David Bowie - Big Brother/Chant of the ever circling skeletal family

[surfcityserialkiller]

I AM REVIRGIN

[Abbyjo8881]

This is the kind of song that you want to blast incredibly loud so that it hurts your ears, but feels magnificently good at the same time..

[LaurawrTheDinosaur]

He really should have done the musical of '1984.' I love booth the book and the author and I think Bowie would have done a great job on it, unlike many who have ruined books by making them into films without fully understanding the meaning behind them.

[texadillo53]

One of the best Bowie albums ever. Came out about the same time as Berlin by Lou Reed another great experience.

[zep2zap]

I remember when I got this album. Put myself into a trance while listening to this song over and over.This album is a reminder of lost album cover art.

[skylilly1]

times spent in the recroom listening to this album....good times..what I remember ...

[wpollock1]

The Chant is part of tying the whole album together. I love the creativeness of all of it - of course Big Brother is the main part, but the Chant is the mortar that keeps it all together. Reminds me of parts of The Wall that are songs/spoken word that create the overall atmosphere of the album.

[garoux1999]

I think highschoolers need to really make this musical come true.

[stadtrade102]

Till he quit the Drugs yeah

[kern0099]

Davis Bowie buried John Lennon before he was even dead. Feeling abashed by the truth, Bowie then launched a career focused on restoring relevance in order to defend the middlebrow hordes, knowing it would result in endless inspiration for dummies at the ultimate expense to himself .His hotel stay in phoenix successful, he carried on into pop oblivion, a cheery fellow ever since. Good work, D, carry on, fabulous one.

[kjsh987]

big brother could end much more better without chant of the ever circling skeletal family.still both are great tracks

[gajaga789]

@kjsh987 Agreed. I've never cared for the chant, even though it isn't a bad song. I just prefer the single version of Big Brother that fades out at the end instead of going into the chant.

[SuperKinevil]

fuck it-this album cover is my next tatoo

[charliedontsurf70]

i was 10 years old when a friend advised me to buy the album.we were going to catholic school-where everything is either academics or sports.my friend said "you like elton john? you need to listen to bowie."i bought it played it and suddenly i knew i was no longer alone in the cosmos,bowie opened all the doors 4 me,

[hankabuldank]

@charliedontsurf70 Exact same story. Swear to God

[charliedontsurf70]

@hankabuldank really? i think thats great!

[TheBookWorm1718]

@charliedontsurf70 It's very funny how Bowie talks about his cousin hearing Hound Dog back in the 50s and it was the first time he saw her really alive and excited by the music, and he turned around and over 40 years has done the same thing with his own music. It's like Ed Wynn inspired Red Skelton to go into comedy who in turn was an inspiration to Jamie Farr who has probably inspired others since.

[charliedontsurf70]

@TheBookWorm1718 hahahahahahah!



[musicsavage]

Diamond Dogs = sadly underrated and overlooked album.

[MrIMBECILE1]

DB; pure genius!

[quietearthtube]

Diamond Dogs tracks have some of the most rockin' guitar and rhythm sections tucked onto their ends. Chant of the Never Ending Circle freekin' kicks it every time, and that hyper lush rhythm & slide guitar during the last minute of the Sweet Thing reprise is A W E S O M E. So rare a combination of sheer lyrical talent and juicy rocker-trash instinct. Loved this album since first listen, wore out the grooves. Rock on, you literate crazy diamonds.

[AssinnippiJack]

Whoever said the 1970's produced no worthwhile music?

[m1kewithaone]

@AssinnippiJack ok , i'll play your game. who?

[YoshiGotSwagger]

@AssinnippiJack A weirdo who has NO taste in music.

[donniganclan123]

1st thanks for all the work you put into doing this i am really fond of this song although the whole album is great .......

and when you really listen to it we have arrived NWO & BIG BROTHER

[donniganclan123]

1st thanks for all the work you put into doing this i am really fond of this song although the whole album is great .......

[parlock480]

the skeletal family is the bush family skull and bones

[blabblab1212]

I love the coconut knocking sound at the end. What better way to represent the mindlessness of modern man. Kind of like tapping on an empty skull. WAKE UP APES..........................­...

[riverlioness]

Big brother refers to communism. The philosophy behind Marxism is called "Paternalism".

George Orwell was caught in Barcelona amidst the whole Marxist/fascist mess in Europe, at the time. My favorite economist, Ludwig Von Mises, was also caught between communism and fascism.

[riverlioness]

@riverlioness

Pretty unique that Orwell named a character after a philosophy. So much for the claims George Orwell was a communist.

I think people should've watched George Bernard Shaw....now he was weird....

[CapraPesce]

@riverlioness These days a lot of republicans are citing Orwell's anti-communism novel as though he was some kind of right-wing capitalist like they are, but it should be noted that Orwell was actually a socialist.

[riverlioness]

@CapraPesce

I'm not a Republican, I'm a Libertarian.

Communism and socialism are not the same, now, are they? I suppose both could fit under the category, "Marxism".

I prefer the enlightenment period. Modernity is philosophical backwash.

[Afereth]

@CapraPesce he was not a socialist he was an anarchist. X If you read his novel ''homage to catalonia'' he opnly admits it. He also happened to fight in the spanish civil war vs franco with the anarchist party:)

[ericnazz12]

Love the sex!! Er,,I mean sax!

[PaulBourgeois]

Great commentary/description. Thank you.

[skiveda]

Doesn't get much better than Diamond Dogs and Alladin Sane

[donniemac2]

what you doing now? music please david

[atheathorium]

@StevenTheVirgin38

We are all of us virgins in one way or another. If every day is not filled with a metaphorical cherry-popping symphony, you're probably dying slow and unmourned inside.

Now, having said that...Big Brother is a good song, but I kind of just bear with it to get to Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family because it rocks my socks off. Am I alone in this?

[invanorm]

I just then finished reading 1984. I went directly to my computer and searched up this song. Holyshit. Epic.

[ziglet53]

@invanorm Nice to have new folks understand what this is about. Listen to the whole album and you'll get hooked. The music's fantastic, Bowie's voice is priceless. The 1984 message is presented in an edgy way.

[WoodRatGirl]

This album of his is underrated in my humble opinion.

I remember being totally blown away the first time I listened to it on Vinyl.

My father's Vinyl that is lol.

[WoodRatGirl]

The first time I heard the "Bra, Bra, Bra" bit at the end, I thought the Vinyl was scratched LOL. Glad to know it never was.

[hapi0dewa0HAPI]

@WoodRatGirl hahaha i actually got up and checked the needle and the record, and was so confused!

[MutualChemistry]

@WoodRatGirl

Actually the tape stuck during recording and they left it that way to make a lock groove!!! The track, and the LP, end in a pseudo-lock groove, the first syllable of Bowie singing “brother” repeated in a stabbing loop of sound. The idea of a repeating lock groove on a record was an avant-garde experiment

[54markl]

good old bowie! we owe this man a tremendous debt. the androgynous pose was not important, it was just to get people to listen. he is a brilliant singer/songwriter, in a class by himself. he had great musical taste, he liked VU before anyone else did. This is one of my favorite songs by him, I sang it at karaoke + Skeletal, and brought down the house!

[blabblab1212]

I hear the train coming. What? You don't hear it? Put your ear down to the rail and listen closely. It's very faint but distinct. Better get off the track and into a safe place.........

[fartonbrain]

Does anyone have a version that doesn't just cut off?

[EbolaReston12]

i am looking at other sites and tehy have fool us or rule us either way each one works for me. They mean almost the smae thing a ruler can fool someone into following them. The way he says that line makes it hard to understand

[StevenTheVirgin38]

I AM A VIRGIN

[Alexm799]

@StevenTheVirgin38 Thanks for sharing that with us!

[StevenTheVirgin38]

@Alexm799 thank you for telling me so as I am a virgin for the love of someone who wants to love me

[metalgypsy2010]

@Alexm799 lmao

[WoodRatGirl]

@StevenTheVirgin38

That's nice dear LOL

[mrfudgeyhead]

@StevenTheVirgin38

Not if I can help it.

I'm a saint, I know.

[DanBlabbers]

@StevenTheVirgin38 so was I until i've heard this song

[riverlioness]

@StevenTheVirgin38

So? Nikola Tesla was a virgin, too. He invented AC electricity.

[Afereth]

@StevenTheVirgin38 then ill sacrifice you to satan

[redrover327]

@StevenTheVirgin38 Aw! Your poor penis!

[Censored4TRUTH]

@StevenTheVirgin38 I read the Book of 1st John tonight, which is only 3 pages. I learned that whoever does what is right and walks in light and love is born of God. EXCELLENT reading material for virgins...but also whore-mongers.

@Alexm799 - Your Bowie channel R O C K S !!!!!!!!!

WhatChristDid . com ~ TheGuy . com ~ TheAngel . com ~ TheDevil . com

[metalgypsy2010]

the greatest music and musician ever created ---at least until he quit getting high

[Alexm799]

@metalgypsy2010 haha yeah, very true

[EbolaReston12]

@Alexm799 he did gine even after words a musican who gets high at his age dies and it was killing him would you rather he died than live on and show us real music

[Droyd21]

@metalgypsy2010, yet he has putted out great albums when he was battling his addiction (station to station, the man who sold the world, diamond dogs, young americans ....)

[WoodRatGirl]

@metalgypsy2010

LOL some of the best books and music were made, when people were totally out of their heads.

[steelyman08]

@metalgypsy2010

Seems to work that way, eh? (-;

[VvAnarchangelvV]

@metalgypsy2010 Like all critiques of the counterculture and for the Left it all too briefly followed, the 'too stoned to create' argument can be easily turned on its head, ala "Artists believe themselves to be creating better work when they are straight, but they are too straight to tell." and "Reality is for people who can't handle drugs"

[zaynzaynzayn]

i wonder what that musical would have looked like. we'll never know.

[jakemuch]

@zaynzaynzayn the musical would have been incredible, i'm sure.

[LOW1711]

of course I do know what your talking about .. very very few like me ...... I am the theatre of financiers

[geeaea]

Immaculate toxicity ..and so tastefully done.

[Azatarot75]

The nightmare that the 20th Century only produced in thankfully limited quantities, in spite of massive efforts...captured in 5 minutes. One of the reasons I continue to love listening to old-school Bowie.

[IAmTheClayman]

If George Orwell was still alive when this song had come out he probably would have been approving but very, very surprised that this resulted from a decidedly political novel.

Excellent song though.

[ChuckRage72]

To SELFproclaimedVIRGIN:

You're just an ally of the leecher

Locator for the virgin King, but I love you in your fuck-me pumps

And your nimble dress that trails

Oh, dress yourself, my urchin one, for I hear them on the rails

Because of all we've seen, because of all we've said

We are the dead

Does the internet know what I'm talkin' about?

[osocali]

Ah yeah the whole internet has read your comment and we collectively and in unison say yeah verily

[EbolaReston12]

@osocali you aint anon

[JTerrible63]

@ChuckRage72

All virgins are the enemies of joy,

the haters of music and dance

the lovers of barter of the body,

Commerce, "American Style"

No true fan of David Bowie remains

A virgin after 13

[Kingdra]

THEY TELL ME "son, we want you! be elusive, but don't walk far"

[SELFproclaimedVIRGIN]

I DO LOVE ENYA

[Kubrickfan1]

@ChuckRage72 Indeed we do sir!

[metalmickey07]

@ChuckRage72 Oh yes and I bloody lurrrrve that track, well i love the entire album, these two especially!

[doubleder]

@ChuckRage72 I do!

[54markl]

@ChuckRage72 ha ha! yeah, cool! I'm locked in tomorrow's double-features!

[911lex]

@ChuckRage72 woah, even more than yeah, verily, I say uh damn huh with a side of fuck yeah.

[PaulBourgeois]

@ChuckRage72 - Now that clarifies a lot.

[wpollock1]

Just watch out for the Ever Circling Skeletal Family, then. :)

"Someone to fool, someone like you" - fantastic writing. Love Bowie's trashy guitar on this. He played guitar (got into a fight with Ronson), piano and sax on this album. One of my favorite albums.

[geeaea]

Errrr ..it's "rule us" ..hint ..Big Brother ..ruler ...

[wpollock1]

Ah, no, it is "fool us" - I Just re-checked it to make sure on the lyrics.

[geeaea]

It's a misquote. Take the context of BigBrother.  He was a ruler ..a leader..not a fooler. There are a couple of lyric sites that have it correct. The rest just followed suit.

[SELFproclaimedVIRGIN]

I AM A VIRGIN

[Tehknirius]

well done

[SELFproclaimedVIRGIN]

THANK YOU

[54markl]

@SELFproclaimedVIRGIN did you sign johnny rotten on virgin records?

[carrier3232]

there were weveral album covers, rarest being with genitals showing on bowie.

[ElementaryPhysics]

I love both tracks

[ultrakool]

i dig the guiro

[quietearthtube]

My schizophrenic older sister, whom I idolized, killed herself. I hear Bowie's brother all over Diamond Dogs. His best music as far as I'm concerned... The Candidate, We Are the Dead. I get it, for better or worse. In loving memory we live.

[funktofunky1]

The whole Diamond Dogs album is fantastic !!! brot brot brot...!!!!

[PhilipHuertas]

my favourite album of Bowie!

[heyss]

one of my favorite songs ever. Thanx for posting this

[osocali]

Always been a David Bowie appreciator amd LOVE this album. Alexm799 thank you so much for all the background info about these songsReally wish DB would have finished the musical. Can think of anyone who could have made 1984 into a musical successfully except DB and maybe Pink Floyd....