Day 83 | Slip Away

Iman is having a terrible year. Her mother just passed away, 83 days after her husband. I don’t personally know Iman but I feel for her and could have chosen among several Bowie songs as a show of empathy. I settled on this one in a roundabout way. At first I was thinking of songs that might be appropriate for April Fool’s Day. I ruled out “The Laughing Gnome” because it is just too terrible and started to think of “Slip Away” because the starting point of the song is a ridiculous old children’s program called “The Uncle Floyd Show.” The show was so goofy that one version of this song begins with an extended excerpt of Bowie and others just laughing at an episode as it played out. But the song itself is no joke. It is actually very melancholy. Uncle Floyd represents an innocent lost diversion—“ We were dumb, but you were fun”—we didn’t appreciate what we had. “Some of us will always stay behind; Down in space it’s always 1982” That’s Bowie version of saying what Springsteen said in the entire song, “Glory Days.” If there’s any doubt about the song’s purpose as a nostalgic lament for the past, its title seals the deal. There’s no lesson here, just a mood. Once Iman gets past the intense grief, I’m guessing this is the mood that will settle in. Album: Heathen

Note from 2018: Did I screw up the dates? What I wrote suggests it was originally published on April 1st. There’s no going back now…