Soul Love.
Soul Love (live, 1973).
Soul Love (live, 1978).
Soul … Read Full Bio ↴Soul Love.
Soul Love (live, 1973).
Soul Love (live, 1978).
Soul Love (rehearsal, 1983).

I was in love once, maybe, and it was an awful experience. It rotted me, drained me, and it was a disease. Hateful thing, it was.

David Bowie, interviewed by Cameron Crowe in Playboy, September 1976.

“Soul Love,” so sweet on its surface, so often interpreted as a picture of “youthful romance” (as per 1001 Greatest Albums) or as a message of universal peace and brotherhood, is rather clinical at heart. Love, whether that of a mother, lover or priest, is shown as being amoral, delusive, pointless and ruinous. (Love is “sweeping over cross and baby,” as if it was a plague or an infestation.)

The song opens with a mother at her son’s tombstone (the son likely killed in a war, having died “to save the slogan”), with “stone love” suggesting both a resolute, enduring love and a lifeless emotion. The priest kneels at the altar in bliss and in blindness. The teenagers, who are so besotted they believe they’re the first to ever fall in love, are just the puppets of instinct (“idiot love will spark the fusion”).

Blessed with a fine melody and layered with harmonies and, after the second verse, Bowie’s alto saxophone, the track gets unsettled by odd time signatures in the verse—it’s either in 7/4 time or it moves to 2/4 time on every fourth bar (the sheet music says the latter)—while Bowie again pairs major and minor chords (G to E minor and B minor, the same as in “Ziggy Stardust”).

The track begins with Woody Woodmansey’s drum pattern (a contrast to the slower, ominous beat of “Five Years,” sequenced before it), supplemented by bongos and shakers, then by Bowie’s acoustic guitar strumming and Trevor Bolder’s five-note bassline. Bowie’s vocal parallels the arrangement in part, starting as just a sung whole note (“stone”), then two quarter notes in the next bar, then six notes in the third, etc. Mick Ronson keeps to the background until the chorus. He and Bowie each take a solo verse: Bowie gives a passable alto sax solo, Ronson mainly keeps to the vocal melody.

Recorded 12 November 1971. Played in a few 1973 shows, a fixture of the 1978 tour, a rarity of the 1983 “Serious Moonlight” tour. It was the B-side to a re-issue of “All the Madmen,” and the Stage version was released as a single in Japan. Mick Ronson’s 1975 country-ska remake, retitled “Stone Love,” was later included on reissues of Play Don’t Worry.

Soul Love
David Bowie Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Stone love, she kneels before the grave
A brave son, who gave his life
To save the slogans
That hovers between the headstone and her eyes
For they penetrate her grieving

New love, a boy and girl are talking
New words, that only they can share in

New words, a love so strong it tears their hearts
To sleep through the fleeting hours of morning

Love is careless in its choosing
Sweeping over cross and baby
Love descends on those defenseless
Idiot love will spark the fusion
Inspirations have I none
Just to touch the flaming dove
All I have is my love of love
And love is not loving

Soul love, the priest that tastes the word and
Told of love, and how my God on high is
All love, though reaching up my loneliness evolves
By the blindness that surrounds him

Love is careless in its choosing
Sweeping over cross and baby
Love descends on those defenseless
Idiot love will spark the fusion
Inspirations have I none
Just to touch the flaming dove

All I have is my love of love
And love is not loving

Overall Meaning

In the first verse of the song, Bowie explores the different ways love can manifest for individuals. He talks about a woman kneeling before a grave, grieving over the loss of someone she loved. This person died fighting for a cause, and their slogans hover between the headstone and her eyes, symbolizing the lasting impact of their love and dedication to their beliefs. Bowie then connects this idea of love to a new love between a young couple, describing their love as strong enough to "tear their hearts" and keep them up all night talking. Bowie seems to suggest that love can take many forms, and while it can be inspiring and powerful, it can also be fickle and unpredictable.

The second verse touches on similar themes, with Bowie describing a priest who experiences a different form of love - the love of God. While this love is described as all-encompassing and ever-present, Bowie also notes that it can be isolating and surrounded by "blindness." He then returns to the idea that love can be indiscriminate, affecting everyone from the "defenseless" to the "idiot" with equal force.

Overall, the lyrics to Soul Love delve into the complexities of love, highlighting its power and unpredictability. Bowie explores how love can manifest in different ways for different people, from the all-encompassing love of God to the fleeting love between young lovers. Through his lyrics, Bowie seems to suggest that while love can be inspiring and transformative, it can also be capricious and difficult to pin down.

Line by Line Meaning

Stone love, she kneels before the grave
A woman who loves someone dearly honors and mourns at the grave of the person who sacrificed his life to uphold their beliefs.

A brave son, who gave his life
The person buried in the grave was a courageous son who made the ultimate sacrifice.

To save the slogans
He gave up his life to preserve the principles that he believed in.

That hovers between the headstone and her eyes
The principles he valued remain present and active even after his death, affecting the woman's grieving process.

For they penetrate her grieving
These principles transcend the physical and emotional mourning, forming an integral part of her spiritual journey.

New love, a boy and girl are talking
A couple talks about their burgeoning romance.

New words, that only they can share in
The nascent relationship creates a unique language that is exclusive to them.

New words, a love so strong it tears their hearts
Their intense love causes them emotional pain.

To sleep through the fleeting hours of morning
They cling onto their love to help them endure each passing day, no matter how difficult it may be.

Love is careless in its choosing
Love does not discriminate between one person and another.

Sweeping over cross and baby
Love bestows itself over everyone, from the baby to the elderly.

Love descends on those defenseless
Love arrives at the doorstep of those who are most vulnerable and powerless.

Idiot love will spark the fusion
Even foolish, irrational love can ignite the flame of passion.

Inspirations have I none
The singer does not have any muse or inspiration.

Just to touch the flaming dove
All the singer wants is to experience the transformative power of love.

All I have is my love of love
The artist's only possession is their affection for love itself.

And love is not loving
Despite the beauty and importance of love, its actual manifestation may not always be enough to satisfy our desires or expectations.

Soul love, the priest that tastes the word and
Love that touches the very essence of our being, like a priest who partakes of the sacred Eucharist...

Told of love, and how my God on high is
...revealing how love itself embodies the divine will, and how it connects us with God.

All love, though reaching up my loneliness evolves
Love is expansive enough to embrace all, even when we feel lonely and disconnected from one another.

By the blindness that surrounds him
Despite our human limitations and flaws, love still manages to penetrate and light up the darkness around us.

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: David Bowie

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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