Bowie - The Supermen

The Supermen from Man Who Sold The World. This video depicts the analogy between the statues on Easter Island and the 'idea' of the Super Men. It is believed Hitler misinterpreted Neitzsche's 'Superman' and tried to create the perfect race. The result was ethnic cleansing which lead to the holocaust. I imagine Bowie had Neitzsche in mind when he wrote this song.

When all the world was very young
And mountain magic heavy hung
The supermen would walk in file
Guardians of a loveless isle
And gloomy browed with super fear their tragic endless lives
Could heave nor sigh
In solemn, perverse serenity, wondrous beings chained to life

Strange games they would play then
No death for the perfect men
Life rolls into one for them
So softly a supergod cries

Where all were minds in uni-thought
Power weird by mystics taught
No pain, no joy, no power too great
Colossal strength to grasp a fate
Where sad-eyed mermen tossed in slumber
Nightmare dreams no mortal mind could hold
Man would tear his brothers flesh, a chance to die,
To turn to mold

Far out in the red-sky
Far out from the sad eyes
Strange, mad celebration
So softly a supergod cries (second time dies)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Bowie
• The
• Supermen
• Easter
• Island
• Neitzsche
• rock
• thegasworks

[ARunnerNamedClay]

Sounds mightier than Conan the Barbarian, Bowie is truly a vocal SUPERGOD!!

[thegasworks]

@ARunnerNamedClay Yes - his lyrics and voice come from the 'brow of the superbrain'!

[MenkeriosAndemicael]

The very first time heard this, I thought he was lampooning conservative English culture – the islands, the dreary weather, the self-sacrificial, stoic can-do attitude, prudishness, and the sense of all that being hallmarks of imperial superiority.

His stuff is like an onion, there's so many layers to peel through and ways to interpret it.

[thegasworks]

@MenkeriosAndemicael Indeed!! I think his fans imbue his songs with much more meaning than he ever did. But that's what I like about Bowie - he made me think.

[MenkeriosAndemicael]

best version. Voice sounds like hitler meets cathrine hepburn.

[thegasworks]

@MenkeriosAndemicael LOL I don't know about the Hitler bit but I get the Hepburn!

[TimbaThe]

Death Grips is my gateway drug to David Bowie.

[ChiVic64]

Culture shock, fuck yourself 

[katrastrophy]

@ronlovesjulie nice, thanks for the history *)

[ronlovesjulie]

Bowie is doubtless a unique talent, however with his first two albums meeting lukewarm reception, this third was a breakthrough of sorts. Much of the credit is due to his band. The songs on this album were largely arranged by guitarist Mick Ronson and bassist producer Tony Visconti. To illustrate what a talented director can do, John Mellencamp had thrown out his song "Jack & Diane", but when Mick Ronson suggested he sing it another way, it got recorded and the rest is history.

[MrMajorTime]

OOOOHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHH. So softly the supergod cries! Nightmare dreams no mortal mind could hold! Far out, in the red skies! Strange, mad celebration! Well, only describes Bowie in tune with the imaginations of wonders of things that normal mortals would not dare consider. He was lofting into the realm of places no one else had gone. Some ideas were borrowed from politics and science fiction. But Bowie's goal was to go beyond that: to incite an audience to things as powerful as they could be made!

[NotedAdmin]

A Supergod raped the one person :)

[jayloughran]

@FreneticKey too right no 1 can beat bowie

[jayloughran]

bowie's ability 2 create stories with songs is absolutely phenomenal

[JoeTheLion188]

Far out!

[icaroforever]

psylosophy and its most brilliant minds can be tranformad from politic for its dirty´purpose..once i heard that in the Nitzche'smind the Superman is simply Jesus Chist..surely it's a false news but isn't enough disdain for the burgeois values in Jesus to seriously consider this theory.....i saw really few people laugh at the "good things" like F.Nietzche did....is a point of view that deserves to be considered more seriously,i think.