David Bowie - Blackstar [Jazz/Avant-Garde]

Wrote about this before so for those who already have read it, sorry for the repetition: When I first heard the song “Blackstar”, I couldn’t help but think this was Bowie making a bookend to what I recall he said in an old interview. He noted in that interview that the “first” David Bowie song was “Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud”. This song would be the “B” side of “Space Oddity” and appeared on his *David Bowie* aka *Space Oddity* album. In that song, Bowie sings of this strange “wild eyed boy” who is imprisoned in a mystical village. He is shunned by the villagers and, in fact, is set to be executed the following day. It is a long song with different beats and offers this fascinating story, start to end, of what happens to the wild eyed boy (given how he’s shunned, perhaps a thinly veiled analogue of Bowie himself at the time) and the mystical village when the day of execution comes. “Blackstar” is *also* a long song with different beats which tells a story of a mystical village. Further, the song is set “on the day of execution”, something I *do not* think is coincidence at all. I can’t help but think Bowie, with “Blackstar”, was looking backwards at that “first song” and now, as someone near the end of his journey (versus at the start), he makes a song with the same types of thoughts and “plot”. Anyway, if you’re at all curious, here’s “Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDCor7efUOc&list=RDgDCor7efUOc&start_radio=1

So back in the day, as a young teenager, I used to love watching TV shows with preachers playing rock and roll records backwards. The famous one is Stairway to Heaven where I've seen more than one preacher find "I live with satan" or "I married satan" out of backwards lyrics. As a young Catholic boy this was incredibly frightening and also extremely entertaining. I loved it! I've long since dropped the Catholic ways, (full disclosure, I'm now a Pastafarian) but I still love that shit. Well, lo and behold after I watched Bowie's Blackstar, and seeing all the incredible imagery in it, I couldn't help but wonder if someone did a breakdown. Wouldn't you know it, the religious folks sure did! Now, I don't buy any of this analysis, anymore than I buy the Stairway to Heaven BS, but this is sure fun and trippy to watch! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ux90LnkFr0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ux90LnkFr0)