David Bowie - Life on Mars?

Soul Music

BBC

Personal Journals, Music Commentary, Society & Culture, Music

4.7 • 772 Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2021

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Life on Mars was released on David Bowie's Hunky Dory album in 1971.

Two years later it came out as a single in its own right. Famous for its exploration of disillusionment and alienation, there is no one single definitive story behind it. But that is perhaps the song's beauty and the secret behind its appeal - that its cryptic lyrics are open to interpretation, and can mean different things to different people.

Musicians and fans talk about what Life on Mars? means to them, and its lasting emotional impact.

Special programme made to mark Bowie's birthday on January 8th 1947 and commemorating his death on January 10th 2016.

And what does the question mark in the song's title mean?

With contributions from:

* Musician Dana Gillespie whose autobiography is Weren't Born A Man * Bowie author Chris O'Leary * Scientist Abigail Fraeman of NASA's Mars Mission * Artist Bridget Griggs * Reverend Steve Stockman * Screenwriter Ashley Pharoah (Life on Mars)

Producer: Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio Bristol

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2021.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Traitors is back and so is that mysterious cloaked figure with the familiar fringe.
0:06.7	Yeah, it's me.
0:07.9	And when you've watched Claudia in the castle, join me, Ed Gamble, for the official visualised companion podcast.
0:13.7	And remember, I'll be listening.
0:15.9	Okay?
0:16.7	No, seriously, I love it.
0:18.5	What a faithful.
0:19.7	We'll unpack betrayals and spill scandalous secrets
0:22.3	with celeb guests, traitors' legends,
0:25.0	and murdered and banished players.
0:27.1	The traitors uncloked.
0:28.4	Watch on EyePlayer, listen for more on BBC Sounds.
0:33.1	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:37.3	As a child, and most likely because of my home life, I escaped outside.
0:43.6	That was my escape.
0:45.1	I remember, really young, like five years old, in my little blue snow suit in the snow,
0:50.2	looking at the dark sky and the stars and asking, what is out there?
0:56.1	It's a god-awful small affair to the girl with a mousy hair.
1:02.9	Hi, my name is Bridget Griggs. I'm a Toronto-based artist.
1:09.8	In the last several years, I've been painting work based on David Boy's music.
1:16.4	His song seems to be so open to empathy and generosity of really understanding people that
1:25.4	are suffering.
	...

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