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)
Loving The Alien
David Bowie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The Templars and the Saracens
They're traveling the holy land
Opening telegrams
Torture comes and torture goes
Knights who'd give you anything
They bear the cross of Coeur de Leon
But if you pray all your sins are hooked upon the sky
Pray and the heathen lie will disappear
Prayers they hide the saddest view
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
And your prayers they break the sky in two
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
Thinking of a different time
Palestine a modern problem
Bounty and your wealth in land
Terror in a best-laid plan
Watching them come and go
Tomorrows and the yesterdays
Christians and the unbelievers
Hanging by the cross and nail
But if you pray all your sins are hooked upon the sky
Pray and the heathen lie will disappear
Prayers they hide the saddest view
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
And your prayers they break the sky in two
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
You pray til the break of dawn
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
And you'll believe you're loving the alien
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
In "Loving the Alien," David Bowie uses religious conflict as a metaphor for the alienation that people feel in modern society. The lyrics begin with images of the Knights Templar and the Saracens, two groups who battled in the Crusades over control of the holy land. Bowie describes them as "traveling the holy land, opening telegrams," which suggests that their conflict is just one aspect of the larger struggle for power and control.
As the song progresses, Bowie highlights the futility of their struggle, pointing out that "torture comes and torture goes," and that even those who would "give you anything" are ultimately powerless to bring about real change. He also references the idea of salvation for the "mirror blind," which suggests that even those who believe in a higher power and follow a religious path may not necessarily find the answers they seek.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the role of prayer as a way of coping with the chaos of the world. Bowie suggests that praying can "hook all your sins upon the sky," and that it can also "break the sky in two." This may be interpreted as a way of saying that prayer has the power to both reveal and obscure truth.
Line by Line Meaning
Watching them come and go
Observing the constant movement of people
The Templars and the Saracens
Mentioning two groups involved in the Crusades
They're traveling the holy land
Both factions of religious warriors wandering through the place
Opening telegrams
Expressing a moment in time, suggests a telegraph may be a significant means of communication at this time
Torture comes and torture goes
The cruel and painful punishment becomes part of reality and daily life
Knights who'd give you anything
In this difficult time, many knights, who are part of the Templars, would be generous
They bear the cross of Coeur de Leon
The Templars have the emblem of King Richard Lionheart on their cross
Salvation for the mirror blind
Symbolic reference, the mirror blind can represent one who cannot see the truth in themselves
But if you pray all your sins are hooked upon the sky
Prayer as an aid in dealing with the weight of human sins
Pray and the heathen lie will disappear
Alluding to prayer's ability to transcend moral and ideological differences between two warring factions
Prayers they hide the saddest view (Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
The lament of seeking solace in those things that are other-worldly or seemingly foreign
And your prayers they break the sky in two (Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
Prayer, as an act of faith, is able to suspend disbelief and create an altered sense of reality
Thinking of a different time
Reflecting on a period in the past
Palestine a modern problem
Paradoxical tinge to the thought, of how Palestine's deep respected history is combined with present-day conflict
Bounty and your wealth in land
The appeal of having abundant resources within territory, even if leads to resentment and dispute over land ownership
Terror in a best-laid plan
Despite expert preparation, disasters can still strike with unpredictable consequences
Tomorrows and the yesterdays
Forgetting the lessons of the past and thus repeating the same mistake
Christians and the unbelievers
The two groups of people with different beliefs and outlooks
Hanging by the cross and nail
Christians that died in Crusades
You pray til the break of dawn (Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
Dedication to prayer, an unusual act that transcends normal experience
And you'll believe you're loving the alien (Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
Surrendering to a belief system that seems alien, one is forced to depend on faith as an anchor in reality
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: DAVID BOWIE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@massimogallazzi
THIS SONG IS
SOME AND MANY KINDS OF "GENIUS"
BECAUSE,
WHEN HE PLAYED THE MOVIE
"THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH" ,
THE ALIEN WAS HIM...
BUT IN "LOVING THE ALIEN",
THE ALIEN WAS NOT A SUBJECT BUT AN OBJECT WHICH IS THE "ALTER-EGO" OF A SUBJECT, OF COURSE INTHE MATTER WE'RE DEALING, THAT IS
"PRAYER" IS THE ALIEN...
A GREAT LESSON OF PHILOSOPHY MATCHED TO THE MUSIC...
"TRACK" REALLY UNDER RATED
BUT FAR AHEAD OUR TIMES
WITH MY HEART ON MY SLEEVES
CORDIALMENTE
GALLO ATOMICO 🐓 MAX66
THE ATOMIC ROOSTER MAX66
ITALY
@henriqueramos3197
"Loving the Alien"
Released: May 1985
[Intro]
[Verse 1]
Watching them come and go
The Templars and the Saracens
They're travelling the holy land
Opening telegrams
Torture comes and torture goes
Knights who'd give you anything
They bear the cross of Coeur de Lion
Salvation for the mirror blind
[Pre-Chorus]
But if you pray
All your sins are hooked upon the sky
Pray and the heathen lie will disappear
[Chorus 1]
Prayers they hide the saddest view
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
And your prayers, they break the sky in two
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
[Interlude]
[Verse 2]
Thinking of a different time
Palestine a modern problem
Bounty and your wealth in land
Terror in a best laid plan
Watching them come and go
Tomorrows and the yesterdays
Christians and the unbelievers
Hanging by the cross and nail
[Pre-Chorus]
But if you pray
All your sins are hooked upon the sky
Pray and the heathen lie will disappear
[Chorus 1]
Prayers they hide the saddest view
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
And your prayers, they break the sky in two
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
[Chorus 2]
You pray til the break of dawn
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
And you’ll believe you’re loving the alien
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
[Outro]
Produced by David Bowie, Hugh Padgham & Derek Bramble
Written by David Bowie
Album TONIGHT (1984)
@xg2_rufflesx933
Lyrics:
Watching them come and go
The Templars and the Saracens
They're traveling the holy land
Opening telegrams
Torture comes and torture goes
Knights who'd give you anything
They bear the cross of Coeur de Leon
Salvation for the mirror blind
But if you pray all your sins are hooked upon the sky
Pray and the heathen lie will disappear
Prayers they hide the saddest view
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
And your prayers they break the sky in two
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
Thinking of a different time
Palestine a modern problem
Bounty and your wealth in land
Terror in a best-laid plan
Watching them come and go
Tomorrows and the yesterdays
Christians and the unbelievers
Hanging by the cross and nail
But if you pray all your sins are hooked upon the sky
Pray and the heathen lie will disappear
Prayers they hide the saddest view
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
And your prayers they break the sky in two
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
You pray til the break of dawn
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
And you'll believe you're loving the alien
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
@MattCraftDotDerp
This might be Bowie's most underrated song. I definitely think this should've been a bigger hit than "Blue Jean"
@patrickbiernat2360
Yeah, blue jean is not the greatest song in my opinion.
@patriciawalters6778
I agree. Blue Jean is a fun song but this is poetry.
@protato5896
Oh you pretty things is a nice gem as well
@truth4004
He looks really sexy in both though. <3
@rainbowrotcod
I love this and Blue Jean, but I've loved this longer.
@ZeroChannelZero
David Bowie was indeed an alien. I submit as proof: he was the only "human" who could make 80s dance moves look hot af.
@Nikerym
Out of this world fosho.
@ahlamahlam8513
Album David
@imnotcreative2214
David Bowie was a musical genius. His music was out of this world awesome.