Ashes To Ashes

Ashes to Ashes :: David Bowie

“I'm happy,
hope you’re happy too.”

***

I’m a sucker for pop culture references in just about anything, and I also tend to get giddy when a show/book/film, or in this case, song, references something earlier within the canon, or the artist’s own discography. It is probably the music geek in me, or perhaps it is that feeling that one is an insider, or in on the joke, or something - a big enough fan to recognize the references.

It reminds me of the way a relationship, whether with a friend or partner, develops its own histories and references. They may seem simple, the inside jokes and references we share with people in our lives, but they are something quite special and unique to me. They are part and parcel of one’s relationship history, and when hard times come in life, I think they are part of the glue that holds us together.

Ashes to Ashes references Major Tom, from Bowie’s song Space Oddity (my personal favorite Bowie song) - a song that was referenced in other songs of Bowie’s, as well as other artists’ songs (for example, in Peter Schilling’s song, Major Tom (Coming Home), or Five Star's song, Rain or Shine.

Bowie himself says that Ashes to Ashes is an epitath to his Seventies self, a way of saying goodbye and closing the door to an era of self, one could say. It makes me wonder what ends of era songs I would choose to reflect parts of my life…hmmm…