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
XX0232
X44222
X34242
X24442
022000
XX0002
X02020
X33211
XX3221
XX0231
XX1343
X13331
X10332
355333
XX3334
320003
X32010
XX1003
020000
X02010
X35353
C#m7b5 X4545X
XX1212
X2343X
244222
X35543
(Piano over)
It's a god-awful small affair,
To the girl with the mousy hair.
But her mummy is yelling "No!",
And her daddy has told her to go.
But her friend is nowhere to be seen.
Now she walks, through her sunken dream.
To the seat with the clearest view,
And she's hooked to the silver screen.
But the film is a saddening bore.
For she's lived it ten times or more.
She could spit in the eyes of fools,
As they ask her to focus on...
Sailors fighting in the dance hall.
Oh man!
Look at those cavemen go,
It's the freakiest show.
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.
Is there life on Mars?
BRIDGE:
| |C#m7b5 |
It's on Amerika's tortured brow.
That Mickey Mouse, has grown up a cow.
Now the workers, have struck for fame.
'Cause Lennon's on sale again,
See the mice in their million hordes.
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads,
Rule Britannia is out-of-bounds.
To my mother, my dog and clowns.
But the film is a saddening bore,
'Cause I wrote it, ten times or more.
It's about to be writ again,
As I ask you to focus on...
Sailors fighting in the dance hall.
Oh man!
Look at those cavemen go,
It's the freakiest show.
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.
Is there life on Mars?
CODA:(Instrumental & Fade)
|C#m7b5 | |
Very low frequency, Reprise of the INTRO Piano (Fade Out)
|() |
[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