Lyrics Series I 12 I Bowie’s outrageous claims of identity

I recently noted that one of Bowie’s funniest lines (perhaps unintentionally), came from his 1969 song, “Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed.” It’s one of several songs in which Bowie either declares himself to be something, or not to be something. Sometimes these claims are clearly metaphorical, but sometimes I have no idea what he had in mind. Bowie actually does this quite a bit, and the list would be longer if I wanted to discuss self-referential lyrics including his identifying himself by name, or simply talking about his feelings or actions. That said, what follows is a top 10 list of Bowie’s most outrageous claims of identity because, you know, top 10:

1. “I’m a phallus in pigtails” from “Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed” (1969). Bowie was trying to be Dylanesque with this song, but not even Bob Dylan would come up with a line quite like this. No idea what Bowie meant.

2. “I am the spirit of greed, a lord of theft” from “If You Can See Me” (2013). After beginning with disturbing, seemingly violent but ultimately incomprehensible lyrics, Bowie begins making exaggerated threats, like, “I’ll burn all your books” while claiming to be some sort of supernatural, demonic force. Still don’t know what he meant.

3. “I’m an alligator” from “Moonage Daydream” (1972). Actually, he claims to be many things in this song including a Mamma Poppa and a Space Invader. 👾

4. “I’m a Blackstar” from “Blackstar” (2016) Here Bowie wants to make sure everyone knows what type of star he is, and what type of star he isn’t. Much of the song is a recitation of these things.

5. “I’m a dude, Dad” from “All the Young Dudes” (1972) The meaning of slang terms evolve over time, and you kinda get from his usage that Bowie didn’t have a Jeff Bridges type in mind when he self identified as a dude.

6. “I was stone” from “The Bewlay Brothers” (1971). OK, in context this claim can plausibly be interpreted to be Bowie’s description of a type of sexual experience— “I was stone and he was wax, so he could scream, and still relax.” But actually, the totality of the song is so abstract that “context” is a relative concept here.

7. “The monster was me” from “The Width of a Circle” (1970). Perhaps the oddest thing about this image is that after establishing that he’s a monster who talks to himself, the narrator of this song doesn’t really describe anything monstrous.

8. “We are the dead” from “We Are the Dead” (1974). This is another one that makes more sense in context— the claim, and the entire song, directly references the George Orwell book, 1984. Because of this, there’s little reason to think that Bowie wan’t basically saying, “we’re as good as dead.” But what if he wasn’t? He would later appear as a vampire in the movie, The Hunger (1983), and would sing about “walking the dead” in “Where Are We Now?” (2013). So maybe he really was claiming to have been dead.

9. “I am Ramona A. Stone” from one of the Outside segues (1995). Is this what he meant by, “I was stone?” Probably not. Bowie takes on many personas on this album, one weirder than the next. I’m singling this one out because it is an adaptation from an earlier piece called, “I Am With Name,” which is yet another elusive “I am” statement he repeats here.

10. “I’m not some piece of teenage wildlife” from “Teenage Wildlife” (1980). While Bowie wants us to know he is many things (see the above nine examples), there’s one thing he wants everyone to know he is not— a piece of teenage wildlife. I have never encountered this term outside the context of this song, or at least Bowie, so the whole idea of language relying on a common understanding of words doesn’t really rank high on the list of Bowie’s communication strategies. But whatever “a piece of teenage wildlife” is, he ain’t it.