'Candidate' and then into 'Sweet Thing (Reprise). My God, it was as good as I remembered and had hoped. And then the final chords of the reprise crashed straight into 'Rebel Rebel'. It's about 20 minutes (or all of side one on the vinyl LP!) of absolutely fantastic stuff and I have played it to death as the people that live with me will testify I'm sure.
My niece put up a post to say that Bowie was the kind of figure that you always felt would be around for ever and I know what she means. Although he had been out of the public eye for about 10 years or so, he was still there. For myself and for people of my generation who were lucky enough to have been surrounded by his music for a long time I think his death has come as a shock but, for me, it has lead to me rediscovering the music of my youth, to remembering happy times.
I never had to opportunity to experience his live shows but my hubby did see him in 1973 at the Guildford Civic Hall on the 'Ziggy Stardust' tour. Apparently, Bowie gave his last performance as Ziggy a few days later at a show in London. I didn't got to Live Aid or any of the stadium shows that were big in the 80's/90's that Bowie appeared at but I do remember him giving an mesmerising performance of 'Under Pressure' with Annie Lennox at the Freddie Mercury Wembley gig. i recall watching it on TV. A youtube video of it was put on Facebook the other day and it was wonderful to
see it again. Take a look for yourselves:
Under Pressure. David Bowie - Annie Lennox - The Freddie ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ildVYgYWPqc
xxxxxx
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