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)

How Does the Grass Grow
David Bowie Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

There's a graveyard by the station
Where the girls wear nylon skirts and
Sandals ?
The boys ride their Riga 1's
Upon the little hill
Such sadness and grief
The trees die standing
That's where we made our trysts

And struggled with our guns
Would you still love me
If the clocks could go backwards
The girls would fill with blood and
The grass would be green again
Remember the dead
They were so great
Some of them

How does the grass grow
Blood blood blood
Where do the boys lie
Mud mud mud
How does the grass grow
Blood blood blood

But I lived a blind life
A white face in prison
But you made a life out of nothing
Now I ride my black horse
I miss you more
Than you'll ever ever know
Waiting with my red eyes
And my stone heart

How does the grass grow
Blood blood blood
Where do the boys lie
Mud mud mud
How does the grass grow
Blood blood blood

I gaze in defeat
At the stars in the night
The light in my life burnt away
There will be no tomorrow
Then you sigh in your sleep
And meaning returns with the day

Where do the boys lie
Mud mud mud

How does the grass grow
Blood blood blood

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to David Bowie's How Does the Grass Grow paint a picture of a haunting and eerie graveyard located by a train station. The opening lines of the song describe the clothing and footwear of the girls and boys who frequent the location. It is a place of great sadness and tragedy, symbolized by the dying trees. The significance of the location is revealed in the lines "That's where we made our trysts, And struggled with our guns." The singer refers to a past incident where they were involved in a violent altercation at the graveyard, and asks their lover if they would still love them if time could be rewound.

The chorus of the song repeats the lyrics "How does the grass grow, Blood blood blood" suggesting that the location is a physical representation of chaos and violence. The subsequent lines "Where do the boys lie, Mud mud mud" reinforces this idea. The singer confesses that they once lived a narrow and unfulfilling life and was imprisoned in their white skin. However, they found a new life with their lover, and together they ride a black horse towards an uncertain future. Finally, the song ends with a sense of resignation and hopelessness, as the singer looks out into the darkness, mourning the loss of the light in their life.

Line by Line Meaning

There’s a graveyard by the station
Nearby is a cemetery

Where the girls wear nylon skirts and Sandals ?
In the cemetery, there are women buried wearing nylon skirts and sandals

The boys ride their Riga 1’s Upon the little hill
The boys in the cemetery have Riga 1’s and are buried on a small hill

Such sadness and grief The trees die standing
There is sadness and grief in the cemetery, and the trees there are dead but still standing

That’s where we made our trysts And struggled with our guns
The artist and another person made their secret meetings in this cemetery, and also had to deal with dangerous situations

Would you still love me If the clocks could go backwards
The singer wonders if the person they were with in the cemetery would still love them if they could go back in time and do things differently

The girls would fill with blood and The grass would be green again
If the clocks went back, things would be different - the girls who are buried in the cemetery would still be alive and the grass would grow on their graves

Remember the dead They were so great Some of them
We should remember the people buried in the cemetery, they were great in some way

How does the grass grow Blood blood blood Where do the boys lie Mud mud mud
The artist questions how the grass grows over the graves (suggesting that it does so by being fertilized with blood), and wonders where the other boys in the cemetery are buried (possibly in muddy graves)

But I lived a blind life A white face in prison
The artist lived a life without really seeing things, and felt confined like they were in prison due to their experiences

But you made a life out of nothing Now I ride my black horse
The singer's companion made a successful life for themselves out of nothing, whereas the singer continues on but now on their own

I miss you more Than you’ll ever ever know Waiting with my red eyes And my stone heart
The artist misses their companion more than they could ever understand, but they wait alone with their emotions (red eyes) and feeling desensitized (stone heart)

I gaze in defeat At the stars in the night The light in my life burnt away There will be no tomorrow Then you sigh in your sleep And meaning returns with the day
The singer feels defeated and hopeless at night as they look at the stars, feeling like the light of their life has been lost and there is no hope for tomorrow. But then their companion sighs in their sleep, and the singer finds meaning once again with the start of a new day

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DAVID BOWIE, JERRY LORDAN

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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