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Rating: NEW SOUNDS FROM THE GHOST DRESSED IN BLACK
or "one damn song that can make me break down and cry"
There's something in my milk
chuckles David Bowie as he sinks into the limousine seat. The man has an extremely pale, thin, and emaciated face, weighing no more than 90 pounds, hiding his eyes under the shadow of a hat placed firmly over his faded red hair. As the limousine races through the American deserts, David scatters his thoughts in front of the camera. We're in a desolate area sometime between '74 and '75, a few minutes before the "Cracked Actor" showed us how he packed away his Japanese theater costumes and his masks with the trademark lightning bolt into a trunk... now he's anchored to the back seat with a few bags of cocaine and the fear of being stopped by the police. There's something in my milk
says Bowie, peers into the glass, explaining that he is like that fly in his drink while in America: he absorbs everything, and "Young Americans" is an absolutely instant snapshot of how the artist is experiencing music and how he's hiding his life.
According to the words of the English artist, this would just be a hit album to consolidate my position in that country
but in my opinion, beyond the funky riffs, the R'n'B choirs, and the black voice, there's much more. For this reason, it has been described as a controversial record: on one hand, just a commercial album made to climb the American charts, on the other, a product of white soul music arranged in an extremely refined way. It may be that there are only eight songs, but in fact, not one is out of place or doesn't work. David gathers all the black influences of the "Philly sound" that hovered around him like cocaine ghosts during the "Diamond Dogs" tour, summons great professionals including guitarists Carlos Alomar and Earl Slick, saxophonist David Sanborn, and backing vocalist Luther Vandross, and finally locks himself in the Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, where he literally spends days and nights. From here he also calls a certain John Lennon who lends his new voice in the Beatles cover "Across The Universe" and in "Fame". Trusty producer Tony Visconti is there, and he tells us nothing was organized, it turned into a massive jam session
.
Forget space ballads, Weillian cabaret, alien orchestras, and hard-blues distortions, and forget the immense Gothic cathedral of the previous work: Bowie is moving more and more towards the essence of music, focusing solely on it and working obsessively to make the melodies and his voice reach their fullest potential. I won't go into detail about each track: I want to challenge anyone to resist the drums of the title track or the contagious rhythm of the bass in "Fascination". How can one not sway slowly when the saxophones of "Win" and "Right" become sensual breaths? But David Bowie is fake, he always has been: this album is just the facade of a palace of despair, it's a facade that, before exploding with "Station To Station" and the Franco-Berlin production, sometimes loses its plaster and reveals the tormented and paranoid world of the artist’s psyche, and to glimpse into the abyss, the falsettos of "Somebody Up There Likes Me" are enough. The toxic spirit of Bowie's hoarse and trembling voice in "Across The Universe" permeates this black and white atmosphere, like the condensed smoke of a Philadelphia gay bar, on whose stage a tense ghost drags his voice beyond the choirs of "Can You Hear Me". This ghost was the first white artist to participate in, in '75, the "Soul Train" program, and speaking of fame, he's also among the first to denounce, in the last track "Fame", that "it puts you there where things are hollow (...) it ain't your brain, it's just the flame that burns your change to keep you insane (...) what you like is in the limo, fame, what you get is no tomorrow"
. The future White Duke finally lays his cards on the table, telling us how things truly are without masks and, for the last time, expressing emotions understandable to the human ear before becoming the man who fell to earth, before the caustic turn, before the escape ... but this is another story, for now let's settle for "one damn song that can make me break down and cry", let's settle for a white and thin soul-boy who, slumped in the limousine, hums "Natural Woman", wandering through the streets of Los Angeles and Philadelphia fleeing from the police and from himself, glances at the glass and tells us "there's something in my milk"...
from "Young Americans"
Just you and your idol sing falsetto
‘bout Leather, leather everywhere, and
Not a myth left from the ghetto
Well, well, well, would you carry a razor
In case, just in case of depression?
Thanks to VelvetGoldmine.it for the lyrics, Nicholas Pegg's Bowie Encyclopedia for the quotes, the "Cracked Actor" footage for the images, and, of course, "Young Americans"!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Young Americans (05:16)
They pulled in just behind the bridge
He lays her down, he frowns
"Gee my life's a funny thing, am I still too young?"
He kissed her then and there
She took his ring, took his babies
It took him minutes, took her nowhere
Heaven knows, she'd have taken anything, but
CHORUS (SHE)
All night
She wants the young American
Young American, young American, she wants the young American
All right
She wants the young American
Scanning life through the picture window
She finds the slinky vagabond
He coughs as he passes her Ford Mustang, but
Heaven forbid, she'll take anything
But the freak, and his type, all for nothing
He misses a step and cuts his hand, but
Showing nothing, he swoops like a song
She cries "Where have all Papa's heroes gone?"
CHORUS (SHE)
All the way from Washington
Her bread-winner begs off the bathroom floor
"We live for just these twenty years
Do we have to die for the fifty more?"
CHORUS (HE)
All night
He wants the young American
Young American, young American, he wants the young American
All right
He wants the young American
Do you remember, your President Nixon?
Do you remember, the bills you have to pay
Or even yesterday?
Have you have been an un-American?
Just you and your idol singing falsetto 'bout
Leather, leather everywhere, and
Not a myth left from the ghetto
Well, well, well, would you carry a razor
In case, just in case of depression?
Sit on your hands on a bus of survivors
Blushing at all the afro-Sheeners
Ain't that close to love?
Well, ain't that poster love?
Well, it ain't that Barbie doll
Her heart's been broken just like you have
CHORUS (YOU)
All night
You want the young American
Young American, young American, you want the young American
All right
You want the young American
You ain't a pimp and you ain't a hustler
A pimp's got a Cadi and a lady got a Chrysler
Black's got respect, and white's got his soul train
Mama's got cramps, and look at your hands ache
(I heard the news today, oh boy)
I got a suite and you got defeat
Ain't there a man you can say no more?
And, ain't there a woman I can sock on the jaw?
And, ain't there a child I can hold without judging?
Ain't there a pen that will write before they die?
Ain't you proud that you've still got faces?
Ain't there one damn song that can make me
break down and cry?
CHORUS (I) (repeat 3 times ad lib)
All night
I want the young American
Young American, young American, I want the young American
All right
I want the young American
02 Win (04:46)
Me, I hope that I'm crazy
I feel you drivin' and you're only the wheel
Slow down let someone love you
I've never touched you since I started to feel
Someone like you
Should not be allowed
To start any fires
Now your smile is spreadin' thin
Seems you're tryin' not to lose
Since I'm not supposed to grin
All you've got to do is win
03 Fascination (05:47)
Got to use her
Every time I feel fascination
I just can't stand still, I've got to use her
Every time I think of what you pulled me through, dear
Fascination moves sweeping near me
Still I take ya
CHORUS
(Fascination) fascination
(sure 'nuff) fascination
(takes a part of me) takes a part of me
(Can a heart-beat) can a heart-beat
(live in a fever) live in a fever?
(raging inside of me?)
(Fascination) fascination
(oh, yeah) oh yeah
(takes a part of me) takes a part of me
(I can't help it) I can't help it
(I've got to use her) got to use her
(every time, ooh)
Fascination comes around
(Ooh-oo-ooh)
(Fascination) Your soul is calling
Like when I'm walking
Seems that everywhere I turn
I hope you're waiting for me
I know that people think
That I'm a little crazy
Ohh, better sex is fun
I think I like fascination
Still, tick
CHORUS (twice)
ad-lib
04 Right (04:18)
CHORUS 1
Taking it all the right way
Keeping it in the back
Taking it all the right way
Never no turning back
Never need, no
Never no turning back
CHORUS 2
Flying just a sweet place
Coming inside and safe
Flying just a sweet place
Never been known to fail
Never been, no
Never been known to fail
Wishing you,
wishing that sometimes (sometimes)
Doing it, doing it right, 'til (doing it) one time (one time)
Gets you when you're down
(nobody, nobody, do it again, get off)
Ahhh, sometimes, doing
Wishing sometimes (give it back)
Up there, up there (giving it)
Oh, my darling
(No) Ah, my darling, (giving it) ah (up there) why?
Gimme, gimme, up there, (yeah) gimme, doing
Taking with me (sometimes)
Loving it, doing it (right) 'til (take it) one time
Gimme (doing it)
Giving it (giving it back)
CHORUS 1 (3 times)
CHORUS 2
CHORUS 1
(repeat ad-lib)
Never no turning back
Never, never, never
05 Somebody Up There Likes Me (06:33)
Let the lies go
Let...
He's everybody's token, on everybody's wall
Blessing all the papers, thanking one and all
Hugging all the babies, kissing all the ladies
Knowing all that you think about from writing on the wall
He's so divine, his soul shines
Breaks the night, sleep tight
His ever loving face smiles on the whole human race
He says "I'm somebody"
He's got his eye on your soul, his hand on your heart
He says "Don't hurry, baby
Somebody up there (somebody) likes me"
He's the savage son of the TV tube
Planets wrote the day was due
All the wisest men around
Predicted that a man was found
Who looked a lot like you and me, yeah
Everyone with sense could see
Nothing left his eye unmoved, he
Had the plan, he had to use
(Somebody) He's so divine (Oh oh) his soul shines
(Somebody) Breaks the night, sleep tight
(Somebody up there, somebody)
His ever loving face (Oh oh) smiles on the whole human race (Somebody somebody somebody up there)
(Somebody)
He's got his eye on your soul, (Oh oh) his hand on your heart
He says "Don't hurry, baby
Somebody up there (somebody)
Somebody plays my song in tune
Makes me, makes me, makes me stronger for you, babe
Was a way when we were young, that
Any man was judged by what he'd done
But now you pick them on the screen (what they look like)
Where they've been
He's got his eye on your soul, his hand on your heart
He says ("Don't hurry, baby) don't hurry baby
Somebody up there (somebody) please go (Oh oh)
And who are the people
That given time, please go (Somebody somebody)
Tell me, can they hold you under their spell (Oh oh)
Can they walk and hold you as well as a
Smile like Valentino?
Could he sell you anything?
(Somebody somebody)
Keep your eyes on your soul,(Oh oh) keep your hand on your heart
(Don't hurry me baby)
Don't hurry, baby
Somebody up there (somebody) likes me"
(somebody, somebody, somebody)
(somebody, somebody, somebody, somebody, somebody, somebody)
Somebody (somebody) somebody (somebody) somebody (somebody, somebody)
Somebody (somebody) somebody (somebody) somebody (somebody, somebody)
Can't remember (somebody) peace so well
Oh, space to ramble, (somebody, somebody) space to boogie
Soul shine (Ooh-ooh)
So divine
Somebody (ooh-ooh, somebody)
Soul shine (Ooh-ooh)
So divine
Somebody (ooh-ooh)
Somebody, somebody, somebody
Yeah, Get me man, place your man
Get me man, space your man
Get me man, space your man
Soul shine
Soul shine
So devine
So devine
Soul shine
So devine
So devine
06 Across the Universe (04:31)
Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as they slip away
Across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on
Across the universe
Thoughts meander like the restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way
Across the universe
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Sounds of laughter, shades of life are ringing through my open ears
Inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love, which shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on and on
Across the universe
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing
Nothing
Nothing
Nothing's gonna
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing
Nothing
Nothing
Nothing's gonna
Noth, nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change it
Nothing's gonna change it
Hey yeah, Nothing's gonna change it
Nothing's gonna change it
Nothing's gonna change it
Nothing's gonna change it
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change it (nothing's gonna change it)
Nothing's gonna change it (no no no no no)
Nothing's gonna change my world (nothing's gonna change my world)
07 Can You Hear Me (05:07)
Once we were lovers, can they understand?
Closer than others I was your, I was your man
Don't talk of heartaches, (ohh), I remember them all
When I'm checking you out one day, to see if I'm
Faking it all
Can you hear me?
Can you feel me inside?
Show your love, love
Take it in right (take it in right)
Take it in right (take it in right ahh)
There's been many others (Oo-oo-oo-oohh) so many times
Sixty new cities, an' what do I
What do I find?
I want love so badly, I want you most of all
You know, it's harder to take it from anyone
It's harder to fall
Can you hear me call ya?
Can you (hear me?)
Can you (feel me inside?)
Show your (love, love)
Take it in right (take it in right)
Take it in right (take it in right)
Well, can you hear me? (yeah)
Can you feel me inside (I do)
Show your love, show your sweet,(your love) sweet love
Show me your love
08 Fame (04:21)
Fame, makes a man take things over
Fame, lets him loose, hard to swallow
Fame, puts you there where things are hollow
Fame
Fame, it's not your brain, it's just the flame
That burns your change to keep you insane
Fame
Fame, what you like is in the limo
Fame, what you get is no tomorrow
Fame, what you need you have to borrow
Fame
Fame, "Nien! It's mine!" is just his line
To bind your time, it drives you to, crime
Fame
Could it be the best, could it be?
Really be, really, babe?
Could it be, my babe, could it, babe?
Really, really?
Is it any wonder I reject you first?
Fame, fame, fame, fame
Is it any wonder you are too cool to fool
Fame
Fame, bully for you, chilly for me
Got to get a rain check on pain
Fame
Fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame
Fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame
Fame, fame, fame
Fame
What's your name?
(whispered)
Feeling so gay, feeling gay?
Brings so much pain?
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