Three Random Bowie Lyrical Connections
Bowie is probably not the first artist to recycle lyrics, themes or ideas. The thing with Bowie, though, is it isn’t always clear if he’s doing this on purpose. The following are not exactly hidden lyrics, and I’m not breaking new ground. Nonetheless, if you’ve never picked up on these connections, they’re kinda fun…
1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Bowie mentions Snow White and dwarfs— just not in the same song. He famously sings, “talking bout Monroe and walkin’ on Snow White” in The Jean Genie (1973). The song’s lyrics can’t be heard as literal, and “Snow White” is generally thought to mean cocaine. But who knows— the line doesn’t actually make any more sense if you swap “cocaine” for “Snow White.” As if to one-up himself on senselessness, Bowie manages to name-drop the Seven Dwarfs in “Little Wonder” (1997). This is not exactly a secret, but if you didn’t know, listen to the song again— they’re all there— “Dopey morning Doc, Grumpy gnomes… Sleepy time, Bashful but nude… It’s all in the tablets, Sneezy Bhutan… Mars Happy nation, sit on my karma.” And yes, Bowie managed to work some other Bowie-related words in there, too (I mean, he said he did it on purpose), including — gnome. So maybe, the line in “The Jean Genie” actually is just a reference to Snow White?
2. Star Spangled Bowie. Reality (2003) contains two songs that quietly work in the line, “by the dawn’s early light,” last known to be found in the U.S. National Anthem. “She’ll Drive the Big Car” includes the lines, “She slips beneath the sheets; A husband’s quiet devoted wife; But strangers, sad and nervous; By the dawn’s early light.” OK, not too obtuse. The words actually convey discernible meaning in context. But then the line pops up again in “Looking for Water”: “The look in your eyes; That never means never; The dawn’s early light; Baby, dumb is forever.” Hmmm… it makes a little less sense here. And actually, that’s not all. Years earlier, Bowie would sometimes sing the song, “Amsterdam,” by Jacques Brel. Bowie didn’t write the words, but the song contains this lyric: “In the port of Amsterdam there’s a sailor who’s born; On a hot muggy morn by the dawn’s early light.” There’s an argument to be made the Reality is just a very American-themed album, but not so, “Amsterdam.” Maybe he just liked the sound of it.
3. Tens of thousands of exactly what? I don’t know how I never made this connection— and actually have never seen anyone else make this connection. “Rock ‘N’ Roll With Me,” from Diamond Dogs (1974) sounds, on the surface, like it might be a conventional love song. But it contains some weird lines, one of which is, “I would take a foxy kind of stand; While tens of thousands found me in demand.” What is he talking about? I don’t know, but for an album I listen to over and over again, I just recently noticed that it’s not the first time he mentions “ten thousand.” Bowie sets the stage in the spoken-word “Future Legend,” when he says, “Ten thousand peoploids split into small tribes.” So, maybe there more of a connection between “Rock ‘N’ Roll With Me” and the dystopian setting of the rest of the album than is generally thought…