Life on Mars (song)

In 1968, Bowie wrote the lyrics "Even a Fool Learns to Love", set to the music of a 1967 French song "Comme d'habitude", composed by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. Bowie's version was never released, but Paul Anka bought the rights to the original French version and rewrote it into "My Way", the song made famous by Frank Sinatra in a 1969 recording on his album of the same name. The success of the Anka version prompted Bowie to write "Life on Mars?" as a parody of Sinatra's recording.[4]

Bowie noted that Rick Wakeman "embellished the piano part" of his original melody and guitarist Mick Ronson "created one of his first and best string parts" for the song.[4] The liner notes for Hunky Dory indicate that the song was "inspired by Frankie".[4]

One reviewer suggested the song was written after "a brief and painful affair" with actress Hermione Farthingale. While on tour in 1990, Bowie introduced the song by saying "You fall in love, you write a love song. This is a love song."[5]

BBC Radio has described "Life on Mars?" as having "one of the strangest lyrics ever" consisting of a "slew of surreal images" like a Salvador Dalí painting.[4] The line "Look at those cavemen go" is a reference to the song "Alley Oop", a one-off hit in 1960 for American doo-wop band The Hollywood Argyles.[6]

Bowie, at the time of Hunky Dory's release in 1971, summed up the song as "A sensitive young girl's reaction to the media." In 1997, he added: "I think she finds herself disappointed with reality... that although she's living in the doldrums of reality, she's being told that there's a far greater life somewhere, and she's bitterly disappointed that she doesn't have access to it."[6]

Mick Rock filmed and directed a promotional video backstage at Earl's Court, on 12 May 1973, to accompany the release of the song as a single. It features a heavily made-up Bowie performing the song solo against a white backdrop, in a turquoise "ice-blue" suit designed by Freddi Buretti, and it became the singer's fourth music video. In 2016, it was remastered and retouched by Rock.

When released as a single in 1973, it reached no. 3 in the UK and stayed on the chart for thirteen weeks. The song re-entered the UK charts at no. 55 over 30 years later, largely because of its use in the original British television series Life on Mars.[6] It also belatedly became a top 10 hit in France in 2013. In June 2015, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph ranked "Life on Mars?" as no. 1 in his "100 Greatest Songs of All Time" list,[7] describing it thus:

Gloriously strange sci-fi anthem. A stirring, yearning melody combines with vivid, poetic imagery to accomplish a trick very particular to the art of the song: to be at once completely impenetrable and yet resonant with personal meaning. You want to raise your voice and sing along, yet Bowie’s abstract cut-up lyrics force you to invest the song with something of yourself just to make sense of the experience, and then carries you away to a place resonant with intense, individual emotion. The magic and mystery of music and lyrics. It is something to behold.[7]

According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 96th most celebrated song in popular music history.[8]

In a 2012 poll, "Life on Mars?" was voted Bowie's best song. Digital Spy, who conducted the poll, stated it has "perhaps become David's signature song – filled with surreal cut-up lyrics inspired by William Burroughs, it married vivid imagery with a tender, heartbreaking melody".[9]

All songs written by David Bowie.[10]

1. "Life on Mars?" – 3:48
2. "The Man Who Sold the World" – 3:55

The Portuguese release of the single had "Black Country Rock" as the B-side.[11]

Musicians

• David Bowie – vocals
• Mick Ronson – electric guitars, Mellotron (for recorder sound), string arrangement
• Trevor Bolder – bass guitar
• Mick Woodmansey – drums
• Rick Wakeman – piano

Producers

• Ken Scott – "Life on Mars?"

"Life on Mars?" has been released on a variety of Bowie compilation albums:

• The Best of Bowie (1980)
• Changesbowie (EMI LP and cassette versions) (1990)
• The Singles Collection (1993)
• The Best of David Bowie 1969/1974 (1997)
• Best of Bowie (2002)
• iSelect (2008)
• Nothing Has Changed (2014) (2003 mix on 3-CD version)
• Bowie Legacy (2016) (2016 mix)

• A live version recorded at the Boston Music Hall on 1 October 1972 was released on the bonus disc of the Aladdin Sane – 30th Anniversary Edition in 2003.
• Another live version, recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on 20 October 1972, was first released on the album Santa Monica '72, before becoming officially available in 2008 on Live Santa Monica '72.
• A live performance recorded on 23 March 1976, in a medley with "Five Years", was included on Live Nassau Coliseum '76, which was released as part of the 2010 reissues of the Station to Station album, on the 2016 collection Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976), and as a stand–alone album in 2017.
• A concert performance recorded on 12 September 1983 may be heard on the live album Serious Moonlight (Live '83), which was part of the 2018 box set Loving the Alien (1983–1988) and was released separately the following year. The filmed performance appears on the concert video Serious Moonlight (1984).
• A recorded-for-television performance on 23 August 1999 may be heard on the album VH1 Storytellers (David Bowie album).
• Bowie's performance of the song at the Glastonbury Festival on 25 June 2000 was released in 2018 on Glastonbury 2000.
• A November 2003 live performance was released on the A Reality Tour DVD in 2004 and subsequently included on the A Reality Tour album released in 2010.
• An 8 September 2005 live performance recorded with Arcade Fire at Radio City Music Hall in New York City at the 2005 Fashion Rocks event. He was introduced by Alicia Keys and is accompanied by longtime pianist Mike Garson. A recording was subsequently released via iTunes.

The song has appeared in several television series. The BBC television drama Life on Mars used both the name and the song itself as its basis. The song was used extensively throughout the programme and its spin-off, Ashes to Ashes. The song was used also in the American and South Korean version of Life on Mars. In the episode "The Waters of Mars", of the British television show Doctor Who, takes place in the first human base on Mars, named "Bowie Base One".

Jessica Lange sang a rendition with a deep German accent on the fourth-season premiere of the FX television program American Horror Story: Freak Show.[12] Playing a character whose surname is Mars, Lange wears an ice-blue trouser suit and heavy matching eye shadow in her performance, echoing the Bowie video.[12] Both the song and the performance are anachronistic, given that the season takes place in 1952, nearly 20 years before Bowie released the song. She performs the song again in the episode "Pink Cupcakes", and an instrumental version is played at the end of the season finale, "Curtain Call", where Mars is getting ready to sing.

In the 2019 Watchmen television episode "An Almost Religious Awe", a dark ambient piano cover of "Life on Mars" by is used in the end credits, after the reveal that Doctor Manhattan is not really on Mars as had been reported.[13]

The song has also appeared in several film soundtracks. The original soundtrack of Lars von Trier's 1996 movie Breaking the Waves features "Life on Mars?" during the epilogue, although the song was replaced by Elton John's "Your Song" on the international DVD release for copyright reasons.[14] "Life on Mars?" is included on the soundtrack to the 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, starring Bill Murray as Steve Zissou.[15] The song is played as Murray walks stoned to the bow of his boat in solitude as a party continues below deck. "Life on Mars?" is included in the 2005 film Loverboy, first being played on the radio during a conversation between the 10-year-old Emily and Mrs. Harker, and later being sung a cappella by 10-year-old Emily.[15] "Life on Mars?" is included on the soundtrack to the 2006 film Factory Girl.[15] "Life on Mars?" is used in the 2012 British film Hunky Dory, sung by the character Davey (Aneurin Barnard).[16]

In 2018 the song was played by the radio of Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster during its launch aboard the Falcon Heavy's maiden flight.[17]

• In 1974, Barbra Streisand released a version of the song on her album ButterFly. In a 1976 Playboy interview, Bowie was asked what he thought of her cover: "Bloody awful. Sorry, Barb, but it was atrocious."[18]
• Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who achieved international success as one of the members of ABBA, recorded a Swedish version titled "Liv på Mars?" (with Swedish lyrics by Owe Junsjö), included on her 1975 solo album Frida ensam.
• A version by Arid lead singer Jasper Steverlinck and the Kolacny Brothers reached number one in the Belgian charts in 2002, later it was added to the album Songs of Innocence.
• Seu Jorge covered the song in Brazilian Portuguese on the acoustic guitar in the 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.[15] Jorge, who also plays the character of Pelé dos Santos, performs this and other Bowie songs live, in character during the film.
• The song appears in the 2015 musical Lazarus, written by Bowie and playwright Enda Walsh near the end of Bowie's life. It is sung by the character of 'Girl', played by Sophia Anne Caruso in the New York and London productions.
• Following Bowie's death in January 2016, the song was recorded by Nicholas Freestone, organ scholar at St Albans Cathedral in Hertfordshire, who posted the video of his performance on Facebook and YouTube. The video became a viral hit.[19][20]
• Following Bowie's death, the song was performed at the 2016 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. [21]
• In 2017, Mike Geier, as his alter ego Puddles Pity Party, covered the song as a single.[22]
• In 2019, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross covered the song on their soundtrack for the HBO limited series Watchmen.[23]

• Pegg, Nicholas (2011). The Complete David Bowie (6th ed.). London: Titan Books. ISBN 9780857682901.

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics