There are a couple of other entries I intended for today but I unexpectedly came across this rendition of “Starman” two nights ago while watching the 2021 Best Picture Oscar winner movie, CODA. In the context of the movie, a high school choir sings “Starman,” and sure enough the entire performance appears on the movie’s soundtrack — here it is.

“CODA” means “Child of Deaf Adults,” which is a major theme of the movie. But “coda” is also the final passage of a piece of music, and the other major theme of the movie is the main character’s progression of being interested in singing to going to deciding that she would pursue music as a career. So music is how the story ends…

Bowie is mentioned elsewhere in the film where the main character’s music teacher mentions that Bowie said of Bob Dylan that his voice is like, “sand and glue,” which of course is a line from the song, “Song for Bobby Dylan.” The music teacher’s point was that you can work with what you got.

This version os “Starman” is fun and, on some level meant to be kind of funny. The joke, I think, is that the once-subversive Bowie had become so mainstream as to end up in a high school choir. But there’s nothing wrong with the performance as music. Its fun to hear.

I’d also note that the video is a video. Although the main image remains static, there is animation happening in the background. It might be worth the three minutes to watch the whole thing (though don’t want for a surprise ending, like the music, the animation is pleasant but not spectacular).