Bowie Songs of the Year Pt. 1: #6-#10

Last year I did a series of posts of “Bowie songs of the year,” in which I selected songs that represented what I thought were the top ten news stories of the year. I liked the idea of the series but in retrospect think it might have been a little dragged out. That said, click here for the recap post. This year, I’m going to condense the series into two posts, starting with this one. Come back tomorrow for the top 5:

10. “Who Can I Be Now?” (1975) This is too perfect a match to represent the ongoing saga of George Santos. Part of the song’s refrain is, “Can I be real?” The answer for George was, apparently not.
9. “Video Crime” (1989). I think Bowie and Tin Machine were going for a song about violence in entertainment here rather than something like the Fox News settlement in the Dominion case. But the “crime” was lying about the role of Dominion voting machines, which, in so doing promoted disinformation that led to violence, including the January 6th attempted insurrection. “Blood on video; video crime.” Hmmm…maybe this is more on point that I first thought.
8. “Ziggy Stardust” (1972). In fairness, what I had in mind was the whole album, The Rise and Fall etc. to represent that Kevin McCarthy sideshow. Beginning with his 15-vote election as speaker and ending with his unceremonious removal and recent retirement announcement, the whole thing would make a good rock opera some day. “When the kids had killed the man…”
7. “You Will Set the World on Fire” (2013). OK, this song is really about folk singers metaphorically setting the world on fire. But I’m picking it to represent the Canadian forest fires that raged all summer and ruined the air for much of North America. Larger than the enormous fires themselves, the phenomena is a product of the even greater problem of climate change. And actually, if you take out the many references to specific folk singers, the remaining lyrics actually work: “I can hear the nation cry; You will set the world, babe; You will set the world on fire…”
6. “Girls” (1986). The biggest movie of the year was Barbie. The biggest tour was Taylor Swift’s “Eras.” The #1 book on the New York Times bestsellers list at the time of this writing, which I think has been at that spot for five weeks, is Brittany Spears’ The Woman In Me. 2023 was The Year of the Mid-30s to Early-40s Woman. I don’t know what it means, but “Girls,” which Bowie originally wrote for Tina Turner, is as good a song as any to represent the trend.
5. “I’ll Take You There” (2013). I refuse to call it a crisis, but migrants were in the news for much of the year (and not just in the United States). This song is actually about migrants fleeing somewhere for a new life in the United States. “What will be my name in the USA?” The song captures both the hope and fear (but mostly the fear) wrapped up in the experience.

Come back tomorrow for the top five Bowie songs of the year.