David Robert Jones (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016), known professionally… Read Full Bio ↴David Robert Jones (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie, was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, and his music and stagecraft had a significant impact on popular music.

Bowie developed an interest in music from an early age. He studied art, music and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 1963. "Space Oddity", released in 1969, was his first top-five entry on the UK Singles Chart. After a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with his flamboyant and androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The character was spearheaded by the success of Bowie's single "Starman" and album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which won him widespread popularity. In 1975, Bowie's style shifted towards a sound he characterised as "plastic soul", initially alienating many of his UK fans but garnering him his first major US crossover success with the number-one single "Fame" and the album Young Americans. In 1976, Bowie starred in the cult film The Man Who Fell to Earth and released Station to Station. In 1977, he again changed direction with the electronic-inflected album Low, the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno that came to be known as the "Berlin Trilogy". "Heroes" (1977) and Lodger (1979) followed; each album reached the UK top five and received lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had three number-one hits: the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes", its album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and "Under Pressure" (a 1981 collaboration with Queen). He achieved massive commercial success in the 1980s starting with Let's Dance (1983). Between 1988 and 1992, he fronted the hard rock band Tin Machine before resuming his solo career in 1993. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including industrial and jungle. He also continued acting; his roles included Major Jack Celliers in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth (1986), Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (2006), among other film and television appearances and cameos. He stopped touring after 2004 and his last live performance was at a charity event in 2006. In 2013, Bowie returned from a decade-long recording hiatus with The Next Day. He remained musically active until his death from liver cancer at his home in New York City. He died two days after both his 69th birthday and the release of his final album, Blackstar (2016).

During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at over 100 million records worldwide, made him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. In the UK, he was awarded ten platinum, eleven gold and eight silver album certifications, and released 11 number-one albums. In the US, he received five platinum and nine gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Rolling Stone ranked him among the greatest artists in history. As of 2022, Bowie was the best-selling vinyl artist of the 21st century.

Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie

Studio albums
David Bowie (1967)
David Bowie/Space Oddity (1969)
The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
Hunky Dory (1971)
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
Aladdin Sane (1973)
Pin Ups (1973)
Diamond Dogs (1974)
Young Americans (1975)
Station to Station (1976)
Low (1977)
"Heroes" (1977)
Lodger (1979)
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)
Let's Dance (1983)
Tonight (1984)
Never Let Me Down (1987)
Black Tie White Noise (1993)
The Buddha of Suburbia (1993)
Outside (1995)
Earthling (1997)
Hours (1999)
Heathen (2002)
Reality (2003)
The Next Day (2013)
Blackstar (2016)

Come And Buy My Toys
David Bowie Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Smiling girls and rosy boys
Come and buy my little toys
Monkeys made of gingerbread
And sugar horses painted red

Rich men's children running past
Their fathers dressed in hose
Golden hair and mud of many acres on their shoes

Gazing eyes and running wild
Past the stocks and over stiles
Kiss the window merry child
But come and buy my toys

You've watched your father plough the fields with a ram's horn
Sowed it wide with peppercorn and furrowed with a bramble thorn
Reaped it with a sharpened scyth, thrashed it with a quill
The miller told your father that he'd work it with the greatest will
Now your watching's over you must play with girls and boys
Leave the parsley on the stalls
Come and buy my toys

You shall own a cambric shirt
You shall work your father's land
But now you shall play in the market square
Till you'll be a man

Smiling girls and rosy boys
Come and buy my little toys

Monkeys made of gingerbread
And sugar horses painted red

Overall Meaning

David Bowie’s “Come And Buy My Toys” has surrealistic lyrics that showcase the shrewdness of capitalism. The song is a theatrical, whimsical invitation to children and their parents to buy his toys. He acts as a merchant who is trying to sell his wares, which include monkeys made of gingerbread and sugar horses painted red. The chorus includes the lines, “Come and buy my little toys”, where his voice reaches a higher pitch and the beat of the drums picks up, infusing the song with a carnival-like vibe.

In the first verse, Bowie describes smiling girls and rosy boys coming to buy his toys, and in the second verse, he contrasts these children with rich men's children who run past him, wearing their fathers’ hose and having mud from many acres on their shoes. The song subtly criticizes the societal divide between the wealthy and the less fortunate.

The third verse is addressed directly to a boy, who Bowie tells will soon work his father’s land and wear a cambric shirt, a fine white linen material. However, in the meantime, he should play with the toys that Bowie is selling. The overall message of the song is that even though children will soon grow up and have responsibilities and expectations, they should embrace their youth and play with the toys while they can.

Line by Line Meaning

Smiling girls and rosy boys
Happy children everywhere

Come and buy my little toys
Please come and purchase my trinkets

Monkeys made of gingerbread
Edible confections that resemble primates

And sugar horses painted red
Candies shaped like horses and colored bright red

Rich men's children running past
Wealthy youngsters hurrying by

Their fathers dressed in hose
The wealthy children's fathers wearing fancy stockings

Golden hair and mud of many acres on their shoes
Blond hair and dirt on their expensive footwear from the family's vast land holdings

Gazing eyes and running wild
Their eyes wide with wonder and they frolic about

Past the stocks and over stiles
And run by the public punishment devices and through foot paths

Kiss the window merry child
A joyful youngster places lips to the storefront glass

But come and buy my toys
But don't forget to purchase my goods

You've watched your father plough the fields with a ram's horn
You have seen your father farm the land traditionally with a horned animal and simple tools

Sowed it wide with peppercorn and furrowed with a bramble thorn
He planted crops with great care using pepper seeds and a thorny instrument

Reaped it with a sharpened scyth, thrashed it with a quill
He harvested the crops with a sharp blade and then separated the grain from chaff with a feather pen

The miller told your father that he'd work it with the greatest will
The miller assured your father he would process the crops with utmost care

Now your watching's over you must play with girls and boys
Now that you have completed your chores and can relax, it's time to enjoy games with other children

Leave the parsley on the stalls
Don't worry about the herbs for sale

Come and buy my toys
Focus on buying my playthings

You shall own a cambric shirt
Eventually you'll possess a high-quality, lightweight cloth garment

You shall work your father's land
You'll be expected to help farm the family's property

But now you shall play in the market square
For now, it's time to frolic around the center of commerce

Till you'll be a man
Until you reach adulthood

Smiling girls and rosy boys
Happy children everywhere

Come and buy my little toys
Please come and purchase my trinkets

Monkeys made of gingerbread
Edible confections that resemble primates

And sugar horses painted red
Candies shaped like horses and colored bright red

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: DAVID BOWIE

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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