David Bowie - "Space Oddity"
Visions Of Space Travel
From David Bowie
Released 1969
Recommended Age Group: Middle to College
Like a lot of 90s kids, I got into space and alien due to The X-Files. I remember staying up late, after I was supposed to be in bed, and crawling on my stomach to watch what my parents were watching. Staying in the shadows to see Mulder and Scully's case for the week was a scary, yet exciting moment each week. Then I got older and started watching on my own. The blend of tongue-in-cheek humor and hard sci-fi edge made me come back again and again to the show. But it also gave me a love of space and the possibilities that exist beyond our own atmosphere.
20th Century history's relationship to space is fraught. On one hand we have the science fiction community, NASA scientists, and some of the greatest advances in human history: Apollo 11, Hubble, and Einstein. On the other hand we have a community of fear and danger associated with space travel represented by Challenger and Apollo 13, not to mention negative media representations from War of the Worlds to Gravity. For every moment of optimism about human life in space, there is a worried face thinking about the explicit dangers awaiting humans in space. Despite these factors, our students might have a more positive, whimsical outlook on space largely due to Elon Musk's "Tesla in Space" and discussions about mining on asteroids and farther afield in our solar system. However, it important for our students today to understand the cultural, social, and historical implications of space travel.
Although our students might know him from Labyrinth more than anywhere else, but David Bowie is a great representative for the two viewpoints. Early in his career, before he was Ziggy Stardust, he released his eponymous second album which included the enduring "Space Oddity." Much parodied over the last 50 years (or homage/parody in the Flight of Conchord's "Bowie"), the song tells the story of Major Tom, a doomed astronaut. The story is told in a brief back and forth between Mission Control and Major Tom from liftoff to his demise from an unknown issue in his capsule. Although a fiction, the story mimics the real stories of animals and men shot into space (On a side note - Discussing the story of Laika and the ethic of launching animals into space is a tremendous conversation to have with students). It strikes the right chords though: the helplessness of space travel, the inescapable feeling that something is going wrong, and how beautiful things can be even in the face of certain death. Lines like
"Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?"
and
"Far above the moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do"
show these themes in clear, austere clarity. Although it is bleak, it is understandable why. Apollo 13 was only a few months away. National panic over Sputnik was a constant shadow due to the Cold War and possible nuclear war. So how do we find the hope in this song?
Cover Version by Col. Chris Hadfield
Seriously cool version. If you want to "Wow" your students explore this video and how it is the first to be shot in space. Also you could get his excellent biography and discuss how he learned to skateboard with your students.
Well, we have to jump ahead 40 years to Col. Chris Hadfield. Beyond being an accomplished astronaut and pilot, Col. Hadfield holds the distinction for filming the first music video in space, which just so happens to be a cover of "Space Oddity." The video, mostly handheld or zero gravity assisted shots of Hadfield on the International Space Station, is wonderful to behold just for its simplicity and hope. Little shots of Col. Hadfield wandering around the ISS while the Earth appears in the background counteract the dark nature of Bowie's original. However, the most hopeful changes come from Col. Hadfield's little lyrical edits. Previously hopeless lines like the previously mentioned,
"Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?"
are changed to
"And before too long I know it's time to go
A commender comes down back to Earth and rolls
Ground control to Major Tom
The time is near, there's not too long"
Furthermore, Col. Hadfield's last line is a much more hopeful thought about his last moments on the ISS,
"Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing left to do."
Is all the hope instilled in Col. Hadfield's version just a singular vision of space travel by a man who devoted his life to it, or does it show a much larger cultural shift in how we understand the void around us? I don't personally have the answer about that, but it is an interesting question to ask your students and discuss in any class. Starting with the song and moving into discussions about film (Gravity and Ad Astra would make for great starters), Politics (the recent developments with Space Force and its new symbol), or current changes to space policies, particularly at the hands of Space X. Each of these options would create a larger dialogue about how we view space, but also how our students view space. Which if we consider Bowie's original or Col. Hadfield's cover, isn't that the question at the core of each: What does it mean to travel in space?
1970 Live Version
This was Bowie's first TV appearance and I think it is a testament to his talent. Just walk out on stage and absolutely hit every part. I was watching his live from Berlin 2002 performance while writing this essay and his consistency as an artist over the decades is astounding.
