As for “Bowie says “Planet Earth is blue,”” drugs allow one to escape the reality of the world. In 1968 we had the assassinations of DR. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. The Vietnam was going strong and British troops were sent in to take streets of Northern Ireland. The world was not a happy place. “Planet earth was blue.”

Bowie writes about a Spaceman but his songs are realy about drug addiction and his personal struggle with it. In Space Oddity, Think of Major Tom as a metaphor for drugs, heroin most likely. Think of Ground control as the drug dealer. Think of the trip to space as tripping out on drugs. Think of “I’m floating in a most peculiar way” and “the stars look different today” as being high on drugs. Think of “my space ship knows which way to go” and “There is nothing I can do” as the drugs are in control. Eleven years later, in Ashes to Ashes, Bowie is much clearer about the drug connection, “We know Major Toms a Junkie Strung out in the heavens high hitting an all time low.” And “Time and again I tell myself I’ll stay clean tonight” and “I want to come down right now” and at the end bowie repeats 4 times “My mother said to get things done you’d better not mess with Major Tom.” There is more but I hope you can see why I thought Jeff’s “High” was the better reimagining and homage especially when Jeff left in the two lines, although reversed in order, “And the stars look very different Today” “And I’m floating in a most peculiar way.” and added “I’m high!” I don’t know if Jeff intended the double meaning but I’ll give it to him.

If you want more on the drug connection in Bowie’s songs, check out the lyrics to Bowie’s China Girl. Here are a few, “I could escape this feeling, with my china girl I feel a wreck without my, little china girl I hear her heart beating, loud as thunder Saw the stars crashing I’m a mess without my, little china girl Wake up mornings where’s my, little china girl……” Get the idea?

There is a lot hidden meaning in Bowie’s work perhaps this one is relevant. In Ashes to Ashes Bowie gives us a clue to the identity of the person that inspired him to use “Major Tom” as his metaphor for drugs that have wrecked havoc on the world. He wrote “Just pictures of Jap girls in synthesis (a synonym for Fusion)….aint got no hair (radiation sickness)….the planet is glowing….one flash of light but no smoking gun.” (atomic explosion.) Was Bowie thinking of Major Tom Ferebee the bombardier on the Enola Gay? Major Tom Ferebee pulled the lever that dropped the first Atomic Bomb; he watched through the bomb sight as it went off and wrecked havoc on Japan killing thousands instantly and thousands more very slowly.

If this makes me a “rabid” Bowie fan, so be it.

The SAS site is under construction but on it there are already references to monkeys and dogs being exploited for space research.

These songs are good in different ways. As a Laika sympathizer, JoCo’s lyrics won me over by a nose. A wet nose.

Also? I really just liked JoCo’s song better. And it actually isn’t because I’m a rabid fan and I didn’t have to work a little to make the choice. I, too, listened to both songs over and over again and found it a tough choice. Space Doggity simply appealed to me more.