David Bowie ♪ Space Oddity

Space Oddity, of 1969, the year human animals jumped on the moon.

Serene and catastrophic. The love, the aspiration. The vulnerableness, and the anthropic beauty of home. A vernacular record of human's space program. “check ignition and may God's love be with you”.

Space Oddity, words and music by David Bowie.

Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God's love be with you

  (Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff)

This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here, Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you….

Here am I floating round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do.

This song is a humanistic view of going into space. It elicits the weakness of human animals, the love in us, and the yearning and aspirations, in the backdrop of the vast expanse and mysteries of the universe.

Let's look at some of the words. The opening verse sets up the feeling of a historical undertaking, of going into far away in the sky, the distance involved, the danger.

Ground Control to Major Tom

This line notes the distance involved. Human communication, in lieu of talking face to face, now takes the unnatural form of “Ground Control to Major Tom”.

Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

Helmet's primary function is protection. The “protein pill” elicits food, a fundamental human need, in a advanced scifi form.

Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God's love be with you

The line on “checking” ignition, reinforces the idea of danger. You wouldn't check it unless it is critical. And ignition means starting, a initiation. God is a conception tied to birth and function of the universe. In between these lines lie the clear message of the possibilities of never return, and our fundamental quest for the mysteries of the universe.

(Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff)

Then, the lyrics starts a explicit counting down. Count down is a activity done usually for events that's critical and or of major importance, sometimes with heavy emotional ties. Actually counting down makes you feel it. In new years we have count down. If you have seen NASA space shuttle liftoff, the counting down and liftoff is a emotional moment, making many involved teary, especially if for the first time. When you see something that weights tons hover and moves upwards by sheer human's work, in front of your eyes, it makes you feel nature, and our achievements.

You've really made the grade

Here, it uses the phrase “made the grade” to describe success. Making the grade refers to children's success in grade school. So now, going into space successfully, with regards to the universe, is “made the grade”.

And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear

A aspect of human animals, is gossip, and fawn around the successful, and hear and follow what the successful have to say. This is captured by the funny line of wanting to know whose shirt you wear. Note that T-shirts advertising a company is typical in modern capitalism states.

Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

In space missions, it's not a matter of spontaneous daring. It's all carefully pre-planned and calculated moves. By using “Now it's time” and “if you dare”, it describes space mission in the most simple way thru children's concept of challenge.

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here, Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

The space capsule, a device that took human animals thousands of years to be able to build, is now described as a tin can. Tin is one of the cheapest and weakest metal. Calling it a tin can shows our vulnerability, and pettiness, with respect to the expansive universe.

The “Planet Earth is blue, And there's nothing I can do” shows our helplessness with regards to nature.

Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows

Here the lyrics takes a tragic turn. When spaceship is dead, drifting in space, like a ship, it doesn't go anywhere meaningfully. When death is approaching, it is not uncommon to make ironic remarks.

Human animals have a binding love, that even one is to die, it is critical to communicate this mental state to beloved ones, even if the target already deeply aware of the fact, and even no behavior or action whatsoever of this mental state of the sender will take place henceforth. However, such message will have significant impact on the receiver, a high-powered mental boost, that usually results in behaviors that increase the receiver's prosperity.

The ending reminds me of the ending of H G Wells's final chapter of Time Machine. That even with a tragic ending, one greatest element of humanity, is instilled in our minds. Quote:

And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers— shrivelled now, and brown and flat and brittle—to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man.