yes, indeed i am (quite) aware of how the title for all of this (if you read on) is totes from a different song and a different artist. just seemed (or felt) apt, look you see.
further indeed this is a post (yet again, or once more) concerning Derek "David" Bowie. is it is so that for the particular date this is published i always consider something of more personal significance. my imagination, in this instance, stretched all the way to exploring the "how and why" of me becoming a Bowie fan. there is every chance such is of little or no interest to anyone, but, well, here it is. not that i have ever wished to understand it, but who knows, with the clock ticking and the little green wheels following me, might be of some (passing) interest to someone.
so, allowing for an awareness of Bowie before this, that moment, some 41 (!) years ago, was the coming to my ears (and indeed eyes) the song Blue Jean.
the song, if i am being honest (which i trust i am) was hugely influential on me. it's almost accurate to say that the lyrics (or the words i heard) came to define which way aspects of my life would take. that's a remarkable amount of weight that i am putting on not just a three minute pop song, but one that for some reason over the years many have discarded as "second rate" and what have you.
oddly it's only in the last year (or so) that i have taken ownership of the song as a 7". i found it on the market and instantly purchased it, not caring for the price. but, anyway, those lyrics.
she got a camouflaged face and no money
what i heard at the time, and it was more recent than you might think that i looked at the actual, proper lyrics, was "she got a camouflage face in my mind". hmn. i would not say that i came up with a better set of words than Bowie, but what i heard, incorrectly, had a massive impact. it was like, wow, what an amazing image to create, that's impressive describing someone as an ever present, hidden though in your mind. dare i say that was the first grasp at a definition of "love" i had encountered, or become aware of? find someone who you feel like that (misheard) lyric was to be my quest.
one day i,m gonna write a poem in a letter
right, thank you Mr Bowie, so that's how it is done. when there's a girl you like then you send them a poem in a letter. and that's been my, for the real (true) want of a better phrasing, approach over the years. at first "borrowed" lyrics, then my own musings. mixed results, for those interested. some spectacular failures, but when it worked it did indeed work.
perhaps, possibly, probably a combination of the above all indirectly led me to years of studying literature and having some consider me, no matter how bad the writing here often is, quite good at it. going to say it directly led to me doing so is inaccurate, for that is something i remain forever grateful to a very special teacher and good friend.
for fun there's (yet) another image of the Tonight tape (actual) i pinched out of Dad's car. had i thought to pinch the box and cover too, well, who knows, maybe i would have learned the actual (proper) lyrics for Blue Jean and beyond. this tape has travelled far and wide with me. back in the 80s i used to play the start of side one, which was the equally brilliant Loving The Alien, then flip the tape over, rewind a bit and listen to Blue Jean.
one day i'm gonna get that faculty together
woah, there! of course what 11 year old me heard was "i'm going to get the f*****g thing together". this impressed me no end. not the actual swearing (which did not exist), but the fact that you could swear on a song and, presumably if you were David Bowie, it would get played on the tele and on the radio, for it was all right as "David was doing it and he was allowed". impact on me of the misheard lyric was, once again, significant. not that i have always followed what i had learned from this line that did not exist, but it was saying to me it's ok to be critical of yourself, it's ok to gee yourself up and make you work towards what you wanted to be.
since i mentioned the song, a brief detour for Loving The Alien. much of it was lost on 11 year old me, but it remained intriguing and frequently played. just not as much as Blue Jean did. to this day i am not sure i fully comprehend the song, yet consider it a masterpiece. well, special to me.
the video for Blue Jean also set a level of expectation for what it was like in these "nightclub" places i had heard of, and yearned to be of an age to visit. yes, the bar was set quite high, then, and no, as it turned out, the clubs of Middlesbrough did not quite live up. oh well. it was all going to be glitzy and glamorous, apparently, with beautiful ladies just sat there in some contrived nonchalance, daring anyone around to try and impress them. for the most part what impressed me was the (i assumed) impromptu way all on the dancefloor followed the same dance patterns naturally. it felt like it would be wonderful as and when i would get to experience, that sense of belonging, of being not alone.
certainly it was so that i eventually discovered nightclubs were not as were promised off of the video. no, far removed. i have no idea what they are like now, but soon i was faced with a reality of them being places where people went to get smashed, stoned, to f***, to fight, to fall either in or out of love and not appear top care which, or if you will they were a pool where one went not to bathe in the joy of life but rather momentarily drown the misery of it. quite a shame.
hearing that dramatic, thunderous opening to Blue Jean never fails to lift my spirits. perhaps, in particular of late, i should really listen to it more. i really neither care nor mind that some elect to be dismissive of the song, each to their own and all that. for me Blue Jean was the moment i went "right, i was aware of him, now i am a fan" and certainly i was in for quite a ride when i undertook the odyssey of exploring his work before this.
i am not sure i have worded this all as i would have wished, no clue if i have underlined the impact of this song and unaware of anyone having the slighted interest. but, there it is. as ever, my thanks for reading, or simply glancing at the pictures.
unlikely, but if you wished to read even more of what i have written of Blue Jean, and the Tonight album (and also Loving The Alien), here's a few links
and just because even more people unfairly sh!t on it like they do Tonight
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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