The early seventies saw David Bowie being propelled towards superstardom, particularly after his exploits with the alien rock-star character Ziggy Stardust. But even before the Ziggy period, Bowie had wowed the critics with a gem of an album in Hunky Dory, which yielded the hit single "Changes". It wasn’t until 1973 that his record company decided to release "Life On Mars?" from the same album, which would become one of his most loved songs by fans and critics alike.
Opening with Rick Wakeman’s trademark fancy piano flurrying, the tune is soon carried by Bowie’s emotional vocals and use of surreal imagery. Groups of descending chords accompany the main melody, which is repeated a step higher on the second descent, and then harmonised in thirds. This makes for a slow, tense build up to the chorus, where the listener knows all the emotion will be unleashed. The lyrics in this first verse are as minimalistic as the instrumentation, describing "the girl with the mousy hair" whose parents argue with her, leading her to go and watch a movie. Perhaps she is in trouble, maybe pregnant; she walks through her "sunken dream" sad and isolated.
Here the song utilises the powerful string arrangements of Mick Ronson, stabbing at the bass notes with increasing anguish and leading our protagonist into her deadly revelation. Bowie raises the tension even more with the line "She’s lived it ten times or more", the last word significantly higher in pitch. The movie before her is merely a glorified version of her own troubled life, and indeed that of most of the Earth’s inhabitants. A snare roll breaks out into the song’s famous chorus.
Is There Life on Mars?
A sequence of passionate mega-chords underlays Bowie’s description of the surreal, Dali-esque scene that unfolds within the metaphorical ‘movie’. It’s the freakiest show, but more importantly, the best-selling one. This implies a kind of omniscience that the girl now possesses. She is able to see the world around her for what it really is. Chaos and disorder prevail; unwanted pregnancies and violence are around every corner. The message is pessimistic enough to provoke a cry of help: "Is there life on Mars?" (and if there was, would it be better than the petty world we currently live in?). The word Mars is held over more descending chords, leaving the listener to ponder the question. A fugue-like transition then begins to lead us to the second verse, where Mick Ronson’s guitar phrases are ambiguously happy and sad, as if trying to convey both the despair and hope in Bowie’s question.
We are then bombarded with more cynical observations, with the rhythm section staying put for the second verse. "Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow", a cash cow perhaps, being squeezed to death for the sake of profit. Hopeful working class heroes strike for fame because "Lennon’s on sale again". Such occurrences are part of the movie that the girl is watching. As she retreats in horror, her only hope is that there is in fact, life on mars.
Complex Yet Simple
The lyric to this epic story is full of social and cultural scrutiny. Bowie invites us to watch his twisted movie and reflect upon the complexities of modern life, yet he unites us with a simple goal, to live on Mars no less! The melody itself is horrendously memorable, decorated with Rick Wakeman's delicate piano arpeggios. And yet it is sung over an intricate series of extended chords and dense harmonies, again cementing together the complications of our world with the very simple and easy solution that is unfortunately out of our reach. But in this sense, "Life on Mars?" is a song of hope for the future, for one day we may be able to answer the very question that Bowie asks us.
The final minute of the song is almost completely dedicated to its theatrical ending. The sadness is retained in this finale, but the strings also evoke the aforementioned aspirations in their bright, perfect resolution. The major chord that ends the tune leaves us to decide if we are to be happy or not, and we are reminded via the quiet reprise of the chorus that the problems facing our society cannot simply be ignored for the sake of a happy ending. We’ve seen that happen in the movies… but they are a saddening bore!
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