The "Ideal" Bowie lyric

Don't take this too seriously ... it's meant as an illustration ... but the results are genuine. Some word types in Bowie albums correlate with how long they spend in the charts. Dr Nick Troop has written a song that amplifies these results, maximising the use of these words to create the "Ideal" Bowie lyric. If you are a songwriter or a wannabe songwriter, go to www.DoctorNick.org to see how you can get involved in research on the psychology of songwriting and its links with health.

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  Music

[Matthew McGovern]

I understand, and agree, with your approach. I think that you have hit upon a really far reaching cog here. And the song is not bad either...

Now, were the lyrics constructed through randomness (based on the initial data impute)?

The unexamined.....

[CatDesigner]

Semi-random I suppose ... in the same way that a lot of people use cut-ups. I randomised the words but then picked out pairs or trios of words that seemed to go together and then linked these with other pairs/trios to build up a lyric. Though certainly impresionistic I think the lyric does make some sort of sense (in spite of what some people are saying).

[waldderi]

The words don't make any sense. They're just pure BS... Very un-bowie song.

[CatDesigner]

Hello? Were you actually paying attention to the explanation?

[D Alexander Butterfield]

yeah, Ronno and Tony Visconti (or Ken Scott for that matter) are important factors completely missing from this equation.

[CatDesigner]

But like I say in the clip, the fact of this correlation (and the correlation is a fact) may be that it reflects Bowie's motivational state at the time of a particular album and that it's that which is the cause of the success, not the lyrics per se. The lyrics are caused by his psychological state, just as ihs success is caused (or contributed to) by his psychological state. The style of music, quality of production, art work, even other albums released at the same time, would all play a role.

[notnotharrison]

taken with a grain of salt (as in recognizing that he's not trying to claim creation of the perfect bowie song, merely exploring his research on bowie songs further through application) this is really cool

[jsymons1985]

These lyrics are very positive, and uplifting, however they are lacking in that they are disconnected, they don't have a clear narrative, they are not mellifluous, they have mismatched linguistic (prosody) and musical stress (meter)... in other words they sound clunky!! good singing though!

[Niall O'Hara]

Fair comment, I agree that if the melody doesn't resonate with the masses the best your going to have is a bloody good piece of poertry or even prose for that matter, "Cygnet Committee" for example is one of my favourites in this respect, hard to believe it was written at such a young age !

[David Bowie]

Example: Be My Wife deals with travel and loneliness sounds melancholy, not as popular. All The Young Dudes, deals with death, suicide, and is very catchy, it is popular.

[David Bowie]

The majority of the public wouldn't know quality art if it slapped them in the face. The charts represent what the majority of everyone likes, not the majority of his fans. I think narrowing down topics is restrictive and isn't good for any artist. Though, I do like the analysis, I find it interesting. I think the public doesn't care about the lyrics, really. Just as long as it sounds good.

[Niall O'Hara]

I found your analysis quite interesting, but I think the determining factor with a hit song or a movie for that matter, is whether or not the individual consciousness of the artist or director is in harmony with the predominant collective consciousness at the time of it's release. Obviously some people seem to have a built in subconscious gauge for picking up on the right wavelength, maybe once, twice or even at regular intervals. Well played though !

[Towersopenfire]

Try "Bowie is Dead" Demo by Salmo here on U tube.

[Towersopenfire]

Ginsberg: "Social processes mean the various modes of interaction between individuals or groups including co-operation and conflict, social differentiation and integration, development, arrest and decay".Bowie deals with Death head on ,that is why i for one became a fan,Success and album sales are not the same thing as creative success,we have alot going on with Bowie,sex appeal for one ,i recon Lyrical content is only a third of the appeal.Your song is clinical and lacks "heart" try this below

[Towersopenfire]

I would go as far as saying that from my personal experience it was very much BECAUSE Bowie sung about and tackled death head in his lyrics that i became interested and have been a long time fan ever since buying into Bowie & buying his music along the way. I m not so keen on 1980's Bowie .He is the 1st to admit that his 1980's stuff is pandering to a certain audience & ultimatley even though the money came pooring in due to "success" in sales terms ,creativley it left a lot to be desired.