DoM’s latest Bowie Mashup: Ex Fan De Space Oddity

DoM is a French mashup artist to whom this blog owes quite a debt. I have been writing this blog since 2018 but did little to try to draw attention to it until DoM discovered one of my posts that featured one of his amazing mashups. He sent me a note, which began an exchange that resulted in my first interview—a written interview I did with DoM. I now include weekly interviews (which these days are usually videos) and many more people all over the world visit the blog on a regular basis.

None of that has to do with my appreciation for DoM’s latest mashup, combining the words of French singer Jane Birkin’s “Ex Fan des Sixties” and the music of Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” As usual, DoM weaves these two together so seamlessly that the end result sounds like it’s the way the song is supposed to be. I wasn’t familiar with Birkin, and if I hadn’t known “Space Oddity,” I wouldn’t have suspected this was a mashup. Plus, though I don’t speak French, I like the melodic sound of the language and Birkin’s voice singing in it.

There’s actually a tangential thematic connection between the two songs. Bowie’s Space Oddity album, though less the title track, is to some extent a refutation of the 60s. It was originally released in 1969, and songs like “Cygnet Committee” and “Memory of a Free Festival” look back with anger. And while the title track itself isn’t quite so reflective, it does capture the moment’s fascination with space exploration and the desire to escape from it all.

Birkin is not refuting the 60s but lamenting their passing. She mentions a variety of singers who died and bands that broke up. They are all stand-ins for the narrator’s lost youth. Birkin was 32 when she released the song, which is still pretty young from where I stand, but it is also the point at which one begins to feel like an adult. I can also imagine how 1978 must have seemed like a harsher, more complicated point in time than the 1960s, which by that point probably appeared rosier through the gauzy lens of memory. Plus, I am old enough to remember how rock fans had grown tired of Disco by 1978, especially compared to the previous decade’s music (though I should note, Bowie himself was making some pretty great and innovative music at the time).

Bowie, by contrast, was only 22 when he released “Space Oddity” in 1969, which obviously was still in the decade the album was about. Bowie would later — much later — write his own lamentations about his lost youth, but at the time he was dissatisfied and ready to move on. I suspect most of us can empathize with the sentiment, but I also get the sense that the 22-year-old Bowie didn’t fully appreciate being 22.

A few small oddities jump out at me about Birkin’s lyrics—she rattles through various musicians, but I don’t associate all of them with the 60s. T-Rex is on the list (though not Bowie), which existed in the 60s but I think of them more as a 1970s band. Eddie Cochrane died in 1960 and Buddy Holly died the year before. To some extent, their inclusion is less about the actual 1960s and more about the spirit and music of the narrator’s younger days.

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I didn’t recognize Jane Birkin’s name, so I looked her up. What I found is that she was a British-French actress and singer who became a major star in French cinema (she occasionally appeared in English-language movies, a few of which, it turns out, I indeed have seen). Beyond her acting and singing career, Birkin lent her name to the iconic Hermès Birkin handbag—a detail I hadn’t known was the reason behind its name.

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I’ll note that I am posting this on the day of the U.S. Election. Several of my recent posts have been more directly about the election and I am very conscious that this really is unrelated. Except that I am reminded by my exchange with DoM, and by the merging of cultures as expressed in this song, that we are all connected and that what happens in one place resonates elsewhere. I know, kind of hokey, but I’m posting this at the exact moment that there’s nobody left to convince and it’s too early to reflect. And in any case, you came here for Bowie, not necessarily politics, so enjoy…

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Translation of the lyrics

Ex-fan of the sixties, little baby doll
How well you danced rock’n’roll
Ex-fan of the sixties, where are your roaring twenties?
What happened to all your idols?
Where is the shadow of the Shadows
Byrds, Doors
Animals, Moody Blues
Separated, McCartney
George Harrison
And Ringo Starr and John Lennon

Ex-fan of the sixties, little baby doll
How well you danced rock’n’roll
Ex-fan of the sixties, where are your roaring twenties?
What happened to all your idols?
Missing Brian Jones, Jim Morrison
Eddie Cochrane, Buddy Holly
Ditto Jimi Hendrix
Otis Redding
Janis Joplin, T.Rex, Elvis

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I’m giving this post the “Divine Symmetry” tag. “Divine Symmetry” is an occasional series in this blog comparing a Bowie song to a different song. The name of the series comes from a line from the Bowie song, “Quicksand.”