Life on Mars is one of those songs that stops me in my tracks every time I hear it. This happens even still today after having heard it probably several thousand times. The song moves me on multiple levels. I invariably need to hear it again, and I seem to discover something new and fascinating with each listen. The melody is absolutely perfect and it’s one of the great singing performances of Bowie’s career.Take a look at the lawman,
beating up the wrong guy.
Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know,
he’s in the best selling show.
Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know,
he’s in the best selling show.
Is there life on Mars?
...Ronno’s cascading string arrangement is brilliant. Ronno is remembered primarily as the king of trash guitar, and that’s certainly a great thing to be remembered for, but he deserves equal credit for being a first-class arranger. I was watching a Bowie documentary a few nights ago and one of the talking heads pointed out that the records from The Man Who Sold the World through Alladin Sane could have - and perhaps should have - 
been released under the banner of Bowie and Ronson. Then again, part of what makes Ronno such a hero to me is the way he eschewed the limelight, preferring to be behind the scenes and to act as a session player even though he was so much more than that. I have a soft spot for guys who remain in the background but are critical to the enterprise at hand. It’s why Jerry Grote is one of my all-time favorite baseball players. Would Tom Seaver have been as good without Jerry Grote? Maybe, maybe not. All I know is that Grote was an integral part of so many of Seaver’s high points that you just gotta believe his presence really mattered, a steady warrior who took a beating behind the plate as Seaver gracefully painted the corners with his heavy drop ‘n drive heat. I think Bowie and Ronson were the Seaver and Grote of rock, the masterful artist and the indispensible (and willing) role player. Apologies if that strikes you as being a terrible analogy. With less than a month to go before the games begin again, I’ve got baseball on the brain, along with Bowie. Unlike baseball, though, Bowie doesn’t have an off season, at least not in my world. …I think the thing I love most about Life on Mars is the way the song is a kind of social and cultural signpost. Interpreting Bowie’s meaning is always potentially treacherous, but the song strikes me as being in keeping with the overriding theme of Hunky Dory as a whole (again as I interpret it): The 60s are over. The dream has collapsed. And what’s emerging from the smoldering wreckage is not yet knowable except that it will be far stranger and far more morally ambiguous.. Is there life on Mars? We don’t know yet, but we’re definitely gonna find out soon enough…
been released under the banner of Bowie and Ronson. Then again, part of what makes Ronno such a hero to me is the way he eschewed the limelight, preferring to be behind the scenes and to act as a session player even though he was so much more than that. I have a soft spot for guys who remain in the background but are critical to the enterprise at hand. It’s why Jerry Grote is one of my all-time favorite baseball players. Would Tom Seaver have been as good without Jerry Grote? Maybe, maybe not. All I know is that Grote was an integral part of so many of Seaver’s high points that you just gotta believe his presence really mattered, a steady warrior who took a beating behind the plate as Seaver gracefully painted the corners with his heavy drop ‘n drive heat. I think Bowie and Ronson were the Seaver and Grote of rock, the masterful artist and the indispensible (and willing) role player. Apologies if that strikes you as being a terrible analogy. With less than a month to go before the games begin again, I’ve got baseball on the brain, along with Bowie. Unlike baseball, though, Bowie doesn’t have an off season, at least not in my world. …I think the thing I love most about Life on Mars is the way the song is a kind of social and cultural signpost. Interpreting Bowie’s meaning is always potentially treacherous, but the song strikes me as being in keeping with the overriding theme of Hunky Dory as a whole (again as I interpret it): The 60s are over. The dream has collapsed. And what’s emerging from the smoldering wreckage is not yet knowable except that it will be far stranger and far more morally ambiguous.. Is there life on Mars? We don’t know yet, but we’re definitely gonna find out soon enough…
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