Biography:
David Robert Jones (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie, was an English singer, songwriter and actor. He was a leading figure in the music industry and is considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, with his music and stagecraft having a significant impact on popular music.
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Other songs:
- 1984
- A New Career In A New Town
- Absolute Beginners
- All The Young Dudes
- Always Crashing In The Same Car
- Amsterdam
- As The World Falls Down
- Ashes To Ashes
- Bewlay Brothers
- Big Brother
- Cactus
- Changes
- China Girl
- Conversation Piece
- Cygnet Commitee
- Fame
- Fashion
- Five Years
- Golden Years
- Ground Control To Major Tom
- Heroes
- I'd Rather Be High
- Joe The Lion
- Kingdom Come
- Kooks
- Lady Stardust
- Let's Dance
- Life On Mars
- Life On Mars?
- Liza Jane
- Magic Dance
- Modern Love
- Moonage Daydream
- Port Of Amsterdam
- Quicksand
- Rebel Rebel
- Rock 'n' Roll Suicide
- Rock'n'roll Suicide
- Scary Monsters
- Soul Love
- Space Oddity
- Space Oditty
- Starman
- Station To Station
- The Jean Genie
- The Kooks
- The Man Who Sold The World
- The Stars (are Out Tonight)
- Tvc15
- Underground
- Valentine's Day
- Volare
- Young Americans
- Ziggy Stardust
- Oh! You Pretty Things
- Space Odditiy
- 87 And Cry
- A Better Future
- Across The Universe
- Afraid
- After All
- Alabama Song
- Aladdin Sane
- All The Madmen
- Alternative Candidate
- Amazing
- America Live
- An Occasional Dream
- An Oddity On Mars
- Andy Warhol
- Anyway Anyhow Anywhere
- Baals Hymn
- Baby Can Dance
- Baby Loves That Way
- Baby Universal
- Bang Bang
- Battle For Britain
- Be My Wife
- Beat Of Your Drum
- Because Youre Young
- Bewlay Bros
- Blackout
- Blackstar
- Blue Jean
- Bombers
- Born In A Ufo
- Boss Of Me
- Boys Keep Swinging
- Bring Me The Disco King Lohner
- Buddha Of Suburbia
- Bus Stop
- Can You Hear Me
- Candidate
- Cant Help Thinking About Me
- Cat People Putting Out Fire
- Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family
- Come And Buy My Toys
- Crack City
- Cracked Actor
- Criminal World
- Dancing In The Street
- David Bowie
- Day In Day Out
- Days
- Dead Man Walking
- Dead Man Walking Acoustic
- Diamond Dogs
- Dirty Boys
- Dj
- Dollar Days
- Dont Bring Me Down
- Dont Look Down
- Drive
- Eight Line Poem
- Even A Fool Learns To Love
- Everyone Says Hi
- Everythings Alright
- Fall Dog Bombs The Moon
- Fantastic Voyage
- Fascination
- Fill Your Heart
- Friday On My Mind
- Future Legend
- Girl Loves Me
- God Bless The Girl
- God Knows Im Good
- God Only Knows
- Hallo Spaceboy
- Hang On To Yourself
- Heathen The Rays
- Heavens In Here
- Helden
- Here Comes The Night
- Heroes Helden
- How Does The Grass Grow
- Hunky Dory
- I Cant Explain
- I Cant Give Everything Away
- I Have Not Been To Oxford Town
- I Know Its Gonna Happen Someday
- Id Rather Be High
- If There Is Something
- If You Can See Me
- Im Deranged
- Im Waiting For The Man
- In The Heat Of The Morning
- It Aint Easy
- Its No Game
- Its No Game Part 1
- Its No Game Part 2
- Janine
- John Im Only Dancing
- Join The Gang
- Jump They Say
- Karma Man
- Lady Grinning Soul
- Lazarus
- Let Me Sleep Beside You
- Lets Dance
- Letter To Hermione
- Lightning Frightening
- Little Bombadier
- Little Wonder
- London Boys
- Look Back In Anger
- Love Is Lost
- Love You Till Tuesday
- Loving The Alien
- Lust For Life
- Madmen
- Maid Of Bond Street
- Memory Of A Free Festival
- Miracle Goodnight
- Move On
- My Death
- Never Get Old
- Never Let Me Down
- New Angels Of Promise
- New Killer Star
- New Yorks In Love
- Nite Flights
- Oh You Pretty Things
- Outside
- Panic In Detroit
- Peace On Earth
- Prisoner Of Love
- Putting Out Fire
- Queen Bitch
- Ragazzo Solo Ragazza Sola
- Red Sails
- Remembering Marie A
- Ricochet
- Right
- Rock N Roll Suicide
- Rock N Roll With Me
- Rosalyn
- Rubber Band
- Running Gun Blues
- Savior Machine
- Scary Monsters And Super Creeps
- Scary Monsters And Supercreeps
- Scream Like A Baby
- See Emily Play
- Sell Me A Coat
- Seven
- Seven Years In Tibet
- Shadow Man
- Shake It
- Shapes Of Things
- She Shook Me Cold
- Shes Got Medals
- Shining Star
- Silly Boy Blue
- Slip Away
- Slow Burn
- Somebody Up There Likes Me
- Song For Bob Dylan
- Sons Of The Silent Age
- Sorrow
- Sound And Vision
- Star
- Strangers When We Meet
- Sue Or In A Season Of Crime
- Suffragette City
- Sunday
- Survive
- Sweet Thing
- Take My Tip
- Teenage Wildlife
- The Cygnet Committee
- The Informer
- The Laughing Gnome
- The Next Day
- The Prettiest Star
- The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
- The Secret Life Of Arabia
- The Stars Are Out Tonight
- The Supermen
- This Is Not America
- Thursdays Child
- Time
- Time Will Crawl
- Tired Of My Life
- Tis A Pity Shes A Whore
- Trying To Get To Heaven
- Tvc
- Uncle Arthur
- Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed
- Up The Hill Backwards
- Valentines Day
- Velvet Goldmine
- Warszawa
- Watch That Man
- We Are Hungry Men
- We Are The Dead
- What In The World
- When I Live My Dream
- When Im Five
- When The Wind Blows
- Where Are We Now
- Where Have All The Good Times Gone
- Who Can I Be Now
- Width Of A Circle
- Wild Is The Wind
- Wild
- Win
- Within You
- Without You
- Wood Jackson
- Word On A Wing
- Working Class Hero
- You Feel So Lonely You Could Die
- You Will Set The World On Fire
- Zeroes
Four years of hard work!This month of May we celebrated four years on the air. We continue working on the dissemination of this wonderful instrument, thank you for participating in our story!
Song: Life On Mars?
Artist: David Bowie
Album: Hunky Dory, 1971
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--IqqusnNQ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_%28song%29
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kPDJQBtHaY (Live)
Tempo: 4|4
Style: Weimar & French Cabaret Style
Tuning: Standard
Capo 3
Chords EADGBe
D XX0232
F#m/C X44222
F#dim7/C X34242
B X24442
Em 022000
G/D XX0002
A7 X02020
F/C X33211
C#aug XX3221 (I/F) or Fret 9 (IX)
Dm XX0231
Eb XX1343
Bb X13331
Bbaug X10332
Gm 355333
Bb7/F XX3334
G 320003
C X32010
Ebaug XX1003
Em7 020000
Am7 X02010
Cm7 X35353
C#m7b5 X4545X
Ebdim7 XX1212
Bdim X2343X
F#m 244222
Cm X35543
INTRO:(Piano over)
|D |
VERSE 1:
D F#m/C# F#dim7/C
It's a god-awful small affair,
B Em
To the girl with the mousy hair.
G/D A7
But her mummy is yelling "No!”,
D
And her daddy has told her to go.
F#m/C F#dim7/C
But her friend is nowhere to be seen.
B Em
Now she walks, through her sunken dream.
G/D A7
To the seat with the clearest view,
F/C
And she's hooked to the silver screen.
C#aug Dm
But the film is a saddening bore.
Eb Bb
For she's lived it ten times or more.
Bbaug Gm
She could spit in the eyes of fools,
Bb7/F
As they ask her to focus on…
CHORUS 1:
G C
Sailors fighting in the dance hall.
Em7
Oh man!
Ebaug D
Look at those cavemen go,
Dm Am7
It's the freakiest show.
Cm7 G
Take a look at the Lawman,
C Em7
Beating up the wrong guy.
Ebaug D
Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know,
Dm Am7
He's in the best selling show.
Cm7 Em7
Is there life on Mars?
BRIDGE:
|Ebaug G/D|C#m7b5 D|
|Ebdim7 Em|Bdim F#m|
|G Gm|D |
VERSE 2:
D F#m/C# F#dim7/C
It's on Amerika's tortured brow.
B Em
That Mickey Mouse, has grown up a cow.
G/D A7
Now the workers, have struck for fame.
D
'Cause Lennon's on sale again,
F#m/C F#dim7/C
See the mice in their million hordes.
B Em
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads,
G/D A7
Rule Britannia is out-of-bounds.
F/C
To my mother, my dog and clowns.
C#aug Dm
But the film is a saddening bore,
Eb Bb
'Cause I wrote it, ten times or more.
Bbaug Gm
It's about to be writ again,
Bb7/F
As I ask you to focus on…
CHORUS 2:
G C
Sailors fighting in the dance hall.
Em7
Oh man!
Ebaug D
Look at those cavemen go,
Dm Am7
It's the freakiest show.
Cm7 G
Take a look at the Lawman,
C Em7
Beating up the wrong guy.
Ebaug D
Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know,
Dm Am7
He's in the best selling show.
Cm7 Em7
Is there life on Mars?
CODA:(Instrumental & Fade)
|C#m7b5 |D |
|Ebdim7 |Em |
|G/D |G/D |
|G/D |C |
|Cm |G |
Very low frequency, Reprise of the INTRO Piano (Fade Out)
|(D) |
[End]
NOTES:
1. “…In 1967 Claude Francois recorded Comme d’habitude, a song that became pretty fast famous in the USA.
At that time a young David Bowie was commissioned to rewrite and sing the lyrics in English, hoping to
give a larger diffusion to his debut record and earn popularity across the States. Even a Fool learns
to Love,
as the song was retitled, was unfortunately never released. Paul Anka, with a huge sense of business,
bought the rights of that French song and rewrote it into the famous My Way. In a short time that
version reached a huge popularity thanks to Sinatra’s interpretation. …
2. “…But what’s the point of quoting Mickey Mouse, John Lennon and a bunch of workers in the lyrics?
To clear this point is to remind a huge Disney’s animators strike during the 40s. That fact
(“a god-awful small affair” as Bowie sing) showed how the company turned arts and entertainment into
factories and products. The “girl with the mousy hair” is quite bored of the repetitive work is doing
(“she’s lived it ten times or more”) but it seems like there’s no way out: the revolution became a product
itself, the idealism is ready to be sold on silver screens and dance halls. Even the 60s student protests
turned into a brand. That’s the reason why Lenin-Lennon was once again up for sale. Life on Mars itself
became a best seller from being an anti-showbusiness hymn. …”
https://musicblob.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/david-bowie-life-on-mars/
3. “…Bowie noted that Wakeman "embellished the piano part" of his original melody and guitarist
Mick Ronson "created one of his first and best string parts" for the song.[1] The liner notes for
Hunky Dory indicate that the song was 'inspired by Frankie'. …”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_%28song%29
4. This is simply ‘my take’ on how this might have been accompanied. By using the Capo on the third fret,
(with deference to v.11, post my submission) it reduces the CHORUS to simple open chords. This version
captures Mick Ronson's textured arrangements of the BRIDGE and the CODA. Feel free to transpose or
simplify to suit your playing style. I believe that it comes very close to the spirit of the original. :-R
Artist: David Bowie
Album: Hunky Dory, 1971
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--IqqusnNQ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_%28song%29
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kPDJQBtHaY (Live)
Tempo: 4|4
Style: Weimar & French Cabaret Style
Tuning: Standard
Capo 3
Chords EADGBe
D XX0232
F#m/C X44222
F#dim7/C X34242
B X24442
Em 022000
G/D XX0002
A7 X02020
F/C X33211
C#aug XX3221 (I/F) or Fret 9 (IX)
Dm XX0231
Eb XX1343
Bb X13331
Bbaug X10332
Gm 355333
Bb7/F XX3334
G 320003
C X32010
Ebaug XX1003
Em7 020000
Am7 X02010
Cm7 X35353
C#m7b5 X4545X
Ebdim7 XX1212
Bdim X2343X
F#m 244222
Cm X35543
INTRO:(Piano over)
|D |
VERSE 1:
D F#m/C# F#dim7/C
It's a god-awful small affair,
B Em
To the girl with the mousy hair.
G/D A7
But her mummy is yelling "No!”,
D
And her daddy has told her to go.
F#m/C F#dim7/C
But her friend is nowhere to be seen.
B Em
Now she walks, through her sunken dream.
G/D A7
To the seat with the clearest view,
F/C
And she's hooked to the silver screen.
C#aug Dm
But the film is a saddening bore.
Eb Bb
For she's lived it ten times or more.
Bbaug Gm
She could spit in the eyes of fools,
Bb7/F
As they ask her to focus on…
CHORUS 1:
G C
Sailors fighting in the dance hall.
Em7
Oh man!
Ebaug D
Look at those cavemen go,
Dm Am7
It's the freakiest show.
Cm7 G
Take a look at the Lawman,
C Em7
Beating up the wrong guy.
Ebaug D
Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know,
Dm Am7
He's in the best selling show.
Cm7 Em7
Is there life on Mars?
BRIDGE:
|Ebaug G/D|C#m7b5 D|
|Ebdim7 Em|Bdim F#m|
|G Gm|D |
VERSE 2:
D F#m/C# F#dim7/C
It's on Amerika's tortured brow.
B Em
That Mickey Mouse, has grown up a cow.
G/D A7
Now the workers, have struck for fame.
D
'Cause Lennon's on sale again,
F#m/C F#dim7/C
See the mice in their million hordes.
B Em
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads,
G/D A7
Rule Britannia is out-of-bounds.
F/C
To my mother, my dog and clowns.
C#aug Dm
But the film is a saddening bore,
Eb Bb
'Cause I wrote it, ten times or more.
Bbaug Gm
It's about to be writ again,
Bb7/F
As I ask you to focus on…
CHORUS 2:
G C
Sailors fighting in the dance hall.
Em7
Oh man!
Ebaug D
Look at those cavemen go,
Dm Am7
It's the freakiest show.
Cm7 G
Take a look at the Lawman,
C Em7
Beating up the wrong guy.
Ebaug D
Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know,
Dm Am7
He's in the best selling show.
Cm7 Em7
Is there life on Mars?
CODA:(Instrumental & Fade)
|C#m7b5 |D |
|Ebdim7 |Em |
|G/D |G/D |
|G/D |C |
|Cm |G |
Very low frequency, Reprise of the INTRO Piano (Fade Out)
|(D) |
[End]
NOTES:
1. “…In 1967 Claude Francois recorded Comme d’habitude, a song that became pretty fast famous in the USA.
At that time a young David Bowie was commissioned to rewrite and sing the lyrics in English, hoping to
give a larger diffusion to his debut record and earn popularity across the States. Even a Fool learns
to Love,
as the song was retitled, was unfortunately never released. Paul Anka, with a huge sense of business,
bought the rights of that French song and rewrote it into the famous My Way. In a short time that
version reached a huge popularity thanks to Sinatra’s interpretation. …
2. “…But what’s the point of quoting Mickey Mouse, John Lennon and a bunch of workers in the lyrics?
To clear this point is to remind a huge Disney’s animators strike during the 40s. That fact
(“a god-awful small affair” as Bowie sing) showed how the company turned arts and entertainment into
factories and products. The “girl with the mousy hair” is quite bored of the repetitive work is doing
(“she’s lived it ten times or more”) but it seems like there’s no way out: the revolution became a product
itself, the idealism is ready to be sold on silver screens and dance halls. Even the 60s student protests
turned into a brand. That’s the reason why Lenin-Lennon was once again up for sale. Life on Mars itself
became a best seller from being an anti-showbusiness hymn. …”
https://musicblob.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/david-bowie-life-on-mars/
3. “…Bowie noted that Wakeman "embellished the piano part" of his original melody and guitarist
Mick Ronson "created one of his first and best string parts" for the song.[1] The liner notes for
Hunky Dory indicate that the song was 'inspired by Frankie'. …”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_%28song%29
4. This is simply ‘my take’ on how this might have been accompanied. By using the Capo on the third fret,
(with deference to v.11, post my submission) it reduces the CHORUS to simple open chords. This version
captures Mick Ronson's textured arrangements of the BRIDGE and the CODA. Feel free to transpose or
simplify to suit your playing style. I believe that it comes very close to the spirit of the original. :-R
David Chung
David Cook
David Crowder Ba (...)
David Dundas
David Essex
David Haro
David Keenan
David Lee Murphy
David Mallett
David Morin