'Blackstar' was a year old yesterday. Its significance hasn't diminished, people are still talking about it. There is, indeed, much to talk about. Girl Loves Me stood out very early on in my 'Blackstar' experience, especially the line where Bowie hollers "Where the fuck did Monday go?", which when you consider he died on a Sunday makes it eerily poignant.
As for what it's about? Well, good luck working that out. Much of the language used in the song seems to derive from Nadsat, the coded language in A Clockwork Orange. Apparently there's a bit of Polari in there too, and we know how fond Bowie was of the cut-up technique for his lyrics, so it's not exactly easy to grasp. Anyway, there don't seem to be any other Monday songs in the Bowie canon so this one gets in by default, but that's no bad thing.
- Girl Loves Me - David Bowie (from 'Blackstar')
In contrast to your experience with the song, 'Girl Loves Me' took a while to grow on me, probably because it was the one song from 'Blackstar' that didn't get regular radio plays in the wake of Bowie's death - at least until a clean edit was created.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of another instance of 'Monday' turning up in his lyrics offhand, unless of course you count his cover of 'Friday on My Mind'.
Thought you might have some Bowie for us this week. Good man. Heading over to the Sunday post now. Monday, I have Friday on my mind!
ReplyDeleteA year on and Blackstar is an even better album, in my estimation, than I thought it was when it was released. Girl Loves Me is a song that immediately attracted me when I first heard it. It ended up getting overshadowed, for me by I Can't Give Everything Away - a song so poignant and moving to me, it has become one of my most favorite Bowie songs. Listening to it now, Girl Loves Me still has a certain something about it that makes me really listen to the lyrics and think.
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